[stymie]

Just cleaned out all the lint. This is the first thing I did after the dryer started blowing the house fuse for the first time since we bought it.

Getting good flow throughout (the vent tube to outside is only about a year old too), and it still blows the house circuit after about one second of being turned on, or as soon as the gas starts to come on and ignite. Will run fine if I have the temperature set to cool.

I've never really dug into one of these before, but consider myself handy enough to fix it, if I have some direction.

Can anyone tell me what the most likely problem is and how to fix it? This gas dryer has been working flawlessly since the day we bought it about 5 years ago...until now.

Thanks in advance!

Tom

[eric shubert]

could be a burnt wire touching ground. if it is blowing the fuse the there should be a pretty good burn mark inside the dryer. try taking the dryer apart before you turn it on again and see if you can see anything burnt .

[stymie]

I took the plate off where the power cord is coming out, and all the wires look to be in good order...

The ground looks snug and I see nothing unusual.

This dryer has been plugged into the same outlet for 5 years. All of a sudden it's tripping the house breaker today.

It must be heat related somehow, because I can run it on the tumble cycle witch uses no gas or heat.

[eric shubert]

sound like you have a shorted out heating element,

[stymie]

Is that something I need to test, or will there be visible evidence?
FYI: I just ran it with no heat for a few seconds and then gradually turned up the heat and it actually ran for about 2 minutes with the heat engaged, and then tripped the breaker again.
Does that still sound like a shorted out heating element?

[eric shubert]

the heating element looks like a spring. sometimes there get bend out of shape. possible the element could be touching the housing after it heated up, or could be a burnt wire touching. be it sounds like it is coming from the wires going to the heating element.

[eric shubert]

if the dryer was full of alot of lint before you cleaned it, the air going through the dryer slows down and the heating element can over heat and overheat the wires also

[stymie]

In regards to the heating element. This is a gas dryer. 100% gas.

I just went into the back of the machine and checked all the connections, cleaned out all the cobwebs and lint and everything really looks perfect...it actually ran fine again after that, gas came on heat was coming through, thought I fixed it just be cleaning it and checking the connections...but then 25 minutes later, it tripped the breaker again.

Any ideas...Eric...Anyone?

[eric shubert]

maybe a bad breaker??? try plugging dryer into another outlet. maybe hook up a amp meter to see how much current it is drawing. no burn marks anywhere???. never saw a set of coils on the valve take out a breaker but anything is possible.never saw a winning lotto ticket maybe someday i'll see one

[PS Volunteer - Appguy]

Your motor may be drawing excessive current. Just check with amprobe, should be around 4-5 amps.