[iwanttofixit]

Not drying clothes. Watched through front peep hole. Burner flame is on for about 2 minutes then goes off with a click, dryer drum felt warm, start button does not restart flame. Control knob to off then back to normal, then start button restarts flame, so something with control or maybe dryer just cooled down enough. What should I check and how? Thanks.

[kayakcrzy]

If you turn on the dryer, and the ignitor comes on and the gas comes on and works for a little bit, then it cycles off, and now here is the important part of your observation, when it cycles back on, and the ignitor glows, then all of a sudden you hear a click, and the ignitor cuts off, and there is no gas, you need to replace the coils on the gas valve. It is alot cheaper then a new valve. These good people hear can send you that part to your door. If it just cycles off and on, and the gas comes out each time, but short cycles, you need to clear the vent from the dryer to the outside. It is cycling off on the high limit thermostat, that is on the gas chamber. If you need me you can reach me at my website at ApplianceEducator.com Tom

[AmpDraw]

Don't start replacing coils on your gas valve. You have a high limit, a thermal fuse and a operating thermostat that will shut your gas off when a specified temperature is met.

Here is your parts breakdown so you can see specifically where all of these parts are on your dryer...

Whirlpool LGN2000KT0 Parts List

Your operating thermostat is #9 in the "Bulkhead" diagram.
Your hi limit is #15 on that same diagram
If your thermal fuse blew (#7) the gas would never come back on till that part was replaced so it has nothing to do with your problem.

Your tough part is that the problem is some what intermittent for you, that means if you just take it apart and start testing parts with your Ohm (or continuity) meter everything is likely going to test good.

We could also assume these parts are good and doing what they are supposed to be doing. That High Limit Thermostat (#15) is your most likely source of this problem. Its designed to kill the power to the gas valve and igniter if anything over heats. Overheating is usually caused by a broken blower wheel that isn't turning (#10), or lint plugging something up in this dryer somewhere.

It's always a good idea when your working on the dryer to take the extra time to clean ALL of the lint out anyhow #14, #1, #11, particularly #1 is where lint likes to trap and build up restricting your air flow and causing the High Limit to trip. However you want to make sure the air flow is completely clear all the way to the outside of your house.

This could and most likely will solve your problem without even the need of any parts. The High Limit is supposed to trip when lint plugs everything up, this means the part is working like its supposed to, and good.

If after cleaning everything out the problem persists then you will need to do a voltage check on that High Limit to start with.

Report back here if cleaning the lint out doesn't solve the problem and you have a voltage meter and we'll tell you how to test this part with the meter as soon as it fails and before it cools back down to see if its the cause or not.

[iwanttofixit]

Thank you both for your replies. I will start by doing the lint cleaning more throughly than I have done. How should I access #14, #1 and #11 to vacuum out the lint? Our old dryer had a lower front access panel. I'm assuming I get at these from the rear of the dryer, so I'll look there, but any input would be apreciated. I will post what I find out. Thanks.

[AmpDraw]

Heat goes into the bottom of #14, out the top of that piece, through the drum then into the "D" shaped opening in #1 and out the bottom through the #11 blower housing that holds the non resettable thermal fuse #7.

If it is the high limit safety thermostat cutting your heat off then you have blockage at least before it even gets to the #11 blower housing (probably more after it as well, but at least up to this point). Down in the bottom of #1 is the favorite place for the lint and other collectibles to gather. Often the lint will fall off the filter as you pull it out to clean it, then when you push it back in you start packing it into the bottom of that #1 piece till eventually it gets completely plugged.

#1 comes off after removing the back panel on the dryer, you'll see the screws (4) down around the bottom portion of it and there are 2 screws up in the top where your lint filter sets. Word of caution about those screws up by the lint filter, its all too easy to drop those down the chute when taking them out or putting them back in, so be prepared for that to happen.

There is a slim chance this isn't your problem, however do not feel like cleaning this out was a waste of your time, its the kind of thing that needs to be done anyhow. Wash that lint filter in the sink with dish soap and water, make sure its nice and clear through it when held up to a light.

You can test the High Limit Thermostat before taking all this apart if you have a voltage meter. With the dryer running and your meter set to read 120 Volts AC, touch one meter probe to the metal of the dryer, the other probe on one of the 2 terminals on that switch. Then test the same way to the second terminal on that switch. You should read your 120 volts on either one of them. Next put one probe on each of the terminals, your voltage reading will display 0 volts even though it has voltage at it, this is normal and how any switch should read.

If that switch is opening up due to high heat, this is what its supposed to do and the reason its there. If its been triggered then when you do your voltage reading you are going to find that when touching metal with one probe one of the terminals with the other probe you'll read 120 volts on one side, no voltage on the other side, 120 volts across the two terminals. This means the switch is open, not necessarily a bad switch, its supposed to do this, like I explained before.

If however you test this switch and its reading like I just described, but, the dryer has just started running and hasn't even had enough time to get hot yet, then its possible this switch has gotten weak. If you were to break it open and look inside you'll see it functions by having two dissimilar pieces of metal inside it, as it gets the metal warps, making and breaking contact. Its not very common, but does happen, particularly if its tripped often that this metal gets fatigued and will trip the switch well within normal operating temperatures.

Takes longer to read all of this than to actually test it out, so 30 seconds of testing with a meter can tell you plenty here. Clean the lint build up out anyhow, no matter what, if its not a problem today, its liable to be next week or next month, you have it opened up now, just clean it out while you're in there.

If you're not comfortable testing live voltages let me know and I'll happily reexplain how to test these parts with power unplugged and an ohm (continuity) setting on your meter. I prefer doing live voltage checks myself, it tells us exactly whats happening. There are times when a part will read good with an ohm meter, but still not be working properly when actual voltage is applied to it. If you already have the front of the dryer off then don't bother putting it all back together just so you can run it, just let me know and we'll do the ohm meter checks instead.

If cleaning the lint out doesn't solve this problem then you are going to need the meter in hand to do some checks with to figure out where the problem is coming from. Plenty of possibilities, I'm just trying to take you through them from most likely to least likely. Most likely here being the lint clog.

[iwanttofixit]

Thank you, that was an excellent reply. Here is what I've done:

I removed the back panel and removed #1. It had a fair amount of lint in it. Vacuumed and washed it out. I vacuumed all around and wiped down what I could reach. I was not able to remove #14. The screw #2 appears to be accessed from the other side of the inner panel. There are three holes in the upper back of #14, and I inserted a piece of garden hose taped to my vacuum and vacuumed the inside of #14 out thoroughly, I think.

At this point rather than test the high limit thermostat I decided to run the dryer and watch what happened. The blower ran great. The flame came on for a while, the top of #14 got very hot. The blower went off for awhile. Then it came back on for a second time. Then off. Then back on for a third time. This was about 5 or 6 minutes total. Then we shut off the dryer and put it all back together.

We also very thoroughly cleaned the vent tube from the dryer exit all the way to outside. It is clean clean clean. It's about 25 feet long, but most of it is 6" PVC pipe, and it's never caused a problem in 20 years, so I don't think it's the problem.

We put a very small load of 3 wet items in the dryer. We ran it three ways:
1. using the moisture sensor, heat on high
2. using the timer, heat on medium
3. using the timer, heat on high

The clothes never really got hot. They eventually got sort of cold and dry from all that air blowing through there.

Now I am confused. When I had the back off, the flame came on three times and things got nice and hot. Put the clothes in and it seems to get hot at first but then it doesn't dry.

What should I do next? If I should test the High Limit Thermostat what dryer cycle should I use? I am comfortable using a voltmeter on the live circuit.

Or do I really need to get that #14 out to clean it? Maybe there's an easy way to get at that screw. It looks like other screws are holding it on down lower, but I don't see them in the diagram. Anyway, #14 feels like it's mounted very solidly to the inner panel.

Thanks for the help. We'll get this thing yet!

[iwanttofixit]

With the flame seeming to work correctly, what do you recommend I do next? Test the high limit thermostat or work on cleaning #14 (which I couldn't see how to remove)? Or maybe something else? Thanks.

[nhJeffS]

I am having this same problem with a Whirlpool dryer model # LGN2000KQ0. The dryer will come on and run for about 5 minutes and then the flame will turn off and will only come back on after it sits turned off for about 5 minutes. I have made sure that all the duct work is free of lint. The exhaust running outside is only about 2.5 feet long and I have vacuumed that out as well. I removed the back of the dryer and used a voltmeter to test the High Limit Thermostat. It is functioning as you have described. The switch is not opening. It stay at 120v at each terminal grounded to the case and 0v between to the two terminals. Any idea where I should look next? I replaced the igniter already because I broke it removing it.

[kayakcrzy]

It sounds to me like the coils on top of the gas valve are not functioning properly. Replace them. If you need me you can reach me at my web site at ApplianceEducator.com Tom

[iwanttofixit]

Thanks for all the input! Here is what I have found out since my last post:

I tested the dryer with my son's help, so he could watch the ignitor and burner while I tested the voltage on the lugs of the high limit switch.
___________________________________

HIGH LIMIT SWITCH: Was always OPEN throughout all of this testing. I always got 110V from each lug to ground-when the burner was flaming, when the ignitor was glowing, when both were off.


CYCLING OF DRYER

I set the dryer to Very Dry, High Heat.

The vent tubing to outside was attached for the early cycles.


CYCLE 1 -- After a short time, the ignitor glowed and the flame lit. It only stayed lit for about 15 seconds and then went out.

CYCLE 2 -- A minute or two later, the ignitor glowed, there was a click, stopped glowing. The flame never lit.

CYCLE 3 -- A minute or two later, the ignitor glowed, the flame lit, stayed lit for 5 or 10 seconds, went out.

CYCLE 4 -- A minute or two later, the ignitor glowed, there was a click, stopped glowing. The flame never lit.


-- AT THIS POINT I DISCONNECTED THE VENT TUBE FROM THE REAR OF THE DRYER. I ALWAYS HAD VERY STRONG AIRFLOW OUT OF THE EXIT AT THE BOTTOM REAR OF THE DRYER --

CYCLE 5 -- A minute or two later, the ignitor glowed, there was a click, stopped glowing. The flame never lit.

CYCLE 6 -- A minute or two later, the ignitor glowed, there was a click, stopped glowing. The flame never lit.

___________________________________


Kayakcrzy, you had posted:

If you turn on the dryer, and the ignitor comes on and the gas comes on and works for a little bit, then it cycles off, and now here is the important part of your observation, when it cycles back on, and the ignitor glows, then all of a sudden you hear a click, and the ignitor cuts off, and there is no gas, you need to replace the coils on the gas valve.


So it sounds like my coils are bad, right?


Here is the PartSelect diagram:




So are you talking about these parts?

#13 PS383994 COIL-VALVE
#14 PS383993 COIL-VALVE


Any other parts I should order?

Can you direct me to some online instructions for how to replace the coils?


Thanks for your help!