Meet the new dryer. Same as the old dryer.
September 21, 2013 6:47 PM Subscribe
Old clothes dryer stopped blowing hot air. We replaced it with a new dryer only to discover it does not blow hot air.
We live in a 1940's building that was converted to condos in the 1980's and all the appliances were upgraded at that time. The stacked washer/dryer unit worked great for us until a couple of weeks ago when the dryer stopped blowing hot air. My husband replaced the heating element and thermostat and checked wiring but with no success. So, we ordered a new stacked unit and it was delivered today. Hooray! Did our first load of laundry and realized the dryer is not blowing any hot air. This cannot be a coincidence. The building is wired for 110 and the w/d uses two fuses as it needs 220. We checked the fuses and both are fine. What is going on here?
We live in a 1940's building that was converted to condos in the 1980's and all the appliances were upgraded at that time. The stacked washer/dryer unit worked great for us until a couple of weeks ago when the dryer stopped blowing hot air. My husband replaced the heating element and thermostat and checked wiring but with no success. So, we ordered a new stacked unit and it was delivered today. Hooray! Did our first load of laundry and realized the dryer is not blowing any hot air. This cannot be a coincidence. The building is wired for 110 and the w/d uses two fuses as it needs 220. We checked the fuses and both are fine. What is going on here?
Is the vent blocked? Did the old dryer take forever to dry anything?
posted by scruss at 7:07 PM on September 21, 2013
posted by scruss at 7:07 PM on September 21, 2013
I'd be checking the 220 volt outlet - instructions here.
It's just possible one leg of the circuit is working but the other isn't. For example, if one of your two fuses is burnt out, that would do it. But even if they are not burnt out, or not VISIBLY burnt out, there are still other reasons that one leg of the circuit may not be getting power--thus the reason to test with a meter, not just guess.
This situation (one leg of the circuit working, the other not working) could possibly allow the general electronics & electric motor of the dryer to work, but simultaneously allow no power at all to the heater element, which is the portion that needs the full 220 volts to operate.
If this is the situation, most any dryer will act the same--ie, power up but no heat--so it's definitely worth checking out.
posted by flug at 7:09 PM on September 21, 2013 [10 favorites]
It's just possible one leg of the circuit is working but the other isn't. For example, if one of your two fuses is burnt out, that would do it. But even if they are not burnt out, or not VISIBLY burnt out, there are still other reasons that one leg of the circuit may not be getting power--thus the reason to test with a meter, not just guess.
This situation (one leg of the circuit working, the other not working) could possibly allow the general electronics & electric motor of the dryer to work, but simultaneously allow no power at all to the heater element, which is the portion that needs the full 220 volts to operate.
If this is the situation, most any dryer will act the same--ie, power up but no heat--so it's definitely worth checking out.
posted by flug at 7:09 PM on September 21, 2013 [10 favorites]
Response by poster: There is no hot air blowing inside the dryer to dry the clothes. We tried all the settings with no luck. The vent isn't blocked. The old dryer worked consistently until it didn't - clothes took the same length of time to dry up until the air stopped blowing hot.
Sears is sending a specialist on Thursday to take a look so if it's really a faulty dryer they will replace the unit. But it just seems so crazy that we are having the same issue.
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 7:12 PM on September 21, 2013
Sears is sending a specialist on Thursday to take a look so if it's really a faulty dryer they will replace the unit. But it just seems so crazy that we are having the same issue.
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 7:12 PM on September 21, 2013
Response by poster: Flug, we can definitely check that out.
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 7:15 PM on September 21, 2013
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 7:15 PM on September 21, 2013
Someone I know just went though a similar thing with their dishwasher. Long story short, an electrician was needed.
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:26 PM on September 21, 2013
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:26 PM on September 21, 2013
This very thing happened to our dryer, and it was the outlet, as flug describes.
posted by Francolin at 7:33 PM on September 21, 2013
posted by Francolin at 7:33 PM on September 21, 2013
Hi had this happen to me, and it was the fuses. Apparently I needed to replace two fuses because I had all the electricity (lights, power, etc) but there was one unmarked fuse that gave heat to the dryer. Have you tried replacing all of the fuses that could be on that circuit?
posted by MultiFaceted at 9:33 PM on September 21, 2013
posted by MultiFaceted at 9:33 PM on September 21, 2013
Do you actually have fuses? Would they not have replaced these with circuit breakers in the 1980's remodelling?
If not, I'd want an electrician to have a look, on general principles. We moved into a house, in 1978, that had wiring from the 1940s. It did not handle the electrical loads from modern appliances well at all.
posted by thelonius at 10:23 PM on September 21, 2013
If not, I'd want an electrician to have a look, on general principles. We moved into a house, in 1978, that had wiring from the 1940s. It did not handle the electrical loads from modern appliances well at all.
posted by thelonius at 10:23 PM on September 21, 2013
Some times a tripped breaker is hard to notice. They don't move very far to OFF.
posted by Cranberry at 11:33 PM on September 21, 2013
posted by Cranberry at 11:33 PM on September 21, 2013
Response by poster: We have fuses in a breaker box and both fuses for the w/d are fine. Just to be sure we replaced them with fuses from another location that we knew were fine and still had the same problem. It sounds like it's the outlet.
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 8:16 AM on September 22, 2013
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 8:16 AM on September 22, 2013
Here is a bit of info. It's complicated and potentially dangerous to attempt to get 220V from two 110V outlets. Have an electrician look at it and decide.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:12 AM on September 22, 2013
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:12 AM on September 22, 2013
Response by poster: We tested the outlet and it's fine. Any other ideas?
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 11:47 AM on September 22, 2013
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 11:47 AM on September 22, 2013
> We tested the outlet and it's fine. Any other ideas?
How far away is the next-closest 220v outlet? My electric stove quit working and I couldn't tell for sure where the problem was. The stove was close enough to my washer/dryer room that I was able to wrestle and shove it almost to the point where I could plug it in there. A three-foot 220v extension from Home Depot made up the difference. (I would not use a 220v extension as a regular thing but just a moment's test seemed worth the risk.) Stove came on fine with this outlet as the power source. (If your dryer is in your basement and the next nearest outlet is upstairs in the kitchen this won't help you a bit, please excuse the ring.)
Note, just the business of getting a pretty well stuck 220v plug unstuck and out makes me nervous enough so that I turned off the whole house power out at the power meter instead of just being satisfied with the breakers on the stove and dryer circuits. But I wouldn't know for certain how to do that in a multiple-occupancy building.
posted by jfuller at 12:16 PM on September 22, 2013
How far away is the next-closest 220v outlet? My electric stove quit working and I couldn't tell for sure where the problem was. The stove was close enough to my washer/dryer room that I was able to wrestle and shove it almost to the point where I could plug it in there. A three-foot 220v extension from Home Depot made up the difference. (I would not use a 220v extension as a regular thing but just a moment's test seemed worth the risk.) Stove came on fine with this outlet as the power source. (If your dryer is in your basement and the next nearest outlet is upstairs in the kitchen this won't help you a bit, please excuse the ring.)
Note, just the business of getting a pretty well stuck 220v plug unstuck and out makes me nervous enough so that I turned off the whole house power out at the power meter instead of just being satisfied with the breakers on the stove and dryer circuits. But I wouldn't know for certain how to do that in a multiple-occupancy building.
posted by jfuller at 12:16 PM on September 22, 2013
this happened to us this summer! the electrician came and fixed it; the gas wasn't on.
posted by sabh at 8:31 PM on September 22, 2013
posted by sabh at 8:31 PM on September 22, 2013
Response by poster: The next-closest outlet is behind the stove, so that's not really an option. Sears is sending a technician on Thursday. Stay tuned....
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 5:53 PM on September 23, 2013
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 5:53 PM on September 23, 2013
Response by poster: Well it turns out that it was a coincidence. The technician said the new dryer had a faulty timer and Sears replaced it with a new unit. Yay dry clothes!
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 8:42 AM on September 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 8:42 AM on September 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
« Older How do I install a cargo rack on a kids bike | Where to find pineapple tamales in Los Angeles? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
As to "this cannot be coincidence," well, it could very well be coincidence.
There surely must be a warranty on the new dryer, isn't there?
posted by musofire at 6:59 PM on September 21, 2013