Repair of a Kenmore Electric Dryer Model 110.62942100
by Tim
Dryer not heating, but blower motor and controls are still working. I just spent several hours repairing my electric clothes dryer, and wanted to share my experience with others that may wish to do a similar repair. Some of my time was spent reading online postings similar to this one. The majority of my time was spent driving a few times to the Sears Parts Outlet, until I finally got all of the right parts. I could have saved myself a lot of time and effort by doing some simple testing up front. And these tests are real simple, which I will explain below. I wish I knew then what I know now about the repair and troubleshooting steps. It was actually quite easy. First, the Owner’s Manual is vague about the repair. Under troubleshooting, there is the category of “Not Drying Satisfactorily” with a possible cause that “One fuse is blown or circuit breaker is tripped. The dryer will appear to operate, but you will not get any heat.” The solution says “Replace fuse or reset breaker”. In my case, the circuit breaker was not tripped, and the blower motor and controls were still working on the dryer. With that, it felt like the Thermal Fuse 3390719 was the culprit. Start by unplugging the dryer. Then, the Toe Panel at the front bottom of the dryer comes off easily by inserting a flat head screwdriver along the top edge of the panel, about 4” from the left and the right sides. Pull forward as the screwdriver presses on the retaining clips. The panel is supported by two clips at the bottom, and will then just lift off. What I found when the toe panel was removed was several years of lint, dust, and animal hair. A surprising amount all over. Having seen this, I suggest that part of Spring cleaning is to remove the toe panel and vacuum the inside of a dryer. Next, to reach the thermal fuse easier, remove the black metal lint duct assembly. Start by removing the lint screen from inside the dryer. Then, remove the two ¼” sheet metal screws on the left and the right of the duct. Now, the only thing holding the lint duct in place is a metal clip at the bottom left, which is pinched in place to the dryer frame. I used a flat head screwdriver to pop it off. The lint duct assembly can now be removed. Here also, I was surprised at how much lint had built up inside the duct. Clean it out thoroughly. Any build up can restrict air flow and waste energy, or be a direct cause to the No Heat problems of the dryer due to poor air flow and heat build up. With the lint duct out of the way, the thermal fuse is accessible on the top right of the blower housing, as well as the Thermistor 3976615 on its right. What I should have done right here is take the blue wires off of the thermal fuse connectors, and tested it in place for continuity with the fuse still in place. I learned more about this now, and would have saved myself a lot of time here. There ended up being no reason for me to remove it because it was not the problem after all, unless I wanted to clean off any dust built up on the inner face of the fuse itself. A basic Greenlee (or similar; not an expensive tool) tester sounded a beep when I touched both connectors, which indicates continuity – or that it is still a good fuse. That would save about $18 for a replacement part. Install new fuse if needed, and reconnect the wires. I would do a little more testing first prior to attempting to turn the dryer back on. After all, if the fuse blew, there was a reason. There may still be other things to consider, and you don’t want to risk blowing a brand new $18 fuse. At this point, I firmly recommend removing the Heater Box and Wire Heater Element 3387747 assembly. I say this because it actually becomes easier to clean out burnt lint as well as test a few more things. There was enough lint all around and inside this and in the back of the assembly that could have caused overheating due to poor sensor readings. Start by removing the heat plate at the front. Then, disconnect the six wires from the three devices: heater element, Thermal Cut-Off 3977394 and the Thermostat 3390291. I wrote down the color sequence of the wires to make certain to put them back on the same way. Next, remove the two screws at the bottom of the mounting plate that holds the assembly in place. The heat assembly should now wiggle around some, and be connected at the back of the dryer. There are no screws at the back – all you need to do is rotate the heater assembly counter clockwise about a quarter turn, and it should come out. The entire heater assembly can now be removed from the dryer. With the Greenlee, I tested for continuity on all three devices: Heater Element 3387747, Thermal Cut-Off 3977394, and the Thermostat 3390291. All three should return an audible beep from the tester, indicating continuity exists. In my case, only the Heater Element was bad and actually had a break in it from overheating. That was $59. One screw holds the heater element in the housing, so it is easily removed. I had to press on the housing a little to unbind the sides of the heater element, and then it slid right out. The housing can now be cleaned out. Assuming the thermal cut-off and the thermostat tested fine for continuity, all I would do is reach inside the heater housing and clean off the lint and dust build up on these devices, since they appear to be working. Install the new heater element. If either the thermal cut-off or the thermostat did not test fine, then replace as needed. Here is where I could have saved more time and money. I say this because my first trip to Sears was with the fuse in hand, and with NO testing of anything as mentioned above. The nice person at Sears convinced me that the thermal cut-off and thermostat where likely the problem because “we sell a lot of these to solve the problem you have”. After all was said and done, the fuse was fine. Also, the thermal cut-off and the thermostat were fine as well. However, there is a “no return” policy so I spent one trip and $39 for replacing devices that still functioned fine. I now have spare parts. Of everything I worked on, the heater element was the only thing that was truly defective – the coil broke from overheating. While I had everything apart, I cleaned out the flexible duct in the back, vacuumed everywhere inside and out, and even used compressed air to clean out any remaining lint and dust that I could. Reassemble the heater box into the dryer in reverse order. Make sure all of the wires are properly reconnected to all of the devices. Make sure everything is screwed back together properly. Now, reassemble the lint duct by attaching the clip to the dryer and setting the duct in place, and then screwing the two screws back in place. Plug the dryer in and turn it on. If all went well, like for me, the heater element should glow orange and there should be heat in the dryer. Problem solved! Family is happy once again! I hope this is useful information for you! Good luck! And remember - SAFETY FIRST! TTT
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