Just to be clear, I do remove the lint from the lint trap after every load.
I like your idea of just running the dryer without the hose connected --
just letting it run inside the house for testing purposes. I'll give that a
shot.


"Floyd L. Davidson" wrote in message
...
"J" wrote:
Our electric dryer isn't drying as quick as it had in the past, but
eventually it does dry. Once in the past a repairman came out and cleaned
out the exhaust line and it began drying much better. Therefore I went
outside while it was running and from the amount of air, it appears that
the
air is unimpeded. What could be the problem? Should I try to look inside
the dryer for more clues? Are dryers simple to get into?

A dryer basically does only two things, and one of them
is actually optional.

It moves a lot of air, and it optionally heats the air.

You can of course determine fairly easily if the heating
element is working or not, by setting it for maximum
heat and running the dryer with a medium sized load (of
already dry clothes) for half an hour or so. The
clothes should get very warm. On my dryer the buttons on
a shirt, or metal zippers on pants, are too hot to hold
onto when the clothes are removed from the dryer.

If yours are not warm at all, or just barely warm, look
at the heating element circuit.

Otherwise, it is simply a matter of moving *lots* of
air. You've said nothing specific about cleaning out
the "lint trap"; so while you probably have... I'll
mention it just to make sure. It should be cleaned out
*every* time a new load is put into the dryer.

In another following article you mention that there does
appear to be air flow. That's one you need to evaluate
again. There should pretty much be a *blast* of air
coming out of it. A half clogged up vent will still
have a lot of air, but it will take twice as long to dry
the clothes too, so it is relatively difficult to judge
what is enough air flow. One way you can do it is to
clean the lint trap and then run a load of clothes with
the outside air ducting removed, letting it vent inside.
If it works well that way, but not when the ducting is
connected... clean out the ducting.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)