On Nov 15, 7:21*am, terry wrote:
On Nov 15, 12:21*am, Mikepier wrote:



On Nov 14, 10:12*pm, dpb wrote:

Joe wrote:
My old Kenmore electric dryer stopped turning off and stopped emitting
heat, all at once. I put a load in before bed and woke up with it
still spinning, cold. *Do I have one problem to fix, or two?

Probably one if had set on auto cycle.

--

Sounds like the timer. When it reaches the end, the heat stops and is
suppose to air dry for like a minute or so. You notice the dial *is at
the end, but the contacts inside don't quite disconnect. Try on a
different cycle than the one you have a problem with.
Oh by the way, just some friendly advice, not a good idea to go to bed
with the dryer on.

Agree. Even though the OP mentions it's an electric dryer. We NEVER go
to sleep with dryer running.

There is just a remote chance that there could be some old lint in the
vent, or that the built in overheat devices (in addition to the
thermostat) fail to cut out and something scorches and/or catches
fire). See P.S.

We fortunately have never had a dryer fire. Despite that even when our
original and seven times self repaired dryer, dating from 1962,
failed we have had a number of used ones. For example our *current
dryer cost a dozen beer and "Pick it up within an hour"! Because the
'seller' had brand new washer-dryer duo coming later that day.

He even helped me load it onto the pickup! . Getting a full size dryer
down the basement in my mid 70s was interesting but didn't break
anything or myself in the process. That was about four or five years
ago and it's worked fine ever since

But have seen the results of a dryer fire; not pretty. Certain amount
of smoke damage too! It also IIRC damaged some of the outside vinyl
house siding and the owner had difficulty getting replacement siding
that would match. That dryer was a write off; wasn't even worth while
taking parts off it!

Also IIRC one relative had a something get stuck/caught in their
dryer. Somehow they noticed a 'scorched' smell and tracked it down. It
was during the day and they were home. Nothing serious but I believe a
garment or a bed sheet was damaged.

The worst damage have seen was in a dryer with the the air circulating/
exhaust fan mounted low down. Loose coins (quite a few of them) had
got into the plastic fan blades and they had smashed up; it was
necessary to take out the broken blades by the handful! *With
virtually no air circulating 'It was not drying the clothes'!

Nails and other items left in pants pockets can be the
same.Consequently have always preferred dryer with the air exhaust fan
mounted high up e.g. many older Kenmores etc.

P.S. And there is also just a remote *chance that some lazy repairman
or previous owner disabled or removed an overheat switch when it
previously failed and never 'got back' to fixing it properly. Our use
of used machines also alerts one to that!

Twice with microwaves ovens have found situations where a previous
'fixer' or owner had 'jimmied' something to make the m.wave continue
working. In at least one case it was an over-heat safety switch. The
other was IIRC a door micro-switch that had been by-passed! Very
dangerous.



The dryer was set to turn off long before I actually got to bed, it
just never did and I failed to notice. I'm well aware of the risk of
dryer fires, we had one when I was a kid.