On Feb 23, 1:55*pm, (Arthur Shapiro) wrote:
I think this is the newsgroup traditionally used for appliance questions, so
hopefully this is acceptably on-target.

The Kenmore-branded Whirpool dryer (110.79912900) hasn't been doing well in
recent months, taking unacceptably long to dry loads while still clearly
putting out some heat. *Obviously, the first thing I did was to pull the
skins, clean out the usual amount of congealed lint inside the filter screen
area, and leaf-blower the entirety of the interior. *Happily it is right up
against the exterior garage wall with a real short duct to the outside, and
that is totally clean.

I observe that when started, the igniter comes on, I get a nice flame for
three or four minutes, and then it goes out. *But unlike the typical (as I
understand it) coil failure, the process repeats, but not for several minutes.
*No wonder the drying takes so long - the gas should be burning considerably
more frequently than I'm observing and it's thus blowing lukewarm air for much
of the cycle.

I first thought that this still could be an issue with the coils, and found a
web site that tabulated typical resistance values to the various combinations
of terminals on the three-post and two-post coils. *To my surprise, all were
dead on. *So I assume the coils are fine.

So now it's time to ask for some assistance. *My next thought is the pair of
thermostats inside. *I haven't pulled them or tested them in any way yet, as
they're harder to reach than the coils. *Is this a valid next step? *Would it
be most likely the low-temp (155 degree) thermostat not reacting quickly
enough to the drop in temperature after the flame has been turned off?

Advice welcome.

Art

It could also be the timer is intermittent. My timer on my gas dryer
had bad contacts inside, these contacts is what completes the circuit
so the gas valves can open, and let the gas come on. So just keep that
in mind too while troubleshooting.
How does it dry in the other cycles? Try the "Timed" cycle. For some
reason, when I had the timer problem, it would be fine in "Timed"
mode, but not "Auto". The contacts are configured different for each
cycle.