tslemmons wrote:
Hi, I was wondering if anyone could suggest my next step (whether to
get the dryer fixed or electrical fixed).

I have a nearly new GE electric dryer and it works great for the most
part. When I use the "fluff" dry cycle it never flips the breaker. If
I turn it to the "low heat" setting, it sometimes works OK, but I
have to have a pretty small load and the clothes have to be somewhat
dry already. If I turn it on any heat setting with a wet load, the
breaker flips almost immediately. I try to dry clothes using the
"fluff" cycle until I can turn it on to low heat.

It has a double 50 AMP circuit breaker for the 220 line. I don't know
if the dryer had this problem before I moved here because I just
bought it (and it was used, but again, it's not more than a year or
two old). I'm thinking it might be a weak breaker, but if there's
some sort of diagnostic I can do to see if it's the dryer or the
electrical, that would be great. My dad brought his voltage meter
with him and it doesn't seem to be pulling too much current. He's an
electrician. I think he said that it must be the breaker, but I'm
just not sure who to call to get a final fix on this.

Does this sound like just a breaker problem? (It's really hard to get
my landlord to fix things.) Or is it my dryer?

Check the dryer's manual and find out what size circuit it requires.
Make sure it is getting that size breaker (no larger or smaller) and
properly sized wires. Old breakers can go bad and may need to be replaced,
but 50amp to a residential dryer sounds far too large to me.

Make sure the dryer is the ONLY thing on the circuit.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit