I have a 7 year old whirlpool dryer with electronic sensor dry (2
contacts inside drum). The dryer occasionally (once in every 5-6
cycles) stops. It nearly always stops within the first 10 minutes. It
is tough to diagnose due to the occasional nature of the stops. Here
are the facts so far:

1. It is not the vent pipe. Cleaned it and have run it without the
vent pipe for a while - still stops.

2. It is not the electronic dry sensor. It stops on the timed cycle
too, as well as automatic cycle. I also removed the sensor circuit
board and run just on timed cycle and problem persists.

3. Does not seem to be any motor amp or overheat thermal switches
since the dryer immediately will restart right after it stops.
Typically, they must have time to cool.

4. I can't find any problem with the door switch - but my next move is
to take it out of the circuit.

What else could cause the dryer to stop? It is not just the heat
kicking off, but the drum too.

Help. Thanks.

wrote:
I have a 7 year old whirlpool dryer with electronic sensor dry (2
contacts inside drum). The dryer occasionally (once in every 5-6
cycles) stops. It nearly always stops within the first 10 minutes. It
is tough to diagnose due to the occasional nature of the stops. Here
are the facts so far:

1. It is not the vent pipe. Cleaned it and have run it without the
vent pipe for a while - still stops.

2. It is not the electronic dry sensor. It stops on the timed cycle
too, as well as automatic cycle. I also removed the sensor circuit
board and run just on timed cycle and problem persists.

3. Does not seem to be any motor amp or overheat thermal switches
since the dryer immediately will restart right after it stops.
Typically, they must have time to cool.

4. I can't find any problem with the door switch - but my next move is
to take it out of the circuit.

What else could cause the dryer to stop? It is not just the heat
kicking off, but the drum too.

Help. Thanks.

Hi,
When you mention sensor there are several one of them being safety limit
sensor. Have you cleaned out the whole dryer free of lint build up?
Your heating element may be causing intermittent short raising temp.
abnormally high. Check them.

sounds like a door switch, intermittents can be a bear.

gas or electric dryer?

Electric. When I pulled the auto dryer circuit, it went a week without
stopping so I thought I had it. I've wiggled the door switch and shook
the whole unit looking for loose connections, but could not find any.

Yes, I took the entire dryer apart and cleaned it good. Heating
elements look good. If it raised the temp and that knocked it off, why
can I start it back right away. My experience with thermal switches
are that they take a minute to cool back down (being bi-metalic
switches).

Thanks

add another set of door switch wires to the outside and connect
together. if the problem disappears you have found it.

is door shutting smooth and square, is dryer level?

these can cause door switch troubles

wrote:
sounds like a door switch, intermittents can be a bear.

gas or electric dryer?

That's good one.

from your investigation, I suspect a intermittent solder joint on your
controller board. These will be just fine, until it gets hot and the
board warps just enough fo the solder joint to trip the sensor, then
everything is ok again after you re-start. I had this problem in a
car, and it was a beach to diagnose.
good luck
tim1198

But I've completely removed the controller board for the auto dry
feature and it still stops sometimes. This board does nothing in timed
mode, but I took it out just to be sure. There is no other controller
board.

If it is a door switch, then I can not duplicate it by jiggling wires
or the switch. Anyway, I've shorted the wires together (bypassing the
switch) and will run it for a couple weeks, then post back findings
here.



tim1198 wrote:
from your investigation, I suspect a intermittent solder joint on your
controller board. These will be just fine, until it gets hot and the
board warps just enough fo the solder joint to trip the sensor, then
everything is ok again after you re-start. I had this problem in a
car, and it was a beach to diagnose.
good luck
tim1198

wired out door switch is good test....

OK, as suspected, the door switch is not the problem, as it still
stopped with the switch out of the loop. My next step is to run it
several times in "fluff air" mode - esentially with the heat off. This
way I can eliminate all the thermastats? Does this sound like a good
idea?

I can't figure out why it only stops within the first 5-10 minutes, but
never at any other point? It is not the position of the timer, since
it does it if I set the timer to 70, 50, 30 or whatever starting
position, or if I do it in auto dry mode.

Problem finally solved. It was the starter relay.


wrote:
I have a 7 year old whirlpool dryer with electronic sensor dry (2
contacts inside drum). The dryer occasionally (once in every 5-6
cycles) stops. It nearly always stops within the first 10 minutes. It
is tough to diagnose due to the occasional nature of the stops. Here
are the facts so far:

1. It is not the vent pipe. Cleaned it and have run it without the
vent pipe for a while - still stops.

2. It is not the electronic dry sensor. It stops on the timed cycle
too, as well as automatic cycle. I also removed the sensor circuit
board and run just on timed cycle and problem persists.

3. Does not seem to be any motor amp or overheat thermal switches
since the dryer immediately will restart right after it stops.
Typically, they must have time to cool.

4. I can't find any problem with the door switch - but my next move is
to take it out of the circuit.

What else could cause the dryer to stop? It is not just the heat
kicking off, but the drum too.

Help. Thanks.

Push to start relays rarely go bad. Did that fix the problem?