New dryer, yes or no?

Coyote Chris

Coyote Chris

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I need a dope slap.
Our 20-30 year old clothes dryer had its second problem since we have owned it. Very roughly 10 years ago, the Hi temp theromostat burned its contacts. Normally, this is just a safety feature and the normal working thermostat open and closes...maybe twice every 6 minutes. The high temp one stays closed. The symptom is you get no heat. Well, it burned up again today so I took a spare new one I had and put it in. I put a leaf blower into the vent hose and cleaned out a bit of lint, re attached the hose and put a volt meter across the high temp thermostat and the operational thermostat and sat down and watched the meters, infrared heat sensor in hand and watched the beast dry 4 t shirts. The operational thermostat openned and closed about twice in six minutes. The heater housing got as hot as 158 degrees but the air going out the hose only got to 135 degrees which is what the operational thermostat is set at (with a screw stick). In short, it worked perfectly.

One caviat. This dryer has a thermal cutoff non resetable "switch" at the top of the dryer heater housing. At 325 degrees, it will open up. This is usually caused by the machine being run with an obstructed hose or a clogged lint filter. I wired it out of the circuit 10 years ago when it failed but now I learned from a long dead mechanic you can actually reset them by wapping them against a flat surface. They are a warped disc which you can unwarp by doing this. The new one I put in 10 years ago but wired around had popped so I reset it and put it back in service.

What I like about this Kenmore is it is dirt simple. No microproccessors...no temp control......

So do I go out and pay $550 for a new basic dryer (cheep) hopefully without a computer? The only down side to not doing this is this one could fail its motor, belt, motor/heater switch, timer, etc in a week or a year and then I have to go out and buy a new one at possibly inflated prices.

My head and gut are telling me to just go out and buy one for $550. My heart says hey, this one is actually fixable as far as the heater circuit goes and there are youtube vids as to how to do it.


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Coyote Chris said:
So do I go out and pay $550 for a new basic dryer (cheep) hopefully without a computer?
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Fact is, whatever "new" appliance you'd be able to buy these days, will never even come near a 20~30 year lifespan...

And throwing an appliance away over a $ 5,- (if even) spare part goes deeply against my core instincts...
 
ST1100Y said:
Fact is, whatever "new" appliance you'd be able to buy these days, will never even come near a 20~30 year lifespan...

And throwing an appliance away over a $ 5,- (if even) spare part goes deeply against my core instincts...
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Its the Bavarian in me. My life span probably is five years or less now....The dryer we figured out is 34 years old. The 500 bucks is irreveelnt. How long will the new one last?
So there is that part of the equation. (The whole house vaccum is 45 years old and works like a charm. You can still get bags for it.) The fridge is 25 years old.
 
just rebuild it. belt, idler, front felt bearing, door switch, and motor.. .. .. and those thermostats are just about all that could fail unless the basket rusts out. id keep it running until the motor dies... even baskets don't cost much compared to the new dryer.
 
I would likely fix that one if parts still available. I would reset or replace that overtemp switch instead of a jumper. Safety circuits are usually not needed but great to have if conditions line up.

Arknt
 
I'd fix it. The new ones have all the electronic systems that just don't last. Our washing machine is new, but the drier is original to the house, built in 1970. 55 years old. Kenmore gas model.

Cliff
 
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Fix the damned thing!! Thermal cutouts are cheap! BTW, the engineer in me advises the pilot in you to NEVER bypass a safety device..... but you know that.....
:eek:
Mike
 
In my time with our local fire department I saw a few house fires started from a clothes dryer. Several contributing factors were common.
1. Lack of maintenance (cleaning)
2. Too much heat
3. Poor installation

I think you can figure it out from there by yourself.
 
Speaking of Appliance longevity. We bought a Freezer from Sears, Kenmore back in 1982 when my daughter was 6 years old. In 1986 we took it to Hawaii and back in 1988. In 1998 we moved to Texas for 11 years and gave the freezer to my daughter. Today 2026 it is in my Daughters garage full of frozen foods and in dire need of being defrosted, but it still freezes and works like a charm. My daughter is going to turn 49 next month.
 
ARKNT said:
I would likely fix that one if parts still available. I would reset or replace that overtemp switch instead of a jumper. Safety circuits are usually not needed but great to have if conditions line up.

Arknt
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This safety circuit didnt worry me and I bypassed it for the last ten years. I learned the tech tip of how you can reset them and I am going to leave it in for now. Its ususally caused by a clogged lint filter or kinked hose. My wife is famous for not cleaning the lint filter. Lint in hoses cause many house fires, BTW. I blow mine out with a leave flower. If she blows it again I will wire it out of the circuit and insist she stay home when drying clothes. The odd thing is the over temp contact point burning....is it just 10 years of current that destroyed the points since the main thermostat works perfectly?
 
ARKNT said:
I would likely fix that one if parts still available. I would reset or replace that overtemp switch instead of a jumper. Safety circuits are usually not needed but great to have if conditions line up.

Arknt
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I would normally agree with you. But once I started reading youtubes about what repair people think about this particular one time (really resetable) thermal breaker, I got a new one, reset the old one by wapping it on a table and making sure my absent minded proffesser wife doesnt run the dryer while not there. I have also trained her to check her overflow bottle of her car, suck out the extra fluid, put it back in the readiator, and add a bit if needed every day till she trades this thing in. (funny story...when I met her, she could set up a Datsun dual point distributor, which impressed me more than her PHD in plant ecology...LOL! But in reality, she didnt understand what a dual point distributor actually did....she was just following the book :rofl1: )
Deep into the last century
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junglejim said:
In my time with our local fire department I saw a few house fires started from a clothes dryer. Several contributing factors were common.
1. Lack of maintenance (cleaning)
2. Too much heat
3. Poor installation

I think you can figure it out from there by yourself.
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I have read the same thing. So for $250 apiece, I am not going to fool around with it much longer.
 
Chucksklrst said:
Speaking of Appliance longevity. We bought a Freezer from Sears, Kenmore back in 1982 when my daughter was 6 years old. In 1986 we took it to Hawaii and back in 1988. In 1998 we moved to Texas for 11 years and gave the freezer to my daughter. Today 2026 it is in my Daughters garage full of frozen foods and in dire need of being defrosted, but it still freezes and works like a charm. My daughter is going to turn 49 next month.
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Absolutely not an uncommon story. The old US ice box/refrigidators/freezers were indeed built to last. Even my 2000 , 25 year old fridge is still working. I have talked with people who bought the new fridges with microprocessors and they have all kinds of issues.
 
mikesim said:
Fix the damned thing!! Thermal cutouts are cheap! BTW, the engineer in me advises the pilot in you to NEVER bypass a safety device..... but you know that.....
:eek:
Mike
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Mike, every lawn mover/tractor I have ever had has safety circuits bypassed. I can climb off my John Deere and the engine doesnt stop. I can let go of the handlee of my lawn mover and the engine doesnt stop LOL!!!
 
ST1100Y said:
That's the other side of the spectrum... if cash is no issue, live a little, treat yourself with something, why not...
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Money is no object....but safety is....so I will buy a new one....but I will still enjoy these last few weeks of Summer. Shooting, visiting friends, riding, and finishing up splitting wood for the winter. And sweating out cancer tests....then I will go shopping and play hard ball......scratch and dent, free delivery, etc. I dont like bargining but I hate being ripped off. My wife needed new tires for her POS car that we are tradding in early next year when the new Subaru Outbacks arrive. The cord and its steel threads were showing. All we needed is something that would hold the car off the ground. Long story short, I showed 4 tires, built in America, for $500 installed with old tire fee, etc and tax included from Tire rama. Over the web....she called them and they didnt want to honor that price but the manager agreed finally to do it. So now she has 4 new M and S tires on a car that needs to be donated to someone who can replace head gaskets. Oddly, the "left bank lean" O2 sensor has stopped blowing codes)
 
Coyote Chris said:
Money is no object....but safety is....so I will buy a new one....but I will still enjoy these last few weeks of Summer. Shooting, visiting friends, riding, and finishing up splitting wood for the winter...
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Drag the dryer out to your shooting range and make it a bullet trap ... or a bulk brass cleaner.
:)
 
Coyote Chris said:
Mike, every lawn mover/tractor I have ever had has safety circuits bypassed. I can climb off my John Deere and the engine doesnt stop. I can let go of the handlee of my lawn mover and the engine doesnt stop LOL!!!
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You are a big boy, you know the consequences, but that high limit thermal cut-out is a stretch. We often load our dryer, turn it on and go off and let it do its thing with no supervision and not give it a second thought. I know that it has been tested by UL, ETL or CSA for safety. It has been designed and tested to fail in a safe manner. I too have bypassed safety devices for testing purposes or to accomplish a single task, but I restore the safety devices when I am finished. Thermal cutouts are the ATGATT's of the appliance world.
;)
Mike
 
mikesim said:
You are a big boy, you know the consequences, but that high limit thermal cut-out is a stretch. We often load our dryer, turn it on and go off and let it do its thing with no supervision and not give it a second thought. I know that it has been tested by UL, ETL or CSA for safety. It has been designed and tested to fail in a safe manner. I too have bypassed safety devices for testing purposes or to accomplish a single task, but I restore the safety devices when I am finished. Thermal cutouts are the ATGATT's of the appliance world.
;)
Mike
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At the end of the day, Jim is right.....new dryer needed.
 
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