Appliance Parts - My friend was having a dryer issue where it would not dry
the clothes or it was taking longer to dry so I stopped by to take a look at
it. I went ahead and brought a replacement gas dryer ignitor or hot surface
ignitor (HSI) with me because that is a common part to fail since they
thermally cycle in their normal operation and eventually wear out. This particular
dryer had the lower kick panel so I can remove it and have a good view of the
gas valve assembly. When I was there watching it… of course it worked without
failure.
About a week later they called again so I stopped by and
took another look. When I first started up dryer the HSI ignitor glowed and the
gas valve clicked and she fired up. I waited until the gas valve shut off and
wanted to see if it would relight properly. It turns out… it lit properly
sometimes and sometimes not. Knowing that the common dryer problems are
the ignitor and coils on the gas valve I would focus on the coils
because the ignitor is glowing just fine.
Next, I ordered the 279834 coil set and changed them out and
that was the problem. You can visit www.washerbearings.com/parts to order replacement parts other than tub bearings and seal. Have your model number available.
Don’t forget safety when working on appliances. Make sure
you unplug the power cord before opening the appliance. When changing the 279834
coils… Be aware that there is a metal sleeve on the post that has the 3
terminal coil on it. Make sure you have that metal sleeve on the post because
it can come off with the old coil and remain inside it. That valve post with
the 3 terminal coil needs to have the metal sleeve on it to work properly.
Don’t lose the metal sleeve because I don’t believe you can order that part and
you will probably have to order a new gas valve to get one.
Thanks to this easy and low cost repair we saved another
appliance from the grave yard! Tip: I had to use a short stubby Philips
screwdriver in order to get the bracket off that clamps the coils down.
Otherwise, I would have had to take the machine apart. If you don’t have the
separate kick panel on the bottom on your dryer you will have to dive deeper
into the dis assembly process to get to the gas valve assembly.
By the way… I measured the new coils and the old coils with
an ohmmeter.
New Coil #1 (3
terminal) Old
Coil #1
1-2 = 2.97K Ohms 1-2
= Open
2-3= 3.54K Ohms 2-3=
Open
1-3= 2.1K Ohms 1-3=
727 Ohms
New Coil #2 (2
terminal) Old
Coil #2
1-2 = 1.45K ohms 1.276K
ohms
We can now understand why the dryer was failing to activate
the gas valve properly… The old coil with 3 terminals has opened up internally.
I hope this post helped you get your dryer repaired and back
in operation with minimal cost and effort.
While you are here… I offer bearing and seal kits for
washers at my www.washerbearings.com.
If you have a Maytag Neptune, Whirlpool Duet, Kenmore Elite and others you can
save big time and keep your machine out of the grave yard and keep more cash in
your wallet!
Thank you,
Jeff Hartman
