clothes dryer repair help please

Factual Questions
1

Howdy,

So last night while the clothes dryer was running we had a power outage for about 3 seconds. The clothes were dry so we didn’t restart the dryer. Today the dryer will run but it does not heat up. My first thought was that the thermal fuse was blown so I bypassed it as a test, but it still did not heat up. Them I tried bypassing the thermostat and it still did not heat up. I bypassed them by disconnecting the leads and taping them together. I’m fairly certain that that would be a reasonable test for the fuse but I’m not sure about the thermostat. Should that work as a diagnostic? Is the next reasonable guess the heating element? I’d rather not pay for a service call but I’m not sure what else to do. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

We have had other electrical problems lately and it is possible that the dryer is not getting as much power as it needs although that issue seems to have been resolved by the power supplier and the other symptoms that we were experiencing with that issue are not manifesting themselves at this point so I don’t think it is related. The problem was that one of the feeds into the house had diminished power. We had some circuits with dim lights and the 210 appliances did not function properly (ie heat up.) This was last week but the line had been replaced and the oven is working fine and no lights are dim. My wife went over to a neighbor’s house to socialize this evening and she is going to find out if they lost power last night too.

Thanks all!

2

Test the heating element with an ohmmeter - it should measure a few ohms. If it measures OK, one leg of your power is bad, either at the dryer or before it.

3

Thanks beowulff. We are going out of town but I should be able to get my hands on an ohmmeter when I return.

4

for people not familiar with electrical testing and safety; tests with an ohm meter in a device for resistance or continuity should be done with the device unplugged.

if the element is good then check the plug and receptacle they may have become corroded or not fitting tight.

5

I confirmed with a multimeter that there was no continuity through the heating element before we left town, ordered a new one which arrived while we were gone and installed it today when we got back. All is well.

Thanks for the help dopers.