Doing laundry this weekend and right in the middle of drying a load the dryer stopped running. It is a Kenmore 220 V model that came with the house. Circuit breakers are all fine. I have no other 220V appliance that I can plug in to see if the outlet is functional. The door latch appears to be engaging.
Any hints? What should I investigate first? Any dangers I should avoid?
I haven’t been to a laundromat in decades and really am not looking forward to it. 
Gracias!
When my old Kenmore stopped working, my dad (MGRHS) had a look at it. A wire had come loose on the heating element. He soldered it back on and we started it up. There was a very loud bang. On careful examination we found that the solder joint had blown apart and the wire had welded (not soldered, welded) itself to the drum. The copper wire had actually melted and splattered onto the drum. 220V 20 amps is a lot of current. :eek:
Just letting you know.
I had to pay Sears the minimum service call to re connect the 220v cable to the heating element. 
You might check that first.
What you need is a multimeter to check voltages. You can get one at the local Radio Scrap for $20-25.
Check the voltage at the plug first. I doubt your trouble is in the wiring.
Examine the terminals where the line cord attaches. Occasionally one burns through because of a bad connection.
My bet is the door switch failed. Check the voltage on the 2 terminals with the door open. You should get something, probably 110v. Then shut the door, and check again. if you don’t see 0v, then the switch is bad. Replace it; they’re only a few bucks. Door switches are something that fail often, especially with age.
Somewhere inside the console, there’s a wiring diagram which will help you figure it out if you know how to read them.
Will pick one up tonight. Thanks!
You sure it’s not the circuit breaker?
Our dryer just stopped mid-cycle last summer and though I checked the breaker it seemed just fine. When we had the service fellow come in, he looked it over and said there was nothing wrong with the dryer before checking the breaker himself.
Our breaker for those outlets is slightly weird, you had to flip it then flip it back to the on position so it would engage again, but to a quick look it appeared like it was on becuse the washer and dryer outlets are connected on the breaker and it held it in the on position though it wasn’t on.
If that makes any sense to you.
Yes, I know what you are saying. However, I did flip the breaker back and forth, as I have been fooled in the past by a seemingly OK circuit breaker.
Okay, just thought I’d suggest it since the first time I’d seen it was when my dryer conked out.
A common component to get worn out on dryers is the door switch. Pop the top off and find the switch mechanism. You can try connecting the two switch leads together and then hitting the start button to see if that works.
My door switch has been bypassed for years now.
heh. Sounds like my style of repair. I have 3 lawnmowers with various safety interlocks removed. I may not be the safest landscaper, but I type OK with my two finger method. 
There are a series of thermal overloads and self resetting breakers in the dryer that prevent the elements from overheating. They look like this:
http://www.repairclinic.com/dbimages/00000687/00207992.jpg
Occasionally these devices fail leaving the circuit open.
This happened to me so I took the top off the dryer and bingo, there was a complete wiring diagram. I figured it out and followed the wiring and found a thermal overload that had cracked and failed.
A new one was $15 from the local appliance parts place.
There are a number of problems that could cause your dryer to stop running. The door switch is a common one. Less common would be the centrifugal switch on the motor or the main timer. The wiring diagram should help you troubleshoot these if the door switch checks out.
It could also be the motor itself, however that problem is usually accompanied by a distinctive smell of burned insulation. Since you didn’t mention a smell, the motor is a low probability.
Another possibility is the drum belt. If it breaks the drum would stop spinning and the motor doesn’t make much noise by itself. It would be easy to miss.
I would not think it was a problem with the heating elements as that would only cause it to stop heating but the motor would continue to operate.
Good Luck!
You’ve said it’s a Kenmore, and many of them have a start switch, (momentary N/O)contacts which acts in series with the N/O held closed door switch to provide a start circuit to the drum motor via the cycle timer. Without seeing the appliance schematic, it’s possible that safety thermostats are wired to prevent any operation-drum motor, or heating element.
Well, I went out last night and got a G.E. 17-range 6 function Digital Multimeter. Nicely made, came with a battery and everything, for only $16.95!
So, I took off the top opf the dryer and was amazed at just how simple it is inside. The door switch measured “infinite” resistance (what do electricians call that?) with the door open and a measurable number with the door shut. To double check I ran a jumper wire from wire to wire and the dryer still wouldn’t run.
The belt was fine. The Run Button that danceswithcats mentioned seems OK. Infinite resistance, with a measurable number when the button is depressed. I also poked around looking for any other problem, just putting off inserting probes into the outlet.
So, I switched from resistance to voltage and put the probes into a regular 110 outlet and got a measurement. Then I tried the 220 and got zero volts. I removed the cover box in case I wasn’t making good contact and still I get zero. Then I tried, with the probes clipped into the outlet, switching the breaker back and forth. When I first flip it “on” the meter flashes a bunch of numbers before going back to zero (all in far less than a second).
So, do I have a bad breaker? It is a double 30 amp breaker.
Yup. Bad breaker.
Cool! Is replacing a breaker a DIY job? When I bought this house a couple years ago a friend helped me put in some outside motion lights. We wired them to an unused breaker (from the previous owner’s pool). He told me some horror stories about working with the electrical box. I’ve done all kinds of basic handyman stuff, but volts and amps scare me a little.
Yes, they snap in. Take off the front panel, pry out the breaker from the center, and once it’s free, disconnect the wires from the terminals. Reverse the process to put the new one in. The whole process may take 10 minutes if you’re slow.
The live terminals are behind the breaker as you look at it from the front. Once it’s loose, it’s dead, and there’s no shock danger unless you start messing with the prongs in the back.
Great! Thanks everyone. My wardrobe also thanks you.
Although some will call me a pedant for mentioning this, you should match the manufacturer of the panelboard when replacing a circuit breaker. One article of the NEC states that all products must be used in accordance with their listing and labeling. Some panelboards will only accept that manufacturer’s breaker, ex: Square D QO, while others will accept any of a dozen different breakers, ex: Square D Homeline.
Just because it fits doesn’t make it Code compliant. 
I thought each panel only took breakers from the manufacturer. Obviously I’ve know only a few panels in my life.