Thermal Cut-Off Kit

Of course, I checked on-line to see how to do this repair first. It was the thermal cut off that needed to be replaced but there was a reason it went out. The vent had come loose behind the dryer. I didnt think that was a big deal, but the dryer sucks all that lint back into the dryer. There was an inch of lint inside the back of the dryer. It got too hot and lucky for me, the thermal cut off shut it down. Otherwise, it would of caught fire. The repair was easy and the dryer works great again. Just be sure you keep the vents connected and clean.

Used Instant Repairman to troubleshoot, discovered that no heat was solved by replacing "Thermal Cut-off Kit" and was the problem 55% of the time. Bingo, back in business. The schematic online showed the location of the parts and was fairly easy to replace once all the guards and front panels were removed, 12 screws and 3 spring clips. We are dealing with 220 voltage here, make sure to unplug the dryer and/or shut off the breaker, always double check with curcuit tester or volt meter, stay alive!

Replaced parts and now I do not need to but that new $500-800 dryer! Thanks!

I found the serial # in the door jamb of the dryer and went on line asking the question "dryer won't dryer. It was all down hill after that. I was directed to Part Select, where I input the serial number of the dryer and up popped a complete line of replacement parts to choose from. They even had videos to show me exactly where to find the parts, how to take the dryer apart, and how to remove and replace the parts I needed. Here's a link to Hubpages along with a longer story I wrote about fix the drayer:http://jeromeo.hubpages.com/hub/WET-CLOTHS-DRYER-GOES-OUT.

Checked heater element with multimeter for continuity. Checked good. Internet how to, suggested thermal switch. checked switch with multermeter, checked bad. Ordered switch kit. replaced same. smooth repair. wife was upset because I fixed the old dryer instead of replacing it. I kept a consideral dollar amount in my pocket by repairing the dryer. Purched the pair in 1989.

After reading a few online suggestions I didn't take any chances with the repair. I had looked at the heating element enclousure and found the thermostats and thermal fuse. I found the parts I needed on PartSelect and ordered all three. The thermostats were easy to replace as they were located in plain view. Removing the old heating element was a little more difficult but once I found the screw at the top of the enclouse (there is a hole in the back of the dryer cabinet above the back cover) I was able to use a nut drive (with extension) to remove the hex head screw and the enclosure came right out. One screw holds the heating element in the enclosure. The old heating element looked like it was rusted through - I'm sure the high heat over the 18 years we've had the dryer caused the oxidation. The whole thing took right at 30 minutes and was basically just removing the old parts and plugging the wires back on to the new parts and replacing the scrwes.

It's always on the weekend, usually on sunday...My wife came into the room and said her clothes dryer was broken. The clothes are wet and not hot. I figured the heating element was burnt out...the machine is 11 years old and she uses it 4 to 5 times a week. I pulled the electrical plug and opened the front panel. I disconnected one lead to the heating element and checked for continuity with my Ohm meter. No continuity. Burnt out heating element. I disconnected the other wire and two screws to remove the heating element assembly. I could see the broken coil. I went on line to PartSelect.com and found our dryer in about 2 minutes. There was an Illistrated Parts Breakdown with a picture of our heating element along with the thermal cut-off switch and the thermostat and we decided to replace both since the price was right and we had the dryer appart. I ordered our parts on-line at 5 pm on Sunday and recieved the package, with standard shipping, Tuesday around 3 pm. Unbelievably fast. The package was not damaged and we recieved exactly what we ordered. Reassembly was 15 minutes...the right parts fit perfectly. My wife claims that the dryer works better now than it ever did. I'm not kidding. She's happy and I get to watch football and drink beer while she's doing laundry. I'm the hero but I'll admit, PartSelect made my job EASY! Thankx you guys.

Initially we thought it might be the heating element so I used OHM meter to test that and it was fine so decided to check the thermal fuses. Removed one wire on fuse and tested with OHM meter and it confirmed replacement needed. As recommended on line I replaced both fuses. Parts took a little longer than I expected to arrive but once they came in I had dryer repaired and put back together in 15 minutes. Last service call to my house was roughly $90, parts I needed including shipping were $30 so I saved $60 but doing it myself.

After removing the heating element I checked it for continuity and found it to be not functioning properly. So my first purchase was for the heating element. When this did not resolve the problem is when I checked the Thermal Cut Off Switch and found these switches to be malfunctioning after ordering the kit and installing it my dry now works very well so much so that my wife says it even works better than when we first purchased it.

When I decided to attempt repairs myself, I took the back panels off to look for obvious problems such as frayed or burned wires, contacts,fuses etc. When I did not see anything obvious, I started to look for stories/suggestions from other DIYers who might have had the same problem to see what they did. The PartSelect website not only had parts but also had numerous customer comments that where very helpful in my decision to buy the Thermal Cut-Off kit. Quite a few other people had the same problem - drum turns, but clothes don't dry. The kit came almost overnight! It was very simple to swap out the old parts and restore the dryer. It took about 45-60 minutes to take the back panels off, remove the dryer heating unit and check things out. Took about 15-30 minutes to replace thermal cut off parts and put dryer back together. It works great. In fact my wife thinks it is drying better now than it had been.

Used Ohm meter to determine which thermostat was dead, replaced it, and the dryer's working better than it has in years.

Unplugged dryer removed back replaced part put back on plugged in dryer yippee done!

Wasn't sure whether it was Thermostat or HEater Element - so bought both.

Accessed all through the front panel on lower front of dryer using a flat tip screw driver to depress spring loaded locks. Removed and labeled wires from HE and Thermstats - wires were connected using the standard flat slide on clips. Removed unit with therms and HE connected to it (couple of screws attaching it to the bottom of dryer).

Cleaned out all lint in the bottom of the dryer. Replaced the parts (noting the placement and location/order of element, then reversed the disassembly order to place the dryer back into operation.

Prior to re-connecting the dryer to the outside vent - tried a test of the dryer to ensure hot air would be pushed out through vent by running the dryer for about three minutes.

Everything worked smoothly - my 15 year old son actually did all of the work while I supervised :)

After unplugging the dryer and pulling it out.I removed the front cover below the door by putting a screw driver between the clips and bottom of the door and pulled on the cover and it came loss.
I then marked the wires on the heating element removed two screws to the bracket on the end and removed the heating element and tube all in one piece
After removing the screw that holds the heating element to the tube i pulled it out and found the element had broken.
i got on PartSelect put the model# in and there was my parts. I Ordered both the element and the thermal cut off kit because it seem to cheap insurance against buning up another element.
I placed my order had it sent next day delivery and it arrived right at the time they said it would.
Clean the underside of the dryer up. Installed everything back in reverse order.
Pluged it back in and turned it on and it worked.
One word of caution! Check your vent tube before reinstalling the dryer mine was stopped up and i believe thats what burned up the element.

Tested for continuity. The installation video was very good but did not address which wires went to which terminals. Because of polarity, I was uncertain until an appliance repair man told me it didn't matter.