8TW - Overview

Remove the kick plate from the bottom of the dryer by sliding a putty knife along the top edge to release the plastic clamps, one on each side about 4" in from the edges. The kick plate folds out and down. You will see the heat shield on the right, held in by one hex head screw. Remove screw and heat shield. The element is positioned in a ... Read more n open-front housing and is fastened to the left side of the housing by two hex head screws, located on the "rail" of the element and right near the two wires. Remove the hex-head screws that hold the element in place and disconnected the two wires by pulling them out by hand or with needle nose pliers. The only difficulty here is the cramped working area...I recommend a stubby socket driver for these two screws. Most of this I had to do by feel because I could not see the screw heads. Once the screws are out and the wires have been disconnected, slide the old element straight out toward you. You may need to disconnect a small plastic hose located to the left front of the element, but this hose just pulls right off. Vacume the dust & lint build-up out of the whole area, wipe out the element housing and clean up the whole underside of the dryer prior to installing the new element. Installation is reverse of removal. It also might be a good opportunity to clean out your exhaust duct and the vent to the outside. (Never use the aluminum foil-accordian-type duct.) If the exterior dryer vent has any kind of screen over it, remove it and get rid of it. Screens collect lint, lint builds up and burns out elements.

PartSelect showed seven different possibilities why the dryer wouldn't heat. I removed the two screws to remove the bottom panel and turned the dryer on and noticed that the heating element that ignites the gas was working fine. This meant that it was not getting gas so it could be the gas valve or one of the two gas valve coils which are ... Read more located on top of the gas valve. I borrowed my neighbor"s ohm meter and touched the two probes on the coils terminals to check for continuity and found that one of the coils read zero. I then took both of the coils out by removing two screws and tested each coil again. One coil read 500-850 and the other read zero. This meant that it was no good so I called for the part and received it in three days. I reassembled the parts and turned the dryer on and it fired up after a few seconds. It works as good as new. The part plus shipping was less than $30. My repairman would have charged me $150-$200. While the dryer was apart I gave it a good cleaning with a vacuum and a toothbrush in delicate areas. I also removed and cleaned the lint trap housing by removing two nuts. I didn't know much about gas dryers, but thanks to PartSelect I easily fixed it myself.

There was no problem with lint build-up within the dryer & the exhaust vent. I removed the gas cycling thermostat & thermal fuse from system & dryer still was not operating correctly. The radiant sensor & hi-limit thermostat both seemed to be operating correctly. That left either of the two coils as the culprits. I replaced both coils ... Read more & the problem was corrected.