Kenmore 80 Series Electric Dryer won't heat

[snottrocket]

I'm going on week three without a dryer.  After a little web search, my father in-law figured it was the heating element and the thermal fuse so he bought one of each for the dryer. I put them on and nothing changed.  Still no heat.

I did further research and realized I needed a multimeter to test the parts.  I picked one up, tested resistance on the thermal fuses, the heating elements...both tested with good resistance. I then tested the thermostats.  Cycle therm tested fine, hi-limit therm also tested fine. The safety therm, however showed zero resistance so we determined that to be the culprit and purchased the kit for that which comes with the cutoff and the hi-limit therm. Unfortunately, still nothing has changed.  

Not exactly sure where to go next.  Any suggestions?

Model 11067832791

[whirlpooltech]

The first thing I check on any electric dryer is the voltage at the back of the dryer were the power cord connects.

Your electric dryer only needs 120 Volts to run the motor, but it needs 240 Volts to run the heating element.

If you have house fuses instead of breakers then the dryer will have two house fuses and if one is bad the dryer may run, but not heat.

If you do have house breakers instead of fuses then you could have a bad connection at the terminal block were the cord connects to the back of the dryer.

[snottrocket]

That's what I figured was next. 

I tried testing voltage at the outlet but the probes don't seem to make contact. Alternatively, I tried testing the contacts at the dryer. But, I'm not sure if I did it correctly because the readings seemed REALLY odd.

layout is like this

1 (green) - 2 (black) - 3 (white) - 4 (red)

I set the multimeter to 200v DC for testing.

I tested 2 & 3 and then 3 & 4. My understanding, based on what I've read/viewed is I should get about 120 for either. I was getting like 79 and 50 something. again, unsure if I was doing it correctly.

Then I tested 2 & 4.  Again, based on what I've read and seen on YouTube, the reading should be 240.  I'm getting like 194-197.

I'm not sure if it's the multimeter or me.

Question question, should the green wire on the power cable connect to the green wire on the dryer...the one on the dryer is mounted against the back of the dryer..so I know that's ground.  I wasn't the one to pull the back off the dryer so I can't attest to weather or not those two were connected originally.  I would have thought they were.

[snottrocket]

Oh, and we have a breaker box.  I tried testing the voltage on that too...also got odd numbers. Still not sure if I was setting the dial correctly on the multimeter.

[jumptrout51]

You have to have a accurate meter with a good battery installed.
Then set the meter for 240 vac or higher.
If the meter is OK,you have incoming voltage fluctuations. Remove the cover from the wall outlet for the dryer and test the terminals.
L1 to ground.120 volts
L2 to ground. 120 volts
 and
 L1 to L2.220/240 volts

[snottrocket]

It's a brand new meter, batteries are brand new as well....as for quality? Not sure. It's no Fluke meter, I can tell you that. I believe the brand is Commercial Electric.  Not exactly in a position to pop for high dollar but it's done well with testing resistance.

My options on DC are 200m, 2, 20 , 200 & 600.  I've gone back and forth between the 200 nd 600 settings but I'll go back and try again with the 600 setting.

[jumptrout51]

Your post states "DC". You must be using "AC" voltage setting.
Also check some other circuits in your house for comparison on voltage.

[snottrocket]

OKay...so, I correctly tested the connections on the back of the dryer. I set my meter to 600v AC (I'm learning) and tested the center and left which gave me around 124v and the center and right which also gave me around 124v.  I then tested the left and right contacts and got about 248v.

So it looks like it's drawing power correctly.

Again, I have a four prong plug for this dryer...one of which is clearly the ground but I'm not sure if that's supposed to be connected or disconnected from the ground that's already on the dryer.

What's my next possibility?

[JWWebster]

Click on pic