Went on another dryer service call the other day. Complaint on this one was that the dryer was completely dead, no lights, no beeps, no nuttin’. It was, as we master appliantologists say, dead on arrival.

Pop Quiz: What’s the first thing you check when you’re dealing with a dead appliance?

Answer: The power supply. In this case, make sure you have proper voltage at the wall outlet that the dryer plugs into. These pics show you the anatomy of both the three-wire and four-wire outlets. Click ’em for a larger view.

Anyway, did that, all good. So the dryer must be getting voltage, right? Ahh, grasshoppah, not necessarily. Like the yellow brick road, we must follow the pigtail into the back of the dryer, remove the little cover for the power strip and check power there. Only then can we say the dryer is getting voltage… or not. After I removed the power strip cover, my bloodshot eyeballs immediately grokked the problem. See if you can spot it in the picture below:

Did you find it? I knowed you could! Loose connections make heat… sometimes LOTS of heat. Be sure the nuts on those power strip studs are GOODNTIGHT!

In this case, so much of the pigtail wire was burnt up that I had to install a new one. You can, too. Piece of pie, tovarish– come git you one!

To learn more about your dryer, or to order parts, click here.

It was a crisp fall morning here in New Hampster when the call came in. Whirlpool Duet electric dryer, the sensing light comes on, control panel responds to the buttons, but it just won’t start running.

So, I set down my breakfast bottle of Tuckerman’s Pale Ale, saddled up the Samurai Repair Van and peeled out.

Upon arrival, I stood in front of the dryer with the customer and verified the complaint. Sho’nuff, the sensing light came on but the motor wouldn’t run when you pressed “Start.” You’d hear a click from the control board then nuttin’, honey.

Since the Duet is one of them over-designed, electronified dryers, you gotsta at least get some eyeballs on the schematic diagram to get an idea of the possible suspects. Conveniently, the dryer comes with a decent tech sheet located just under the top panel. To take off the top panel, you need to pull the dryer out from the wall a few feet to remove three retaining screws in back. With the top panel off, you’ll see the tech sheet in a plastic pouch like ahso.

Now, this is what sets a Fermented Grand Master of Appliantology (FGMA), like yours so very freaking truly, apart from your average parts changing monkey (PCM). Where a PCM might just ASSume that the control board is bad– and he would be woefully, hideously wrong– a Master Appliantologist would meditate upon the deeper meaning of life as revealed in the schematic.

So I fired up a spliff, er, I mean, a stick of incense and focused my keen, Vulcan-like squinties upon the schematic whereupon I did perceive a thermal fuse in series with the motor. Being a certifiable black belt in the ancient martial art of Fixite Do, I realized that if the thermal fuse is open, well, motor no workee.

With the speed of an intoxicated electron and the precision of fuzzy logic, I removed the dryer’s kickplate and took off the blower cover so I could get my nimble fangers on that thermal fuse, located on the blower housing. I checked continuity with my meter and, shazayyam!, that bad boy was wide-azz open!

I pulled a new thermal fuse off my van, slapped it in there and that dryer fired right up… after I plugged it back in and turned it on. Giddy up!

To learn more about your dryer, or to order parts, click here.