[SOLVED] fried clothes dryer?

**Raylo** · 06-14-2008, 05:17 AM

GE DDE5900RALAD electric clothes dryer

A friend called and said when she tried to run her dryer yesterday it made a nasty electrical smell and she shut it off right away. The circuit breaked didn't trip. She later ran it with the heat off and it seemed to be OK but she is afraid to try it with heat again.

I looked online at the parts available for this unit the only thing that strikes me as a possibility is fried heating elements. Anyone ever work on dryers and have any thoughts?

Dryers seem to be one of the more reliable devices in my life and I have never had to work on one. Guess that's about to change when I have a look at it later today.

**Raylo** · 06-15-2008, 09:50 AM

Well, it was my lucky day. In the words of a car repair tech I was "unable to duplicate the problem". It worked fine, quiet and no smell when we ran it. So I didn't have to spend the afternoon mucking with it. :-) But we'll keep an extra close eye on it for awhile.

**wrench97** · 06-15-2008, 10:44 AM

Some have more then 1 heating element so if she now complains that it doesn't dry as fast as it use to, it may have burnt one of them out.

Of course you could tell what I told my wife --
"You must be imaging that, feel how hot it is in there"

**Raylo** · 06-15-2008, 12:37 PM

I like how you think! It seemed hot enough and she seemed happy so this little secret will stay between us. ;-)

**stressfreesoul** · 06-19-2008, 04:13 PM

Sometimes fluff can escape the drum. This can also produce a burning smell.

dai · 06-19-2008, 07:00 PM

it it is overloaded it can cause the belt to slip and produce the odour

Elmer Fudd 58 · 07-19-2008, 06:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stressfreesoul

Sometimes fluff can escape the drum. This can also produce a burning smell.

Is that the pale blue belly button fluff ??

kcaternolo · 08-11-2008, 08:30 AM

your friends dryer could probably also just need a good cleaning that lint trap only catches a small portion of lint for $55-$80 you could get someone to professionally clean it

06-14-2008, 05:17 AM	#1 (permalink)
Raylo TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Maryland, USA Posts: 521 OS: XP Desktop, Vista HP Notebook, XP Notebook	[SOLVED] fried clothes dryer? GE DDE5900RALAD electric clothes dryer A friend called and said when she tried to run her dryer yesterday it made a nasty electrical smell and she shut it off right away. The circuit breaked didn't trip. She later ran it with the heat off and it seemed to be OK but she is afraid to try it with heat again. I looked online at the parts available for this unit the only thing that strikes me as a possibility is fried heating elements. Anyone ever work on dryers and have any thoughts? Dryers seem to be one of the more reliable devices in my life and I have never had to work on one. Guess that's about to change when I have a look at it later today.

06-15-2008, 09:50 AM	#2 (permalink)
Raylo TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Maryland, USA Posts: 521 OS: XP Desktop, Vista HP Notebook, XP Notebook	Re: fried clothes dryer? Well, it was my lucky day. In the words of a car repair tech I was "unable to duplicate the problem". It worked fine, quiet and no smell when we ran it. So I didn't have to spend the afternoon mucking with it. :-) But we'll keep an extra close eye on it for awhile.

06-15-2008, 10:44 AM	#3 (permalink)
wrench97 Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 17,870 OS: XPSP3	Re: [SOLVED] fried clothes dryer? Some have more then 1 heating element so if she now complains that it doesn't dry as fast as it use to, it may have burnt one of them out. Of course you could tell what I told my wife -- "You must be imaging that, feel how hot it is in there"

06-15-2008, 12:37 PM	#4 (permalink)
Raylo TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Maryland, USA Posts: 521 OS: XP Desktop, Vista HP Notebook, XP Notebook	Re: [SOLVED] fried clothes dryer? I like how you think! It seemed hot enough and she seemed happy so this little secret will stay between us. ;-)

06-19-2008, 04:13 PM	#5 (permalink)
stressfreesoul Semi-Absent (life, eh?) Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: County Durham UK Posts: 1,852 OS: XP, Win7 RC x64, Ubuntu x64 multiboot My System Blog Entries: 7	Re: [SOLVED] fried clothes dryer? Sometimes fluff can escape the drum. This can also produce a burning smell. __________________ TSF Folding@Home, find out how to do your bit in the fight against Cancer "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut" xbox Live tag: storiedmedal Warning!! GTA IV addict! Join my game at your peril!

06-19-2008, 07:00 PM	#6 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,168 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: [SOLVED] fried clothes dryer? it it is overloaded it can cause the belt to slip and produce the odour __________________

08-11-2008, 08:30 AM	#8 (permalink)
kcaternolo Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 73 OS: XP Pro SP3	Re: [SOLVED] fried clothes dryer? your friends dryer could probably also just need a good cleaning that lint trap only catches a small portion of lint for $55-$80 you could get someone to professionally clean it