Dryer has no flame (or heat)

Dryer Repair
,
1

Hi,

Brand new member here with a dryer problem. I have a Maytag model LDG8420AA that is no longer heating up. The drum is spinning fine and I checked the outdoor vent and there is plenty of air flow. The problem is the air is cold.

The dryer has a small access door in front that shows you the gas valve area. I looked in and see that gas valve coils have a pretty thick layer of dryer lint covering them (as do most of the components). When I turn the dryer on I do not see any flame at all.

I spoke with Frank at APpro who was very helpful. He said I should look at parts at this link:

http://www.appliancepartspros.com/05-gas-valve-parts-for-maytag-ldg8420aal.html

I have never repaired an appliance before, but the local repair service has a 4 day wait. Depending on the part, I will be comfortable doing this myself.

Here are my questions:

  1. Is there any chance that all the lint caused a part to fail?

  2. Would cleaning out all the lint solve the problem? I know it needs to be cleaned during the repair. I prefer to not disassemble the unit just for cleaning unless it has a chance of resolving the issue.

  3. Before trying anything, could I use compressed air to blow the lint off the components? If the dryer is off, is this safe?

  4. Since I have no spark or flame, can you tell me which parts need replacing? I watched the video for the gas coil kit here:

http://www.appliancepartspros.com/whirlpool-coil-kit-for-279834-ap3094251.html

The dryer in the video is slightly different than mine and it seems like I may not need to pull the drum out for this repair.

From what I see (and I admit I am new at this), potential parts are:

PN AP3094251 Gas Valve Coil Kit $15.95
PN AP3109449 Flat Style Dryer Igniter $18.43
PN AP2910747 Flame Sensor $31.98

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I would like to order the parts today, if possible.

3

Looking through front access panel, with dryer on, you should be able to see a glow from the ignitor. If not, then you need to do some tests with multimeter to figure out the defective part. Do you have a meter and experience using it? You can throw parts at it if you want but that seems like a waste of money and time. Problem could be timer, motor switch, temp switch, cycling thermostat, hi-limit thermostat, radiant sensor, ignitor or a wiring issue. If you do see glow from ignitor and then ignitor glow dims but no gas flame, then gas coils may be faulty.

Eric

4

Eric,

Sorry for not replying sooner. I do not have a multimeter so I went ahead and hired an appliance repair service. Turns out it was a bad igniter. Total cost was $120 to swap out a $20 part and clean the inside. Now that I watched the repairman open the unit and work inside it, I will feel more comfortable doing this on my own next time (hopefully many years down the road),