I have a gas Whirlpool dryer that will not generate any heat. When I turn the dryer on it begins to tumble… then after a few seconds it makes a noise that I can only guess is when the burner is trying to ignite. It will make this sound for about 3 seconds and then stop for about 10 seconds and just keep repeating.
The dryer is about 3 years old, but has not been used in about 14 months. It was stored in a temperature controlled mini-storage unit (always above 60ºF). Is it possible that the lack of use or maybe a bump/bounce in the truck could have caused the problem?
Also, to eliminate the possibility of insufficient gas supply, I attached a 150,000 BTU natural gas torpedo heater to the same supply line where the dryer attaches and it works fine. I have to assume that this heater has a higher gas consumption rate than the gas dryer.
Also, I have just been doing some reading. Apparently I should be able to see the ignitor glow through the little viewing hole in the front of the dryer. Unfortunately I have removed the front cover of the dryer already and did not check to see if that was glowing. Is there anything I can check with a multimeter before reinstalling the front cover?
Gas valve coils also could be tested by resistance. There are two coils – one with three terminals and one with two terminals.
Coil with two terminals should have 1220 ± 50 Ohms
Coil with three terminals if held with terminals in upper position:
a) across the left and the middle terminals – 1365 ± 25 Ohms
b) across the left and the right terminals – 560 ± 25 Ohms
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The thermal fuse, cycling thermostat, igniter, and flame sensor all have continuity. The 3-terminal coil is within the range at 555 ohms and 1369 ohms.
The only item that does not pass the criteria you provided is the 2-terminal coil: it reads 1297 ohms across the two terminals… 27 ohms above the high limit of the range. I will order the pair of coils.
In such situation I would replace the flame sensor first because some time (very seldom) it can be bad even if it passes a continuity test due to a bad bimetal. If it would not help then the gas valve itself is bad.
After installing two new sets of gas coils and a new flame sensor, my problem ended up being the gas valve. The $110 price tag on the valve was a little too rich for my blood to not try taking it apart to see what made it tick. Once I split the case I found it was really quite simple on the inside. The problem was that the rubber seal on the end of one of my plungers was stuck to the seat of the valve body. I effortlessly broke it free and then put the valve back together. The dryer now works like new. The coils are what would normally open this seal, but mine must have "fused" after sitting unused for so long. So the chattering/fluttering sound I was hearing was the coil trying to open the valve, but it just wasn’t strong enough to break it free.
This now makes perfect sense to me as I had mentioned that the dryer worked fine before it was unused for a little over a year. I had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that some non-mechanical part all of the sudden just went bad on it’s own without using the dryer. I felt all along that it had to be something mechanical and it turns out it was.
Well I installed the new gas coils last night and they didn’t help. Same problem… dryer works, but doesn’t heat.
I disconnected the ignitor, flame sensor, fuse, and thermostat again to check continuity again and they are all good.
Any other ideas? It’s a Whirlpool LGN2000KQ1.
When I turn it on, the ignitor glows for a few seconds and when it starts to fade out I hear a sound that is kind of hard to describe for about 10 seconds; it kind of sounds like a fluttering sound.
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My igniter glows good,found a wire off the flame sensor,replaced it,replaced both gas coils,no flame up
