15 replies to this topic

[Pegi]

I would suspect you have a bad motor if you had not mentioned the blower blows while you hold the start button in.  The start button gives power to the start switch on the motor.  If it does not start and run, the blower cannot turn either since it is attached to the motor shaft.  And of course the drum will not turn since the motor also drives the belt to turn the drum.  Either you have a bad motor or something is binding, keeping it from starting like something in the blower housing that is against the blower wheel.  Or your drum has glued itself to the drum support /glide assy due to overheating and causing the glue to melt that holds the support assy together.  See if you can rotate the drum counter clockwise with the door open and the dryer off.  It will have some resistance.  If you can turn the drum sounds like nothing has it bound down and the motor start windings have gone bad. 

[Robin]

We got the dryer apart with the help of the pictures and found a broken belt.  We're going to replace it and see where we are at.  Thanks!

 

--Robin

[Pegi]

Hummm, if the belt was broken the motor would have been dead, would not have even tried to start since the dryer has a broken belt switch that would have cut all voltage to the motor.  Let us know how this turns out..............

[Robin]

Really?  We thought maybe there was a "barrel is not spinning" switch which is why it turned off.  How would it detect if the belt is there? 

We're awaiting the part, and borrowing our neighbor's dryer in the meantime.

 

--Robin

[Pegi]

The drum belt is routed around the idler assy and the motor pulley.  The idler assy is the belt tension system to keep the belt tight around the drum.  When the belt breaks the arm that holds the idler pulley falls back onto the broken belt switch which cuts the voltage to the motor.  This would have made the dryer dead when the start switch was activated.  Unless the broken belt switch had gone bad and did not activate.  We will see what happens when the belt is installed.  The belt could have wrapped itself around the idler assy putting a bind on the drum which could have caused the motor to not be able to start but not letting the idler arm fall back onto the switch.  This is a new safety because when the belt breaks inside of a dryer, the motor used to keep running, and with the motor running the heat would stay on with no air flow since the drum is not turning, causing dryers to catch on fire sometimes.

[Robin]

After taking a look at how the switch works, and how the belt is routed, I think the belt got a little tangled, not allowing arm to fall back onto the belt broken switch (thus allowing it to try and start.  Time will tell - our new part comes today, and we'll have to get this thing back together.

 

--Robin

[Pegi]

Cool, thanks for the reply, let us know the results.....Pegi

[Robin]

Well, I do have another question before we try putting this all back together.  I understand how the dryer is routed, but I don't understand the following instructions:

"To restring the belt on this sorry excuse for a dryer, remove the phillips screw inside the rear exit opening of the blower duct and remove the duct. Then restring the belt from the front. "

Why do we need to remove the duct? 

With our next appliance, I'm going to consult these pages to find out what's easiest to fix!

Thanks,

--Robin

[Pegi]

I am not sure why this is stated. I know the top must come up and the front removed and the belt routed around the drum, the idler pulley and the motor pulley, which will probably require stitches when you are thru, fighting the sharp metal in the confined space.  Guess there is a reason for the vent removal but I do not know what it is.  Sorry, Pegi

[Budget Appliance Repair]

The removal of the vent is to give you some working room. There is no rear access panel on some of these newer G.E. dryers.

If you have an access panel on the back then use it, otherwise you will have to string the belt by feel, (kind of blind like), working from the front with the vent tube out you will be able to reach through front and see what your doing.

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

[user=746]Robin[/user] wrote:

Well, I do have another question before we try putting this all back together.  I understand how the dryer is routed, but I don't understand the following instructions:

"To restring the belt on this sorry excuse for a dryer, remove the phillips screw inside the rear exit opening of the blower duct and remove the duct. Then restring the belt from the front. "

Why do we need to remove the duct? 

 

You took the quote out of context.  Read the entire paragraph from which it was taken and the reason for removing the vent, on some variations of this dryer, is perfectly clear:

 Variation 1 has a rear access panel through which you can restring the belt. Variation 2, however, does not have this rear access panel. (Thank you, GE ) To restring the belt on this sorry excuse for a dryer, remove the phillips screw inside the rear exit opening of the blower duct and remove the duct. Then restring the belt from the front.

 

[Robin]

Well, it became obvious when we had to go in from the back to get the belt strung.  Somehow we missed the little trick of getting it over the pulley - there was a hook my husband accidentally found that held the pulley in place until he could get the belt around it.  So, the belt is on and we're putting it back together. 

There's  a funny sound, and I think it's coming from the front.  I recall a little tab on the front panel that looked loose, or not secured or something.  I'm guessing that's it - so we need to disassemble a little and fix it.  I'm hoping that's it, because if it's not, I have no idea what the sound is.

So stringing other brands is easier?  That was a pain.

--Robin

[Pegi]

Always buy a Whirlpool/Roper/Estate/KitchenAid/Kenmore with a prefix of 110. with the lint filter on top, not down when you open the door. The G.E dryers are a nightmare for all repairs compared to the Whirlpool lines..