LDE9304ACE (Maytag Dryer) Motor Wiring Help Needed (not upgrade)

[iHeartNuance]

Hello & thanks for looking.

 

Can someone please help me with putting these wires back? I've searched but it's all about upgrading to the new connector which I'm not doing....yet. 

l just don't understand the 5 dot diagram. I've got 11 spade connectors on the switch box and 7 wires (pls refer to photos).

 Many, many thanks in advance.

Tommy

 

 

 

 

Oh, and did I break one of those connectors off?

If yes, followup question: how to fix broken off spade connector.

 

Eagerly awaiting any input at all.

[evaappliance]

[evaappliance]

[Guest]

Cool that you were able to post this picture of the correct wiring.  I was confused for about a minute but I think I understand now. 

The colored dots represent the top connectors on this side of the black box. I think the black box is an overload protector.  I would bet the flip side of the black box would have colored dots representing connectors on that side. 

[evaappliance]

4 hours ago, Dr. Horshenschwartz said:

The colored dots represent the top connectors on this side of the black box.

The outside wires are color coded as you thought,  not sure why the inside wires were off .   That is a centrifugal switch, it switches from the start windings to run windings when the motor starts ,also the heating element runs through it as a safety switch in case the motor dies during operation it will kill power to the heating element 

[evaappliance]

Where the two blue wires plug into on the top is the overload protector 

[iHeartNuance]

Thank you for your replies guys. 

 

Some backstory...

I had removed the motor to clean it as it was loaded with lint and one day, out of the blue, the dryer wouldn't start.

The crumbling door switch was replaced - was sure that was the problem. It wasn't. And the door latch and T-fuses tested ok.

It seemed like the centrifugal switch was unable to move for lint but cleaning the area didn't help. Still no start. No tiktok from timer, no sign of life from motor. Interior light stopped working a year ago (new bulb didn't fix it) but I'm sure the light would be off if it worked.

I know I'm supposed to check for 240v at the outlet and the back of dryer but I'm scared to probe anything live; especially as this house has evidence of "freestyle" electrical work here n there - one example being that there are no breakers for the dryer at the junction box - at least that I can find!

At this point any input from forum members would be more than appreciated.

I ordered a replacement main board out of pure hope. Unsure what to do if that doesn't fix it. I'll mark the post from eva as the solution here since technically that's true....albeit really a solution to a *component* of a larger problem lol.

Tommy

[Guest]

For me, before I spent money on a control board that I wasn't sure was the problem I would find a non-electronic free dryer or a really cheap one and fix whatever is wrong with that one.  Reason being the ones without electronics are very easy to fix. 

If you're not comfortable with a multimeter and checking for power at the outlet then you're kind of out of options in my opinion. 

I'd like to say how I see using a multimeter to test household electricity is very safe and fairly difficult to mess up but I suppose I shouldn't say that. 

 

[Budget Appliance Repair]

You say you can't find any circuit breakers for the dryer - with what you describe you house most likely has the old screw in fuses and good chance it's the type with the two pullout fuse blocks with cartridge fuses for your 220Vac circuits - usually two of them in the box, one for electric range and the other for dryer.

If this is what you have there is a good chance you just blew one of the cartridge fuses.

[evaappliance]

14 hours ago, iHeartNuance said:

ordered a replacement main board out of pure hope

The only board this old school dryer has is a moisture sensor board, and that won’t have anything to do with the dryer running . 

 

48 minutes ago, Budget Appliance Repair said:

You say you can't find any circuit breakers for the dryer - with what you describe you house most likely has the old screw in fuses and good chance it's the type with the two pullout fuse blocks with cartridge fuses for your 220Vac circuits - usually two of them in the box, one for electric range and the other for dryer.

If this is what you have there is a good chance you just blew one of the cartridge fuses.

I second this 

[iHeartNuance]

I appreciate the input guys. I have regular breakers in the box, a double for the range also HW heater - it's just that nothing in thereis labeled "dryer" and there aren't any unlabeled breakers that *could* be for the dryer.

Please see pics cos I'm barely on nodding terms with the proper electricity-service-related vocabulary!

Wish it was as you say tho, Mr. Budget Appliance.

Edit: omg!

Thank you for your kind attention.

Tommy

[Budget Appliance Repair]

That big white wire that you marked "could this be the dryer wire" sure looks like the same wiring coming from the dryer plug - big white wire.

You need to follow that one into the breaker box and to the breakers that the red and the black wires are connected to, (the bare wire is the ground and should go to where all the other bare ground wires buss is and most likely isn't attached inside the dryer receptacle since it's only a 3 wire plug, the white wire should go to the Neutral buss bar along with any other neutrals - that should be the wire attached to the center "L" shaped plug in the receptacle.).

Looks to me like maybe 15 goes to the RED wire and 16 goes to the BLACK wire in the big white cable - 16 is definitely OFF

I would turn that #16 breaker back on and see if the dryer will start or not.

You don't really need to be standing on a rubber mat but surely wouldn't hurt to be if you are worried.

Set your meter to a 220 Vac setting and probe put one probe tip into the screw of one of the breakers and the other probe tip into the screw of the other one.   You will have to make sure of the actual breakers that the big white wire is connect to, as I can't tell for sure from your pictures.

If it's 15 & 16 and with 16 off still like it is you should see ZERO volts - turn that breaker back on and probe and you should see 220-240VAC, (looks like your numbering is off on one of the last two pictures as you show 16 & 17 and if you count from 20 on the other picture it looks like it's 15 & 16).

These two breakers should have the handles attached together and the two breakers should be attached together but it looks like someone just used two of the standard 110Vac breakers to attach the dryer power into the breaker box.  If you left it that way both breakers should be 30 Amp breakers - looks like one is only a 15 Amp breaker and maybe a 20 or 30 - can't tell from the angles of your photos.

[iHeartNuance]

I was just gonna test the receptacle. The breaker box is even scarier! If those 2 breakers are for the dryer, and one of em is turned off, what will the voltage be at the receptacle - 120v?

Gonna test within the hour. Will check breaker ratings also

Can it be that we've been running the dryer on half the required power for so long? It's been working great too! How is that possible?

 

Willie, you're a great asset. Thanks for taking the time to help me.

 

Wil update with my findings soon.

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, iHeartNuance said:

I was just gonna test the receptacle. The breaker box is even scarier! If those 2 breakers are for the dryer, and one of em is turned off, what will the voltage be at the receptacle - 120v?

Gonna test within the hour. Will check breaker ratings also

Can it be that we've been running the dryer on half the required power for so long? It's been working great too! How is that possible?

 

Willie, you're a great asset. Thanks for taking the time to help me.

 

Wil update with my findings soon.

 

Each circuit breaker has one wire leaving from it to go to your outlets. They only carry 120 volts. The number stamped on the breaker such as 30 means the amount of amps the breaker allows before it trips off. At the dryer outlet there is three places for the plug to engage. Two of those should show  about 120 volts each. It can vary from 116ish to 124 I believe  is the margin but it's still called a 120 outlet. 

Two wires from two breakers lead to your dryer outlet. With a multimeter set to measure AC you want it set at a range higher than 220v unless it's auto ranging. 

One probe goes in on holt and the other probe goes in the L shaped hole and you should get close to 120V

Then put one probe in the other hole and one in the L shaped hole and you should get close to 120V 

Now probe the two holes that are not the L shaped one and you'll get something close to 240 Volts. 

If your probes are not damaged and you don't touch the metal portion of either one you are fine and safe. If you've ever shocked yourself one a 120V outlet you know it sucks but it's generally not the end of the world; but you're not going to touch the metal anyway. Touching metal on both probes when you test for 240V is different and can stop your heart and some other things. If you're concerned put on some rubber gloves when you do it. 

To answer if it could have been running on 120 for a year; I don't think so. Perhaps the motor would turn on which turns the drum but you need the 240V to heat the coils that produces the heat. 

I suspect a couple of things where. We know the light red wire is most likely one leg of the dryer and it's very likely the black wire above or below is the other leg. What you have labeled as 16 and 17 could be it but it could be 16 and 15. 

If you just follow the black wire from the white cable that enters the box on the right you will then know for sure which breaker goes to that black wire for that cable. 

The picture show is just bad enough that its hard to know what number the red wire is.  It looks to me like the red breaker is off. It also looks like it's the red wire and the black below it but just can't say for sure for the black.

Now, while the red one is clearly off the black one may look to be on but it may be broken inside and the switch appears not be in the on position. Believe it or not replacing a breaker is that hard and not that dangerous. 

On the handwritten legend it shows washer twice as 13 and 15 which leads to believe the other leg could be the black wire above the red wire. 

You're sort of almost there.  There's still the issue of why did it trip the breaker; but you really need to figure out the electrical to the outlet first. 

[Budget Appliance Repair]

10 hours ago, Dr. Horshenschwartz said:

replacing a breaker is that hard and not that dangerous.

I'm pretty sure @Dr. Horshenschwartz meant to write "is NOT that hard"

Other than that all his info is good

Edited January 28 by Budget Appliance Repair

[Guest]

8 hours ago, Budget Appliance Repair said:

I'm pretty sure @Dr. Horshenschwartz meant to write "is NOT that hard"

Other than that all his info is good

Yeah a couple errors on my part. Thanks for the backup. 

[iHeartNuance]

Thanks guys. Although I did test the outlet, I don't think my multimeter has the right setting cos I couldn't move the decimal point over far enough Nevertheless, I've got bigger problems now ...

 

 

 

Those are two of the four breakers I removed. Of course they're out of production. They're like half breakers. So not as simple as replacing em.

 

I decided to get a professional involved cos ppl were telling me "just move your HW heater and drier to a new double 30amp circuit breaker" the HW being right next to the mains. Too dangerous for me - the electrician confirmed this by telling me i don't have a sub panel and pls don't touch anything else!

 

Downside is I've gotta wait til next Tuesday for this guy to come & fix it. No power til then. But when's all said & done, I bet the dryer works!

 

[Guest]

Well there's your problem. 

I suspected the breaker had failed. Good that you found it. 

If you have a digital multimeter I'm sure has the right setting. You could upload a picture of that if you want. 

Those may be GE thin line breakers; the pictures are too blurry on that part to tell.  There's probably a replacement for them regardless of brand. 

The whole box is less than great looking but we can't all have new everything all at once. 

I don't understand the context of the electrician saying you don't have a sub panel. Hopefully he will be fair and honest with you. 

For what it's worth, for future reference, if you can successfully turn off your electricity outside and place a lock on the handle it's very safe to work on the inside panel; you would also turn off the breakers where the supply comes into that box, which looks like it's 5 & 6 but I can't say for sure. 

I suspect the electrician will suggest replacing the whole thing which will be a major cost but it would add piece of mind for you. He may suggest a sub panel next to it to provide some additional breakers but technically there's some limits to that with what I can see and know about main panels and sub panels. 

My guess is to why the breakers failed is from being loose at the panel and overheating from arcing, overload on the circuits, arcing behind the breakers. The dryer may have never been the problem. 

However, you should be certain your dryer vent is clear of obstruction. With the safety devices in dryers they should have tripped or burned out before tripping the breaker but who knows. 

Hopefully you can provide a solution follow-up 

 

[iHeartNuance]

[Guest]

Set it to 300V with the wavy line is for AC up to 300 Volts. Use the probes not the clamp.  If you wanted to measure a AA battery or a 9V battery or your car battery use the 300V  which are all DC with the straight line and dashed line.

You your AC oulet for the dryer the black probe goes in the L shaped opening and the red probe in one of the slanted ones to get what should be close to 120V

Red to one slant opening and black to the other slant opening and you will get something close to 240V

Again, for your own piece of mind wear rubber gloves until you're comfortable with taking the measurement.  

If you were at the panel box you would touch black to the ground bar and the red probe to the screw on one breaker and again you would get something close to 120V

 

 

 

[iHeartNuance]

Many thanks, Doc H. Wi

16 hours ago, Dr. Horshenschwartz said:

f you can successfully turn off your electricity outside and place a lock on the handle it's very safe to work on the inside panel....

There *is* no inside panel, buddy.  That one crouse-hinds box houses every breaker I have!

 

With respect to testing the 240v receptacle - that's what I did and I never saw 240v or close to it on the display.

 

I think that my dryer was fine all along and those 2 breakers doing an impression of Michael Jackson's face was the problem; ending with them finally giving out all together and causing the seemingly inexplicable no start condition with the dryer.

 

Six more days without power and I should know for sure.  Could be worse i suppose; could be a Samsung!

[Budget Appliance Repair]

22 hours ago, Dr. Horshenschwartz said:

I don't understand the context of the electrician saying you don't have a sub panel. Hopefully he will be fair and honest with you.

Sometimes when the main panel is full they will run a large wire in conduit to another sub-box to add more breakers to the system - that is what sub-panel is.

EDITED TO ADD: @Dr. Horshenschwartz Looks like you do understand what a sub panel is - since you pretty much describe it further down in you post, (I didn't read you complete post before writing the initial message.

Sounds like the electrician was just confirming that there isn't another panel in the house - NO SUB PANEL

Edited January 31 by Budget Appliance Repair

[Guest]

13 hours ago, Budget Appliance Repair said:

Sounds like the electrician was just confirming that there isn't another panel in the house - NO SUB PANEL

Yeah I guess the context of the electrician mentioning that he doesn't have a sub panel is that the box is already out of space and to move the water heater breakers would require open spots in the panel. I originally thought moving the water heater breakers idea was to exchange them with other positions in the box we see in the pictures. 

Communication can be one of the hardest things to do even when we speak the same language. 

 

[Guest]

18 hours ago, iHeartNuance said:

There *is* no inside panel, buddy.  That one crouse-hinds box houses every breaker I have!

Interesting.  

So the box in the pictures is located on the outside of your house? 

So the electrical come from the pole right into this box?

Now that I look closer it sort of looks like I can see the very edge of the round meter and your box is mounted in contact and next to the meter?

I would think the meter box has a door under it that would have a main breaker as well. 

You're not saying your whole house power is off for several days are you? 

[iHeartNuance]

On 1/31/2024 at 4:16 PM, Dr. Horshenschwartz said:

Interesting.  

So the box in the pictures is located on the outside of your house? 

Yes 

So the electrical come from the pole right into this box? 

Yes

Now that I look closer it sort of looks like I can see the very edge of the round meter and your box is mounted in contact and next to the meter?

3 for 3!

I would think the meter box has a door under it that would have a main breaker as well.

Aah thanks for playing, tell him what he's won Johnny! 

The main breaker is at numbers 5 and 6 counting from the top. See those ominous multi filament (?) black sheathed wires? Forever live. And the store guy was telling me "just move your water heater down to a new 30 30 and add the dryer to that" which is the moment I deferred to a professional. I mean look how close to the mains I'd be working! 

You're not saying your whole house power is off for several days are you? 

That's exactly what I'm saying buddy!

Flashlights, ice and showers elsewhere since Sunday last. Three days to go. I live in 96704 zip code so its not too bad without power - no one's gonna die!

Appreciate the interest & the input, Doc.