Whirlpool LEQ9030PQ0 Dryer No Heat

[Retired Nashua Fire]

My mom's Wirlpool LEQ9030PQ0 dryer has no heat. It had been running fine and only sees light use. Power comes from a 2 pole PushMatic breaker. One of the poles had a drop in voltage and I beleive this may have contributed to the no heat problem. I changed out the breakers, now I have 110 to both sides, 220 tandem. Still no heat. I changed out:

• 279838 heating element
• wp3387134 dryer thermostat
• wp3392519 ap6008325 thermal fuse
• 3977393 dryer thermostat
• 3977767 thermostat fuse kit.

Still no heat. I checked and load from the temperature control at the timeer and it dropped with each change in temp. I am thinking it may be the timer control, but I am intereested to learn if I missed something?? Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks!

[citizenX]

I am assuming you have a volt meter since you listed specific voltages? There are several possibilities but start with the basics and check for 240V at the power cord connection where it connects to the dryer power terminals and make sure the screws are tight. There should be 240v across both hot legs and 120v from each hot leg to neutral/ground.  (It is possible to only have 120v to the dryer and the motor will still run, but no heat). If no 240v or you don't have  120v from each hot leg to ground, then work backwards from the power cord, to the connections in the receptacle, to the wiring itself to the box. If you have 240 to the dryer then check the voltage to both sides of the heating element (with dryer running), should be 240v to have heat. If you don't have 240v to the element and you've replaced all those other parts and the wiring is all correct, then it could be a bad timer, bad temp control switch, a bad wiring connection somewhere, or possibly a bad centrifugal switch on the motor. FYI, one half of the power to the heating element (120v) goes through the timer/controls/thermostats circuits to one side of the element and the other half goes through a contact on the motor centrifugal switch that closes when the motor starts spinning so make sure the centrifugal switch isn't jammed up with lint. This switch is inside the motor attached to the motor shaft but is accessible, it's where all the wires plug onto the motor. There is a round spring loaded disc that goes around the motor shaft so make sure this mechanism is freely moving in and out.  This is where knowing how to read a wiring diagram and using an ohm meter will greatly benefit you over playing parts changer, but I get it. At this point, assuming the parts you changed are all good (ohm meter is your friend) you'll just have to do more troubleshooting and tracing circuits to narrow it down. 

[Retired Nashua Fire]

CitizenX,

Thanks for your detailed response. I wound up going back to main panel and found I had 120v on each of the two legs. I noticed the wires had different insulation looked a bit thicker and almost had a pattern in it. At the outlet for the dryer the insulation was smooth. Not being an electrician but having common sense I figured there had to be a sub panel somewhere. After a bit of searching, I found a subpanel with Buss cartridge fuses. testing the discharge side of  the fuses, I found one was at 87v. Replacing the fuse solved the problem. The dryer is working as it should. Thank you!

[citizenX]

13 hours ago, Retired Nashua Fire said:

CitizenX,

Thanks for your detailed response. I wound up going back to main panel and found I had 120v on each of the two legs. I noticed the wires had different insulation looked a bit thicker and almost had a pattern in it. At the outlet for the dryer the insulation was smooth. Not being an electrician but having common sense I figured there had to be a sub panel somewhere. After a bit of searching, I found a subpanel with Buss cartridge fuses. testing the discharge side of  the fuses, I found one was at 87v. Replacing the fuse solved the problem. The dryer is working as it should. Thank you!

Excellent. Glad you figured it out!