110.64992300 Dryer heat always on

[MikeS]

As I've received so much help here, I wanted to share a discovery I made with my Kenmore/Whirlpool 110.64992300 clothes dryer.

The heat was always on even during the no-heat/fluff cycle.  After following the trouble shooting information a puzzling reading came up.  The voltmeter was reading ~120V across the heater relay in fluff cycle.  It should have read ~240V if the heating element were off or 0V if the heating element were on.  After puzzling on it for awhile, I pulled open the front bottom panel, undid a couple of screws and had a look at the heating element.

A part of the heating element on the bottom had slipped out of the insulator, sagged down, and was touching the canister it is enclosed in.  So, there was a point on the heating element that was grounded 100% of the time.  I suppose one end of the element is always attached to one of the phases of the 240 all the time so there was 120V across part of the coil 100% of the time.    I just tucked the element back into its insulator, after stretching it a bit for better retention, and re-installed it.  The fluff cycle is back to no heat and the heat cycles give heat.  

Probably a rare case.  I was about ready to buy a new dryer since it looked like the $160 control board would need to be replaced in a 10 year old dryer. That would would be foolish since Home Depot is now selling a comparable new model for $404.

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

Grounded heating elements aren't rare in electric dryers but happen infrequently that even lots of professional techs get faked out.