Miele 9820 gas dryer not heating
These are the standard things to check out a gas Dryer that
is not heating.
If you feel confident!
Trained people like myself make mistakes too but it usually
happens when we get too friendly with what we are doing and become complaisant.
It can really be bad if a non trained person is jumpy and doesn’t know safety
about when or what is suppose to be happening first, second… Or how to arrive
at what should be happening and it isn’t. But at this point if your jittery and
don’t feel confident, stop and let someone trained handle the rest.
Key to all modern flame (fossil fuel) appliances is a need
for ignition. The 2 most common ways to ignite the flame are:
1 Spark (where there is a spark generator that when directed
to the area of the flam ignite the main burner or in some cases a pilot flame)
and,
2 Direct ignitions, which most commonly uses a silicone or
nitride igniter that glows brightly to ignite the flame.
Common to both of these ignition systems is:
Safety first: always a way to prove that the flame is there
and burning.
Here after I will address mostly the Hot Surface Ignition
(the orange or direct type of ignition), because the spark ignition type of
units have been phased out.
Do you get a "glow" the glow (orange in color) is
for the gas to be ignited.
No glow indicates the igniter either has a no voltage
problem or the igniter is burned out.
No power should flow to the gas valve if you have no
igniter. However, you may smell gas and have no igniter intermittently. This
can be normal as some safety systems will allow the gas to flow to the igniter
area for a few tries at ignition before locking the valve off.. To be safe
always turn off the gas to the appliance, burner, or at the gas valve. I will
assume you know how to do this if you don’t then let someone trained handle the
rest.
If your ready to proceed:
Confirm power to the gas valve area 110V usually and keep in
mind that the dryer has to be running at this point on most all dryers. There
is little reason for the burner to come on if the dryer is not running, right?
If you have voltage to the gas valve area check the voltage
at the ignition directly. Just to be sure your not in a lock out, mode remove
power from the appliance for 2 to 3 minutes reapply power and restart and try
the dryer (still with gas off). If no power still to the gas valve/igniter there
the problem is somewhere other than the area your in. If you have voltage the
problem is probably the igniter. The next step would be to check the voltage to
the igniter terminals. Voltage there is almost a guarantee the igniter is out.
Look for the way the ignition was installed originally and reverse the process
getting the igniter in hand so you can be sure you get the correct one for
replacement. It may come out in pieces just take all of them you can to keep
the area clean. And vacuum opr blow out the rest with compressed air.
If you don't have 110 Volts the problem is in the controls. The electronic
ignition safety board, fuse link, the timer contacts, the centrifugal switch on
the motor, and the heater safety thermostat and operating (s), are all suspect
and have to be eliminated 1 by 1. If you check all the controls and have power
to the Ignition board where it is suppose to be with it running then it must be
out. Other wise you will have to jump around each safety/control to verify
which one is open. Also you may have top stop and restart the drier for each
component test to keep from locking out the safety on the ignition board.
Clean the duct out while replacing the igniter if so because
the main thing that causes igniter burn out is low air flow. A kinked Dryer
vent hose, lint, and plugged up fan circulator on the motor, or if yours has
little holes in the inside cabinet where the air is taken to be heated and
recirculated, these can get clogged with lint also and cause a problem are the
4 main causes of low air flow..
Hope this helps. With any luck all you need is a new igniter
Thank you and good luck.
