My clothes dryer keeps blowing a fuse when I turn it on?

Question

I have an old dryer, prob circa the 70's. It came with my house when I bought it 4 + years ago. Recently, it broke down-would tumble but no heat. A tech cam out, said it was the heat element gone bad, fixed it and I was able to complete 4 loads of laundry before-surprise-it tumbles with no heat again. Another tech came out yesterday and said it's simply a blown fuse. I replaced it, turned on the dryer, only to hear POP. We checked and sure enough, the new fuse is blown as well. SO, we changed BOTH the 30 amp fuses, thinking maybe that is the prob. NOPE. Before I call the tech yet again, I would like an idea as to what this could be...like could the new heat element be the prob? Could it be just the dryer has finally died? Or am I in for even more trouble? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

OMG get a new one those thing can catch on fire

Answer 2

Operate it on no heat.  If it blows the fuse it's the motor. If not, turn on a heat cycle, if it blows the fuse it's the heating element or associated wiring.  Dryers are rather simple and dependable.  You might want to ask for a supervisor because you've had two service calls and your dryer still won't work.  And yes, the new element could be defective.

Answer 3

It's a 40 year old dryer, suck it up and get a new one.

Answer 4

guess what its the heating element when the tech put the new element in they had to cut the wires to the element and splice a new connector to the new element with wire nuts and one of the wires was touching the heater got hot melted and shorted to the frame making a short to ground and every time you turn your dryer on and calls for heat it blows the fuse. call the service company back and have them fix the wiring to the element.

Answer 5

motor windings are shorted most likely, whether it's to the shell of the motor or to themselves

Answer 6

Could be a bad element.

They are coils of wire and sometimes after you install them the coils warp from the heat and contact the side or the part of the holder for the insulators which is part of the element itself.

And in that case it can be it checked good cold when the tech was there. But also they usually weld themselves to the side after a couple of tries.

That is what I would guess.

Certainly call the tech back. Have fuses on hand. I am assuming he didn't test it when he was there and said it was a fuse. Looks to me like they didn't fix it and they shouldn't charge you again unless something entirely different is wrong. But that is unlikely.

Good Luck.