Heard a guy at the supply house say he never checks the door switch on a no-heat dryer call

He was telling his buddy that it's always the thermal fuse or heating element, and checking the switch is a waste of five minutes. I've found three dryers this month (a Kenmore, a Whirlpool, and a GE) where the door switch was the actual problem, saving the customer money on parts they didn't need. Am I the only one who still runs the full basic checks before swapping parts?

3 comments

3 Comments

grant.olivia16d ago

That "waste of five minutes" line gets me. I bet that guy also doesn't check the lint trap, and then you find a whole sweater back there. Skipping the simple stuff is how you end up with a callback when the new thermal fuse blows in a week because the real problem was a stuck switch keeping the dryer running hot.

terryscott16d ago

My buddy had the exact same thing happen. His dryer kept killing thermal fuses. He replaced two himself before calling someone. The tech spent maybe three minutes with a meter and found the door switch was barely making contact. It was letting the dryer think the door was always open, so the heater stayed on forever. A five dollar switch fixed it for good.

phoenix_singh2516d ago

Read a forum post where a tech said skipping the door switch check was smart. His logic was the thermal fuse blows for a reason, so just replace it and the element. But that misses the point. If a worn-out door switch is staying open just a little, it can cause overheating that pops the fuse. You put in a new fuse, it just blows again because the root cause is still there. Those five minutes finding the real problem save you a trip back and the customer a bigger bill.