EASY FIX: Dryer Will Not Turn On - Dryer Won’t Start - PART 1

Welcome back guys. It's the tightwad and I have a new issue that we're going to look at today. Our dryer stopped working mid-cycle and It will not turn on at all. You're supposed to have a push to start All the knobs are set correctly and it just won't turn on. I'm going to go over a few things today That you can check before you start taking anything apart on your dryer to see if it's something simple The first and easiest thing to check with your dryer is to see if it has power and if yours has a light inside which I think almost all dryers do you can see if the light is illuminating While we're already checking on the light. The second thing is to check the door switch all Dryer doors have a switch that indicates that the dryer door is closed because it will not turn on unless the switch is Compressed so whenever I push the switch here the light cuts off so we know That the switch is working correctly. The switch is Different on each kind of dryer, but it should be up in one of the corners. This is not the switch here This is simply the latch that goes into the hole here But the switch when you push it in the light should cut off and that lets you know that the switch is functioning properly This is the number one cause of dryers not working properly other than the breaker being tripped Which we'll talk about next but always check your switch first because that's one of the easiest things to fix If you do not have any light in your dryer It could be that your breaker has been tripped so dryers have big plugs So they are 240 volts so you should have a dedicated breaker in your breaker box for your dryer Once you locate the main power panel for your house or the breaker box as people call it You need to find the one designated for the dryer in my case It is one and three it usually takes up two spaces is a larger breaker and here we go right here It's two 30 amp fuses joined together. You can see that here and I can tell mine is not kicked, but I am going to test it by flipping it off and Flipping it back on I did have power to my dryer So I know this is not my issue, but always check this first if you get no light on inside your dryer Before you unplug your dryer and start taking anything apart There's one more thing you can check to make sure that your cord is actually getting the proper voltage To the dryer itself, which is 240 volts volts total and The place we want to look is just behind this panel right here, so it has one Screw holding it in on mine If the voltage is correct here, we'll go into the most likely culprits So I'm going to remove this panel right here and show you how to test the voltage to make sure everything is lining up correctly So once you've removed that cover and again, I am still plugged into the wall So I need to be careful not to touch anything that I don't need to touch But I'm going to test across these three screws right here The first one I'm going to test is from the left side to the middle and on my voltage meter I should read 120 or more the next thing I'm going to test is from the center to the right side and Again, I need 120 or more and then the last test is to test the right side To the left side and I should have the full circuit here at 240 or more So you can see my cord is testing correctly So now we need to move on to the next possible culprits, which are switches or fuses If you determine the cord is bad on your dryer, or you suspect it's the cord you can buy one locally at a home improvement Warehouse a hardware store or even Walmart you need to make sure that you purchase the correct kind of core There are two main configurations. So always take a picture of the prongs or take the cord with you when you go to Purchase a new cord and the workers will be able to help you match up what you need With the one that you have or the one that you have pictures of Now that I know that we're getting the correct voltage to the dryer to all parts of the dryer I'm going to remove the back panel Because there is a thermal fuse that blows if there's a clog in your line Or if the dryer overheats for any reason and that's the most likely culprit when your dryer has power But will not turn on so I'm gonna go ahead and remove the back. I have six Screws around the back if you have one of those interchangeable tip screwdrivers That's the same size that fits on these screws right here. I actually have a drill with that bit so I'm gonna go ahead and remove all these and I'll remove the back panel of the dryer and then We'll go on from there before you start removing any parts from your dryer Make sure you unplug it from the wall this packs a lot more punch than just an electrical appliance in your house because it's a 240 volt instead of a 110 like most other things so it will hurt you Possibly even kill you if you work on the dryer with it plugged in and you get an electrical shock besides the six screws I showed you on the side mine did have another screw here and Here and then the last one was over here, but I already removed it It's where the ground attaches I already removed it when I was Testing for this panel. So make sure you get these three screws as well I don't want it exposes all these switches and circuits and fuses in the back and The most likely culprit is this one right here This is called the thermal fuse has two blue wires going to it And I'm going to show you how you can temporarily and I stress the importance of temporarily Bypass this fuse to see if that's what's causing the issue or not So I'm going to unplug these two spades one from each side And I'm going to tape them together with electrical tape Temporarily, I am unplugged from the wall. Please do not mess with these while you're plugged into the wall I'll temporarily put these two back together Plug in the dryer and test the start switch if it turns on while these are put together I will immediately turn off the dryer and buy a new thermal fuse Do not run your dryer without the thermal fuse It is a safety switch and it is very important to have that left in place so that you do not cause a fire in Your home. So this is temporary and if you don't feel comfortable messing with electricity high voltage high voltage electricity This is the point where you would stop and call a repairman to do this for you So you can see I have taped the two blue wires the connectors themselves together With electrical tape and now I'm going to plug in the dryer Try to start the dryer and if it starts again I will open the door to cut it off immediately and then I will go and buy a new thermal fuse All right. The dryer is plugged back in The wires are taped together And I will push the start button The dryer fired right up, so I'm going to open the door to shut it I Will now remove the tape from these two wires disconnecting them after Unplugging from the wall and I will locate Locally hopefully a new thermal fuse to replace this with and that is the culprit for this dryer issue. I Ended up having to order a thermal fuse on Amazon because I could not get to any of the stores before they closed Since this broke on a Saturday, so I ordered on Amazon. It was about six dollars and it came in today Which is a Monday, so I just put the spade clips back on here again make sure your power is unplugged before messing with any of this and then there's a groove on the back of this or a Bump on the back of this that goes right into the place that's cut out on the back of your dryer and Then you put the screw back in So that it is actually inside your dryer vent So the thermal fuse is inside the dryer vent the dryer The screen for your dryer is actually right here that comes down here and all the air is coming From the top down this tube and then out your vent to go outside So now that we have the new thermal fuse in place I'm going to plug in the dryer turn it on quickly to test and make sure everything's working and then we'll reassemble the dryer So the dryers plugged back in I have some time on it And I will push the button to start And I saw it started, so I'm not gonna hold it down long enough to really start it And now I can reassemble the back portion of the dryer, but first I'm going to unplug the dryer again While I reassemble everything and then I'll plug it up right when we are ready to test it So the first thing I need to do is Put the back on the dryer All right so the rear of your dryer I'm going to put it on the vent at the bottom while I line the screws at the top It doesn't snap in anywhere on the bottom. It just kind of sits in place and We'll get one of the screws in at the top And This last one Had the grounds ground wire Attached to it So make sure that you get the ground wire back in place so when you put this piece on make sure that your ground wire is Grounded to the dryer via the same screw right here, so this screw needs to go through the plate Through the back of the dryer through the ground wire loop and into the dryer itself now I'm going to slide the dryer back in the place and Crawl behind and attach the vent hose back here mine has a Quick clamp. It's just a squeeze clamp that I can slide right over So with the dryer plugged in and the vent connected. I will start the dryer and Everything seems to be running correctly So we should be good to go If you found this video helpful give it a thumbs up Subscribe to my channel by clicking on my logo in the center of the screen right now You'll also see several other videos of home repairs that you can click and they'll open right up If you have any questions leave it in the comment section below. I hope you guys have a great day