Kitchen Gas Appliances - Large flame from gas dryer tripping Hi-Limit thermostat

Hi there. I have a Hotpoint (GE) natural gas dryer model # DLL2450BPL and serial number TF306127H. The symptoms of my problem are that when the dryer starts the flame comes on for anywhere from 35-45 secs and then goes out. It stays off for approx 53-57 secs and then comes on again but this time for only 20 secs. Each flame on cycle gets shorter until it reaches about 10 secs on. The flame off cycle is consistantly 53-57 secs. I was told it probably is a venting prob or my coils on the gas valve. I have removed the dryer from the vent and checked it all out. I have the drum off and have completely cleaned the dryer including the diffuser. I have replaced the coils. Then I found if I remove the Hi-Limit thermostat and place it on the bottom of the dryer the dryer runs fine but you can see that the flames are getting high enough to reach it and set it off if it were left in its original position. I have also run all three thermostats through my Ohm meter and all are reading correctly. Is there a way to adjust the flame to make it smaller?

Clean the vent to the outside. To check take off vent from back of dryer and see if dryer heats right.

I have completely cleaned and removed the vent from the dryer and also checked the venting in the dryer itself. Everything is clear. Venting is not the problem.

Does anyone have any other ideas what the problem might be? We know it is not venting and it is not the coils and it is not the thermostats. Can the gas valve be adjusted or can it only be done by turning the valve on the inlet line itself?

This is a new problem? It happened all of a sudden? Is it the only gas appliance in the house? If yes, have the gas compnay come out and check the meter and gas pressure. Have you changed the type of gas the machine uses? if yes, you'll need an orifice conversion kit. it's weird to have something like this happen out of the blue.

This is a dryer that was in the house when we moved in last month. We discovered the problem when we first tried to use it. It is not the only thing to use natural gas. There is also the stove in the kitchen, the water heater and the furnace. All of those are working just fine. Knowing the people that were here before us they would have just put the clothes through three cycles to dry them rather than to try and fix the problem. There isn't any reason to believe that the dryer was ever set up for LP. There was another hotpoint dryer in the garage...very similar model though not exactly the same...DLL2650BPL and I have taken the gas valve off of that dryer and put it in my dryer in the basement thinking that might be the problem but the problem is not fixed. Of course it is possible I guess that both dryers have bad gas valves. But like I said, I don't know if the gas valve was ever the issue to begin with.

No appliance pro....but I'm wondering about the model numbers. Almost seems like the PL could be a code for propane. Shouldn't the gas valve say what its for? Pro's?

But propane has more btu's than NG, right???, so I would think it would be a problem with not heating wouldn't it.

Nevermind I guess...

Ah that sheds some light. LP has a lot more btu's than NG and so LP uses smaller orifices. An LP unit on NG would have undersized flames. I looked up both dryers. The 2450 and the 2650 both use the same gas valve. hanz, you're going to have to get a gas pressure reading on the gas supply piping where it comes to the dryer. The gas company will have the tools to check it. The stove and the furnace have pressure regulators built in, I'm not sure about the water heater. If the gas pressure is ok, then you'll need to see what size orifice is in the gas valves. Oversize flames could be caused by the gas pressure being to high or the wrong orifice in the gas valve. Go to Parts & Accessories | Shop & Find Lawn & Garden, Appliance Parts at Sears PartsDirect | SearsPartsDirect.com (http://www.searspartsdirect.com) Check the parts breakdowns against what you're seeing on your dryer. Weird problem but I'm sure it's solvable. We just haven't turned over the right rock yet.