Kitchen Large Electric Appliances - GE Dryer not heating/drying

I have a General Electric Clothes Dryer (Model # DDE7230LDLWH; serial # LL209795G) that has just quit functioning properly. The drum still spins, and the timer seems to function. Air still passes thru the lint screen when I run it (keeping the door open and holding the button in) However, the clothes remain wet/damp and cool after the cycle. My suspicion is that the heating element may be the issue, but I've found it typically saves time by asking the experts around here first. Any advice/information/questions are appreciated. Thanks.

Oddly enough, I just got back......from working on a dryer. Plus cleaned their whole laundry area to boot.

Is your dryer on a circuit breaker?, or do you have fuses? If you have fuses, one of the two required fuses can go out, and make it so the dryer runs, only without heat.

Do you have a multimeter (volt-ohm meter) to test the element terminals with?, if not as easy as a burned fuse? You need 240 volts at your recepticle and across the two element terminals.

made sure you have 240 at the terminal block. if that is ok then unplug dryer and check for continuity across the element and make sure element is not grounded

The dryer is on a circuit breaker. There are 240 volts at the recepticle. I removed the drum to inspect the elements; continuity checks out on them. There is a limit switch that I tested and had continuity, also. Where to next? :wall:

you can turn it on with no drum inside if you hold the belt switch closed. if it is not heating you should find 240 volts across one of the components in the heat circuit. check console for tech sheet

Check thermostats for continuity. Both should have a circuit.

Have you found and tested every thermsotat? Yes, the tech sheet would easily identify to you how many there are. There should be 100% continuity through them. But NOT on a good element. There should be some resistance. What is your actual reading?

Also did you try testing for 240 across the element terminals, when the machine runs? And also, if I am not mistaken, you should get 240 volts across any 2 terminals, even on a 3-terminal, dual element set up, when you are on regular heat cycle (cottons, etc.) - if my memory serves me. If you only get it between 2, maybe you are only heating with permanent press heat, while the big element is burned out. On some machines, to make that test can be difficult due to it being hard to safely get the test meter probes on the terminals. But it can be done, with caution. If ever you have to lean over a rotating drum, take off any loose clothing first.

(I haven't had to work on a dryer lately, so I am a little foggy on the 3-terminal element, if that is the kind you have.)

With the top off, drum reinstalled, and dryer running, I attempted to check some voltages. However, one of the leads slipped from my hand and contacted two adjacent terminals... the drum spinning immediately slowed to about half of its speed. What have I done, and how do I correct that problem?

Are the thermostats located behind the control panel? If not, where?

What terminals did you short??? Thermostats are located on the heater housing, need drum out to check,

never seen a drum turn at half speed. only way i could see that happening is if you didnt put the belt back on correctly

there is also a thermostat on the blower housing i believe

That is a pretty odd situation to have a result like that occur. I am thinking that since you had normal drum speed until you caused that short, that the short likely did cause something. The only thing that comes to my mind is (if you did not short anything going into the motor itself) is that you burned through a neutral wire that obviously needed to run the 120volt motor. And instead, you are now using another 'leg' as an electric current pathway. And without a neutral, you are getting a weird voltage split, like 180/60, or 160/80, or something - due to a backfeed up the other leg. And the motor is now running on that low voltage split.

See what your voltmeter says if you test from each power leg to neutral once.

I would not run the dryer til this issue gets resolved.

See if you can identify and describe what you were testing when you slipped off the terminals.