Repair a 10 year old Maytag dryer

I noticed a 10-year-old Maytag dryer was being given away and it had been on-line for several days without a response. So I picked it up with lots of help from the owner. He said they had not kept the vent clear and now the unit spins and all but does not heat. He said they replaced the heating element two years ago.

I was hoping the thermal fuse had blown but after disassembly and diagnosis, I found the heating coil had opened up. There was a lot of lint inside almost an inch covering the bottom, including the motor, the roller wheels holding the drum and also on the heating element case. The lint on the heating element case shows signs of smoldering.

I was able to find a new element for less than $20 on eBay which ships from California. P/n 3387747. Maytag model number MED9600SQ.

I cleaned everything real good even taking the drum roller wheels off and lubricating them with Tri - something or other. Now just wait for the new heating element to come in.

Found the light inside the drum was broken off so will get a replacement for that as well. If all works I will replace our 39-year-old green Maytag dryer even though it is working just fine.

Lint on the motor. 

See burnt lint which was sitting on heating element can.

 Lint on inside of vent tube inside dryer. 

Lint on drum rollers.

Bad heating element. The break is at the bottom left. 

See the breaks in the metal holding the element due to overheating. 

Washing Machine did not spin all the water out.

On one load 2 inches of water remained in tub after all the spin cycles. This is a Kirkland Signature Washing Machine made by Whirlpool. With a little internet research it seemed the clutch assembly is the likely culprit for this problem. Nice you tube video’s of the repair were available. I ordered a new clutch assembly of Ebay and received in in 3 days at a cost of $14 including shipping. I also ordered a motor to transmission coupler for $5 with shipping which also arrived in 3 days. The coupler appears to be in great shape so I did not replace. With the new clutch in the washer spun the clothes dry perfectly at least for this first load. We purchased this washer in 2004 and with the new clutch appears to be working like new. The Maytag “green“ Clothes Dryer was purchased in 1975 and also runs as if new; although the timer dial is out of align some due to an earlier repair. Linda has used it out of align easily for many years.

The old clutch, not totally worn out but failing sometimes, slowing the spin cycle. I found it not too hard to spin by hand. The new clutch was much stiffer. The pads appeared to be about half worn down.

The gear box is still looking new, almost. (13  years old.)

The motor and drum shaft still lock in great shape.

Some removed parts on top of our old perfect running green 1975 Maytag dryer.

New clutch installed.

Jim’s Temperature Controller

The purpose of this device is to regulate some item like a fan or a heater by temperature accurately. The Digital Thermostat circuit board is available from Marlin P. Jones (www.mpja.com) for about $5. (Part #32184-MP) They would also have the wall-wart power supply with an output of anywhere between 14.5 to 27vdc.

In this circuit I used a 20 amp relay that was re-used from an old hot tub controller. The standard outlet is modified by breaking the hot connection between the two outlets so that the one outlet is hot all the time for the wall-wart and the other outlet is hot when the circuit board commands.

This Digital Thermostat circuit board should be extremely accurate. One can purchase either the Centigrade or Fahrenheit model. There is a probe that comes with the board which is attached to about a foot length of wire. The board has an accuracy of 0.1 degree Centigrade and can control with just a 0.1 degree of change. It can be configure to energize the relay if it either gets too cold or too hot. The board has memory even after power is removed so that one does not need to reset after power is reapplied.

Completed project

Relay on right side

Digital Thermostat board

Power on 

Temperature probe