# Samsung Dryer Not Heating



## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

If its a Samsung, my first guess is always "motherboard". More often right, than wrong.


----------



## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

Interesting.......

I have a dv42h5*2*000ew/a3 that just did the very same thing... and I have yet to tear into it.

On the heater element enclosure, *could you tell me which is the Thermostat and which is the Limit switch.... And are you sure they are both supposed to be closed when not operating.* 

(The video did not identify the switches by name... I would suppose if they are a thermostat and limit switch, they should both be closed when not operating.)

I was looking at video's this weekend....in anticipation of tearing into it...but the ones I found did not tell me which switch was which and wheather they were supposed to be open or closed.

I did run into one video that explained a way to test the relay (motherboard) for operation. I'll see if I can find it again.

(Incidentally, a neighbor had the exact same problem about 1 year ago on his Samsung... but he does no work himself and just paid to have the whole heater (coil/and swirches) replaced... so he ws no help

Was it difficult getting disassembled to get to the heater element box.???

Thanks in advance


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

Windows On Wash, thanks for input. Is there anyway to diagnose that it is the control board? 

MTN Remodel, I am sending a link with procedure to remove heating element. Not too difficult. The link also identifies the thermostat and limit switch. 
https://removeandreplace.com/2016/05/05/samsung-dryer-runs-but-will-not-heat/.


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

This is also a good video to troubleshoot for not heating. And it does TS the heating element, thermostat and limit switch. Based on this video it looks like my heating element, thermostat and limit switch and ok. So possible issue somewhere in the control board - or at least next area for me to troubleshoot (If there is something to check).


----------



## roughneck (Nov 28, 2014)

I would test for voltage to the element itself while running.


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

Roughneck, thanks. So if there is no voltage getting to the element and assuming my diagnostics is correct for the thermostat and limit switch (both showing 0 ohms) then I can conclude it's something with the control board. Correct?


----------



## roughneck (Nov 28, 2014)

If the limit circuit is closed and no voltage is being sent to the element, the board could very well be the problem.


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

I just checked the voltage to the heating element. When I turn on the dryer I see 120V on both terminals of the heating element but it does not heat or start to glow red. So looks like it's getting voltage but not working. Checked resistance again and it shows 10 ohms. So not sure if heating element is the issue?
I assume it the limit circuit (thermostat or high limit) are not working then I wouldn't see 120V at the heating element?


----------



## roughneck (Nov 28, 2014)

Check across the circuit not to ground.


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

I checked voltage across the heating element terminals and it's at 0V. So what does this mean? 

Thanks


----------



## roughneck (Nov 28, 2014)

Should be 208-230. Sounds like your missing a leg.


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

Thanks, The dryer was working fine and just stopped having heat. So any thoughts on why no 220V? What should i check?


----------



## roughneck (Nov 28, 2014)

Start from the source. Start checking at the plug and then back in. My wild guess is a relay failed and is no longer closing on one side. 
I don’t have the wiring schematic for that particular dryer in front of me.


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

Ok. thanks. I will start checking 220volts and update later once I check all this.


----------



## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

alyons1904...... Thanks for your above feedback. I found what I was looking for.

I attach the directions to a video on how *to test the relay and "thermister".*..but I have no idea what the thermister is.

Anybody know what the "thermister" is or does.

I would attach the actual video, but I don't know how to do that. Below is the address.... might be help full if you could attach the actual video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I25dS6n6O8E

Good luck...thanks for the help before I get tearing into this....


----------



## roughneck (Nov 28, 2014)

Here is a link to the video.


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

Roughneck, as you suggested I'm missing one leg of the 120V. Turns out I'm not getting 120V on one leg into the outlet. I checked at the breaker and it's coming out of there but when I check the wire on the outlet end there is no Volts. So I have to assume somewhere along the way the wire is broken or disconnected. Is that a fair assumption. Anything to consider as I do further troubleshooting? 

Thanks


----------



## roughneck (Nov 28, 2014)

Don’t check to ground. You’ll confuse yourself and wind up chasing your tail. 
Test across the circuit where you can measure 208-230V.


----------



## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

Aloyns.... Are you saying you do not have 240 (both legs) at the wall plug, or at its entrance to the machine....

That is sort of good news at least in regard that your machine (motherboard relays or heater controls are not the issue.

This would then just be a more simple (at least as I see it) tracing where you might have lost a leg in your home wiring,


----------



## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

roughneck said:


> Don’t check to ground. You’ll confuse yourself and wind up chasing your tale.
> Test across the circuit where you can measure 208-230V.


Good catch ROUGHNECK.... I thought he was checking accross legs.


----------



## roughneck (Nov 28, 2014)

MTN REMODEL LLC said:


> Good catch ROUGHNECK.... I thought he was checking accross legs.


208/230 single phase will read 0 V across both conductors if your missing a leg of power as one side of the circuit is open. 
However, you’ll read 120V to ground as one leg is still live.


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

I checked voltage again at the breaker outputs. When I check each output to neutral then I get 120V on each one. Then as you said I checked across the two outputs coming out of the breaker and I get either 0V or overload (don't read any voltage). So just to confirm I should get 220V when I measure across the two outputs on the breaker? 

Thanks


----------



## roughneck (Nov 28, 2014)

Yes you should. 
Sounds like the breaker may be faulty on one leg.


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

Roughneck, thanks for the help. So replacing the breaker would be the solution. Any thoughts on why the breaker might be faulty or is this just some reliability issue that can happen - sometimes this just go bad.


----------



## roughneck (Nov 28, 2014)

Could be failed internally, could be a loose clip/lug, could be a burnt buss bar. 
Breakers can not work in several different ways. 
Just make sure the panel has 208/230 coming in and it’s not a city problem.


----------



## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

alyons1904 said:


> I checked voltage again at the breaker outputs. When I check each output to neutral then I get 120V on each one. Then as you said I checked across the two outputs coming out of the breaker and *I get either 0V or overload (don't read any voltage).* So just to confirm I should get 220V when I measure across the two outputs on the breaker?
> 
> Thanks


Alyons....just to make sure you are getting a correct reading when testing....

I'm assuming you are using a multi-meter...and do you have it set on an alternating voltage setting above 240 V.

I'm concerned with your reference above to "overload". It is not a reading I've everseen. Some multii-meters have numerous max voltage adjustments...many have a 200V setting....I actually do not know what reading you get if set at 200 and testing for 240....(guess I never set the MM wrong)

Just checking....it's relatively seldom that you get a breaker going bad. (I'm still thinking it is a testing problem or the dryer, before you go changing out breakers.... but it is possible that you do not have 240 to the machine).

Short cut the whole procedure, and tell me if you take your MM, set at above 240, and test at your wall plug between your two legs (not using either ground or neutral) are you getting no (0) voltage.

(I thought you told us before you checked at the plug, and you were getting *two* 120V readings when you were checking against either ground or neutral.... which would be fine...but you should get 240 across those two legs.

(I'm assuming you have a 4 wire circuit (plug) and not three prongs... but the principle is the same.)


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

I checked on the two bus bars coming in and each one has 120V. And I checked right an input to breaker and I get 120V on each input. The odd thing is I still get 120V on each output from breaker - I would think if breaker is faulty then I would be missing one of the 120V outputs. But for sure when I check across the breaker outputs then 0V. So i think at this stage it looks like I should change out the breaker and see result. Thanks.


----------



## roughneck (Nov 28, 2014)

Your confusing yourself greatly with the readings to ground. 
Read across the circuit. 

208/230-good
0-bad

Your 120V is backfeeding through the load. 
What type of meter are you using?


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

Roughneck, firstly I must apologize (1000 times). Messed up on my volt meter readings. Used to measuring 120 V so always set to the 200V range. Now I realized I was at the wrong setting on meter. So set to the 500V range. 

Update - I now have 240V across the breaker output so breaker and panel all look good. Panel also has 240V across the two legs/buses. 
Now at the dryer outlet I pulled out both the two wires and measured. 0V across the two wires. So conclusion now is ok at breaker but lose on leg by the time I get to the outlet. So seems like could be a wiring issue? Or could this still have something to do with the breaker?


----------



## roughneck (Nov 28, 2014)

That would indicate a wiring issue. 
You pulled the plug out of the wall and measured at the back of the outlet, right? 
There may be a junction box somewhere with wire nuts. And one of the connections has burned up.


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

I actually removed the wires going into the outlet and measured across both wires (so eliminating the outlet itself). result 0V. 
As far as I know there is one continuous wire running from the breaker box to the outlet. But looks like I'm going to have to further troubelshoot the wiring to see where the issue is. 
Thanks


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

Apology also to MTN - I see now in one of your posts you mention the voltage setting on the meter. Anyway should have read this properly. Thanks. Definitely got my voltage readings correct now.


----------



## roughneck (Nov 28, 2014)

You could ring out the wires with your meter. Unhook the wiring at both ends. Hook one line wire to the common at one end and test for polarity at the other. Repeat with the other line. It’ll tell you which conductor is open.


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

Not sure what you mean by 'ring out the wires'. Are you saying on the breaker box side take one of the hot wires (now disconnected from breaker) and connect to common line (like neutral line). Then on the outlet end check continuity between those two wires (the hot line and neutral - assuming no issue it should show connected? 

Thanks


----------



## roughneck (Nov 28, 2014)

Yes, with the wrong terminology on my part. 
Disconnect all 3 connections on both ends of the wire. Then test for continuity.


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

Got it. I will try this tomorrow and see outcome.


----------



## roughneck (Nov 28, 2014)

duplicate post.


----------



## MasterPipe (Nov 5, 2016)

I think you can call the electrician and check the your Samsung Dryer.


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

I did find one wire that is open. It is one continuous cable (3 wires - 2 live legs and a neutral) from the panel to the dryer outlet. One leg shows no continuity. I was able to check the where the cable comes in to the dryer behind the wall but couldn't see any issue. And also checked where it runs along the garage into the ceiling area. So will have to investigate further. Hard to believe that a wire that size/guage would just break. 

I am also looking to get an electrician in to take a look. At least confirm my findings and help diagnose the issue before I open up any areas to check the cable. 

Thanks for all the help.


----------



## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

ALYONS.... Thank ya Sir for the update....:smile:

(I'm still interested)


----------



## jeffmattero76 (Jan 4, 2016)

Alyons - jumping in, and following this thread.

To be clear, when checking for continuity on the receptacle end, the wires need to be removed from the receptacle. If you left the wires connected, and checked at the terminals, no continuity could be due to a faulty receptacle. If you do have them disconnected, and show no continuity, then that would indicate a break in the wire. Has anyone done any remodeling recently, where a screw or a nail could have penetrated/broken a wire?

Sent from my SM-G530T using Tapatalk


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

jeffmattero76, yes, I did disconnect the wires from the outlet. So checked continuity on the actual wires. Conclusion is a break in one of the wires. 
Work was done on the house over 1 1/2 years ago. Dryer working fine over this period of time and then the heating just stopped about 5 weeks ago. Nothing done recently that I can think of that should cause a break in the cable/wire. 

I'm hoping an electrician makes it today and will see the outcome. 

Thanks


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

Latest Update - Problem Solved. 
I had my electrician come in and he confirmed the open wire. We finished up opening up some areas but couldn't see any issue. Eventually we cut the wire about half way from the garage to the dryer outlet. Found the open end on the dryer outlet side. So ran a new cable on that half and got the old cable out. With new cable all good. And interestingly found a good size cut on the old cable. As nothing had been done since about 1.5 years this was a bit of a puzzle. However, I figured out that during the work done 1.5 years ago we moved a recessed light in the kitchen ceiling about one foot after we installed the cabinets. So looks like when this work was done a cut was made in the dryer wire when opening up the sheetrock. Dryer wire runs above kitchen ceiling. And it cut about 90% of one wire but amazingly this wire worked for 1.5 years and eventually failed. I think it failed now because we were running the dryer more and probably just burnt out. But no breaker issue, just a clean break and stopped working. I'm attaching some photos. 
Thanks for all the help.


----------



## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

Thanks Alyons... Glad you got it...:smile:


----------



## roughneck (Nov 28, 2014)

Glad you got it figured out.


----------



## alyons1904 (Feb 21, 2019)

Yes, it feels good to have it solved and the troubleshooting and logic was all correct. And I now know how you get 240V from the 120V as well as better understanding of the breaker box, etc... So at least I got some good knowledge for my $$ payment. And bonus that the house didn't burn down or have some worse outcome considering we had a partial open wire for about 1.5 years. 

Thanks everyone for all the help.


----------



## meranaam1 (Dec 6, 2020)

so dryer heating issue was solved by checking control board?


----------

