Maytag DG806 modification

After posting this thread, a few folks have asked how my "adventures" with the electronic control on this dryer have been going. After nearly 3 months of experimentation and tweeking, I think I have finally achieved HOH electronic dryness control "nirvana".

My goal was relatively consistent "nearly dry" clothes on the "Regular" setting. What I mean by this is that there may still be the slightest bit of dampness in the seams of jeans, in the heaviest part of towels and the elastic bands of heavy socks and underwear. On the Wash-n-wear setting these items are either completely or nearly completely dry.

What ultimately worked was using the original electronic control with a new Dayton PMPC-6.8 6.8uF 250V Precision Audio Capacitor with one of the drum wire baffles disconnected. I bought a set of 4 of these capacitors with the following ratings: 4uF, 5.6uF, 6.8uF, & 8.2uF. I dried various loads using all of them and the machine was still consistently overdrying with the exception of the 4 uF. The problem with this one was that the Air Fluff time had dropped to about 4 minutes.

The next step I took was to remove one of the drum baffles from the sensing circuit and start a new round of experiments. According to John (Combo52) this was one of the tried and true "field methods" for dealing with this problem. It seemed to do the trick. With the 4 uF the load was only damp dry on "Regular" and with the 8.2 uF it was nearly completely dry. So, I tried the 6.8 uF and that seems to be about perfect. The "Air Fluff" is still a bit on the shy side of the factory spec of 9-12 minutes. (Right now it's around 8-1/2). I can live with that.

There seems to be a good deal of mystery surrounding what rating of capacitor Maytag originally speced on the wire-baffle HOH (pre-1968) dryers. The writing on the old capacitor made no sense to myself or to a handful of electronics people to whom I showed to to. There seems to be general consensus that the bar-baffle HOH dryers (1968 and later) originally had an 8 uF capacitor on them. That, however, was often increased by the addition of a 1 or 2 uF capacitor in parallel if the customer complained that the dryer was under-drying.

I thought I'd post this info here for anyone who is looking for info on these electronic controls. They are a marvelously simple and effective example of "Space Age" technology applied to home use.


Forum Topics & Rules Manuals & Literature	New users Click-here to sign-up

Post# 537518 8/17/2011 at 08:55 (4,636 days old) by Kenmore71 (Minneapolis, MN)
Checkrate/Likes 2 In the continuing "tweeking" of my restored 1967 Maytag DG806, I made an addition to the control panel that I thought some might find amusing. Since this machine is in a basement laundry room, I don't always hear the end-of-cycle chime that signals the shutting off of the gas valve circuit and the subsequent "cool-down" phase. When I come down to the laundry room at about the time when I think things should be dry and the dryer is still running I don't know if it's still drying or actually "cooling down". So, I decided to install an indicator light connected in parallel with the gas valve circuit wired in before the cycling stat. I used a standard C7 christmas bulb and installed it behind the little blue flame on the indicator panel. Here's what it looks like when it's "drying":

Post# 537521 , Reply# 1 8/17/2011 at 08:56 (4,636 days old) by Kenmore71 (Minneapolis, MN)
Checkrate/Likes 1 and a close-up

Post# 537523 , Reply# 2 8/17/2011 at 08:57 (4,636 days old) by Kenmore71 (Minneapolis, MN)
Checkrate/Likes 1 "cool-down" and "air-fluff"

Post# 537525 , Reply# 3 8/17/2011 at 09:13 (4,636 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *The more lights, the merrier!* It's all the special little touches like this that make life worth living! This is a bell/whistle that I would find most useful.

Post# 537539 , Reply# 4 8/17/2011 at 10:25 (4,636 days old) by mistereric (New Jersey (Taylor Ham))
Checkrate/Likes Thats really cool. :-)

Post# 537588 , Reply# 5 8/17/2011 at 12:58 (4,636 days old) by AutowasherFreak ()
Checkrate/Likes Excellent idea!

Post# 537641 , Reply# 6 8/17/2011 at 17:54 (4,635 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *MODIFIED MT GAS DRYER* Great idea I am with Ken the more lights and bells and whistles the better.

Post# 537648 , Reply# 7 8/17/2011 at 18:23 (4,635 days old) by rp2813 (Sannazay)
Checkrate/Likes That belongs in the automaticwasher.org Modifications Hall of Fame . . . Maytag should have thought of that! I love it!

Post# 537684 , Reply# 8 8/17/2011 at 20:20 (4,635 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA)
Checkrate/Likes Awesome mod, and a great solution to not totally knowing if it is heating or not. I'm impressesd Mark! Ben

Post# 537992 , Reply# 10 8/18/2011 at 23:43 (4,634 days old) by MaytagA710 ()
Checkrate/Likes Mark, that is a brilliant idea. It looks awesome! Thanks for sharing the information on the capacitors.

Post# 538429 , Reply# 12 8/20/2011 at 22:26 (4,632 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)
Checkrate/Likes Neat & would also be neat if the Maytag Electric Driers could have maybe an ORANGE light... -- Dave

Post# 538439 , Reply# 13 8/20/2011 at 23:20 (4,632 days old) by kenmore71 (Minneapolis, MN)
Checkrate/Likes It would be easy enough to do if you had the supplies on hand.

Post# 538795 , Reply# 15 8/22/2011 at 14:15 (4,631 days old) by rickr (.)
Checkrate/Likes Hey, I like this idea! Very nice touch to the console.

Post# 537990 , Reply# 9 8/18/2011 at 23:14 (4,634 days old) by Kenmore71 (Minneapolis, MN)
Checkrate/Likes *Electronic control update* After posting this thread, a few folks have asked how my "adventures" with the electronic control on this dryer have been going. After nearly 3 months of experimentation and tweeking, I think I have finally achieved HOH electronic dryness control "nirvana". My goal was relatively consistent "nearly dry" clothes on the "Regular" setting. What I mean by this is that there may still be the slightest bit of dampness in the seams of jeans, in the heaviest part of towels and the elastic bands of heavy socks and underwear. On the Wash-n-wear setting these items are either completely or nearly completely dry. What ultimately worked was using the original electronic control with a new Dayton PMPC-6.8 6.8uF 250V Precision Audio Capacitor with one of the drum wire baffles disconnected. I bought a set of 4 of these capacitors with the following ratings: 4uF, 5.6uF, 6.8uF, & 8.2uF. I dried various loads using all of them and the machine was still consistently overdrying with the exception of the 4 uF. The problem with this one was that the Air Fluff time had dropped to about 4 minutes. The next step I took was to remove one of the drum baffles from the sensing circuit and start a new round of experiments. According to John (Combo52) this was one of the tried and true "field methods" for dealing with this problem. It seemed to do the trick. With the 4 uF the load was only damp dry on "Regular" and with the 8.2 uF it was nearly completely dry. So, I tried the 6.8 uF and that seems to be about perfect. The "Air Fluff" is still a bit on the shy side of the factory spec of 9-12 minutes. (Right now it's around 8-1/2). I can live with that. There seems to be a good deal of mystery surrounding what rating of capacitor Maytag originally speced on the wire-baffle HOH (pre-1968) dryers. The writing on the old capacitor made no sense to myself or to a handful of electronics people to whom I showed to to. There seems to be general consensus that the bar-baffle HOH dryers (1968 and later) originally had an 8 uF capacitor on them. That, however, was often increased by the addition of a 1 or 2 uF capacitor in parallel if the customer complained that the dryer was under-drying. I thought I'd post this info here for anyone who is looking for info on these electronic controls. They are a marvelously simple and effective example of "Space Age" technology applied to home use.

Post# 538039 , Reply# 11 8/19/2011 at 08:17 (4,634 days old) by yogitunes (New Jersey)
Checkrate/Likes I once had a Kenmore that had a little light come on when in the "cool down" phase.... but this is a million times better....something Maytag should have done all along........pure genious......I also like that they have the little flame to designate a gas burner.... almost like the "moisture minder" light on some of the Maytag dryers, that would flash as the damp clothes went across the electronic sensors..... this definately should get the "Idea of the Year" award!

Post# 538474 , Reply# 14 8/21/2011 at 09:16 (4,632 days old) by yogitunes (New Jersey)
Checkrate/Likes What would be so hard about it? Mark has proven it can be done...... and its fantastic..... I love what all the members are doing with lights on these machines....keep the ideas coming

Post# 1070384 , Reply# 16 5/1/2020 at 23:49 (1,455 days old) by Maytag85 (Sean A806)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *This is a old thread...* But I am thinking of doing something similar to the Maytag DG606 I converted to a DG306 by using the neon pilot indicator light to indicate when the burner is on or off and it will go off when the burner cycles off.