Maytag Halo of Heat Dryers

Were known for having gas valves that would stick open and there was nothing that would stop the burner from blazing away till you turned off the gas supply. Needless to say this was not an ideal way to finish drying a load of clothing, when the dryers timer or EC control shut the machine off with a nice dry load of clothing inside it left an 18,000 BTU flame burning away right under the front of the drum, as you can imagine it did not take long for the clothing to catch fire.

If someone was home and was able to turn off the gas in time we actually fixed a few of these dryers after this happened. You diffidently had to replace the gas valve and the front seals, and you were left with a working dryer with scorched paint on the lower front.

Mt was one of the few gas dryers that only had a single gas valve to control gas flow to the burner, Whirlpool for example never built a gas dryer in such a dangerous way, and no US gas dryer has ever been built since the HOH dryers without redundant or dual gas valves.

Hi Ralph, on your electric HOH dryer that over heated the cabinet could not become part of the heat source, but rather the cabinet became extremely hot because of the broken heating element being shorted to the cabinet. In order for the cabinet to become part of the heat source the dryer would need to be on at least a 1000 amp breaker, maybe several thousand and the cabinet would quickly have become red hot and started to melt. Steel cabinets do not make good heating elements, LOL.


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Post# 901241 9/30/2016 at 15:35 (2,757 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)
Checkrate/Likes 3 I just added the comprehensive service manual to Maytag Halo-of-Heat Dryers to the Ephemera Library. This has some great information and takes quite a bit of the mystery out of the early electronic control machines.

Post# 901242 , Reply# 1 9/30/2016 at 15:40 (2,757 days old) by rp2813 (Sannazay)
Checkrate/Likes Great news Robert! I might still have my DG-806 if this information had been readily available back in 1996 when its bearing failed.

Post# 901248 , Reply# 2 9/30/2016 at 16:28 (2,757 days old) by twintubdexter (Palm Springs)
Checkrate/Likes 1 I remember as a kid seeing a few electric Halo-of-Heat dryers come in as trades where the cycling and high-limit thermostats had failed. The front of the dryer had a huge burned ring like it had been branded. I didn't see a lot like this but I do remember them. There were several "dryer-fire" trade ins.

Post# 901250 , Reply# 3 9/30/2016 at 16:36 (2,757 days old) by rp2813 (Sannazay)
Checkrate/Likes 1 Joe, I'll bet those were electric models. We had one for a while and its heating coil broke and fused to the cabinet, incorporating it as part of the heat source. I had to flip the 240 breaker at the fuse box since there was no getting anywhere near the dryer. My affection for HOH models applies only to those starting with DG.

Post# 901297 , Reply# 4 9/30/2016 at 21:27 (2,757 days old) by abcomatic (Bradford, Illinois)
Checkrate/Likes I am going to get a Halo of heat electric dryer soon. Is there anything that I should know or do before I get this? Thanks in advance.Gary

Post# 901332 , Reply# 5 10/1/2016 at 07:09 (2,757 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)
Checkrate/Likes 4 *Gas HOH Maytag Dryers* Were known for having gas valves that would stick open and there was nothing that would stop the burner from blazing away till you turned off the gas supply. Needless to say this was not an ideal way to finish drying a load of clothing, when the dryers timer or EC control shut the machine off with a nice dry load of clothing inside it left an 18,000 BTU flame burning away right under the front of the drum, as you can imagine it did not take long for the clothing to catch fire. If someone was home and was able to turn off the gas in time we actually fixed a few of these dryers after this happened. You diffidently had to replace the gas valve and the front seals, and you were left with a working dryer with scorched paint on the lower front. Mt was one of the few gas dryers that only had a single gas valve to control gas flow to the burner, Whirlpool for example never built a gas dryer in such a dangerous way, and no US gas dryer has ever been built since the HOH dryers without redundant or dual gas valves. Hi Ralph, on your electric HOH dryer that over heated the cabinet could not become part of the heat source, but rather the cabinet became extremely hot because of the broken heating element being shorted to the cabinet. In order for the cabinet to become part of the heat source the dryer would need to be on at least a 1000 amp breaker, maybe several thousand and the cabinet would quickly have become red hot and started to melt. Steel cabinets do not make good heating elements, LOL.

Post# 901333 , Reply# 6 10/1/2016 at 07:11 (2,757 days old) by akronman (Akron/Cleveland Ohio)
Checkrate/Likes 3 *DE606* Mine runs perfectly at age 41

Post# 901345 , Reply# 7 10/1/2016 at 08:36 (2,757 days old) by alr2903 (TN)
Checkrate/Likes One member here posted of a safety pin that somehow found its way into the HOH electric element. Until the problem was solved I think it created a shock hazard.

Post# 901353 , Reply# 8 10/1/2016 at 10:19 (2,756 days old) by mayken4now (Panama City, Florida)
Checkrate/Likes 4 I'll tell ya, it's is the quietest dryer ever made in my opinion. Thanks for posting the info Robert!

Post# 901413 , Reply# 10 10/1/2016 at 18:08 (2,756 days old) by Maytagbear (N.E. Ohio)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *I loved our* DG502! Only shortcoming was the lack of a drum light. Quiet, fast, easy to program. Lawrence/Maytagbear

Post# 901369 , Reply# 9 10/1/2016 at 13:01 (2,756 days old) by rp2813 (Sannazay)
Checkrate/Likes Yeah, John, I should have stated that it was trying to incorporate the cabinet as the heat source. Regardless, the cabinet was most certainly a source of heat -- for the entire garage -- for those few/several minutes before the smoke tipped us off that something (i.e. the temperature) was up -- way up. I agree with Steve. Our DG-806 was the quietest, fastest, easiest to use dryer ever. And the flame shut off when it was supposed to every single time.

Post# 901417 , Reply# 11 10/1/2016 at 19:37 (2,756 days old) by imperial70 (MA USA)
Checkrate/Likes 1 I remember we had the portable one. Very easy to replace belts. One for the blower and one for the drum. Didn't need a manual to do those tasks.