SQ Experts: 2017 9 Series Dryer Overheating (Seriously)

Here's what's happening:

I always select 'Near Dry' as my dryness setting. Clothes are often fully dry 15-20 minutes before cycle ends automatically. This has always been normal behavior. I often just watch the clock and pull average loads out after 30-40 minutes and they're always fully dry. A full load of bath linens generally takes about 1 hr. 15 minutes on Heavy Duty (high heat) cycle. Everything else gets dried on Regular (medium heat) or Perm Press (also medium heat). I almost always select the Anti-Wrinkle option, which tumbles without heat for a few seconds every few minutes when the selected cycle has ended.

About a month ago, I wasn't able to get to a load of mixed cottons/poly-blends until about 60 minutes after I'd pressed 'start.' The Perm Press cycle should have been finished and well into Anti-Wrinkle mode. Instead, the timer display read 10 minutes (of the main cycle) and the 'cooling' light was lit, indicating it should have been in cooldown mode. It hadn't even gotten to the Anti-Wrinkle part at this point.

As soon as I opened the door to the laundry room, it smelled like someone had been ironing clothes--that really hot fabric smell. No one else had used their laundry equipment (I wash very early in the morning). Touched the top of the dryer and it was very hot, which isn't normal behavior. I opened the door and it was like a blast furnace had been opened. The poly-cotton items (Docker's dress shorts, for example) were so hot I could hardly touch them. The heat in the dryer was intense. Grabbed the plastic guard over the lint filter and had to drop it, it was so hot.

Nothing was scorched, but when I walked back into my bedroom about an hour after I'd hung the clothes in the closet, it still smelled like someone had been ironing. The collar on one of one poly-blend shirts actually felt a bit crunchy.

Fast forward to this past Saturday. I threw in a load of bath linens, pressed start and got busy on a project in the apartment and forgot about the load in the dryer. Two and a half hours later, I opened the door to the laundry room (just a couple of steps from my apartment door) and again, things smelled hot. The dryer had completed the Heavy Duty cycle and there was only about 20 minutes (of 60) remaining in the Anti-Wrinkle portion of the cycle. Again, top of dryer was very hot. Opened the dryer door and it was a replay of the blast furnace.

Obviously, the heat had been "stuck" on during both tumble and non-tumble periods of Anti-Wrinkle.

Today, I threw in a medium-sized load of kitchen and personal whites and selected the Regular cycle without the Anti-Wrinkle option. I checked on the dryer every few minutes. Everything seemed to be operating normally until the timer display hit 10 minutes and the 'cooling' light came on. The heat kicked in and apparently remained on for another 25 minutes (the timer sat at 10 minutes for a full fifteen minutes before continuing the countdown toward zero). The dryer shut off when the timer hit "00". The top of the dryer, again, was hot.

Opened the door and it was not quite a blast furnace, but obviously the heat had been "stuck" on high ever since the timer got to 10, at which point it ran for another 25 minutes.

We joke about the high temps of newer SQ dryers, but something is obviously wrong, here. Does this sound like a familiar problem to any of our service guys or those who have worked on newer SQs?

I'd like to get some opinions from AW before I call the dealer. Since the dryer seems to operate normally until the time display gets down to 10 minutes, I feel I can still use it; just have to keep an eye on it and pull clothes out the moment they're dry.

Thanks for any ideas, input and experience anyone can provide!

This post was last edited 07/21/2020 at 17:29


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

Post# 1081863 7/21/2020 at 12:01 (1,374 days old) by Frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)
Checkrate/Likes Here's what's happening: I always select 'Near Dry' as my dryness setting. Clothes are often fully dry 15-20 minutes before cycle ends automatically. This has always been normal behavior. I often just watch the clock and pull average loads out after 30-40 minutes and they're always fully dry. A full load of bath linens generally takes about 1 hr. 15 minutes on Heavy Duty (high heat) cycle. Everything else gets dried on Regular (medium heat) or Perm Press (also medium heat). I almost always select the Anti-Wrinkle option, which tumbles without heat for a few seconds every few minutes when the selected cycle has ended. About a month ago, I wasn't able to get to a load of mixed cottons/poly-blends until about 60 minutes after I'd pressed 'start.' The Perm Press cycle should have been finished and well into Anti-Wrinkle mode. Instead, the timer display read 10 minutes (of the main cycle) and the 'cooling' light was lit, indicating it should have been in cooldown mode. It hadn't even gotten to the Anti-Wrinkle part at this point. As soon as I opened the door to the laundry room, it smelled like someone had been ironing clothes--that really hot fabric smell. No one else had used their laundry equipment (I wash very early in the morning). Touched the top of the dryer and it was very hot, which isn't normal behavior. I opened the door and it was like a blast furnace had been opened. The poly-cotton items (Docker's dress shorts, for example) were so hot I could hardly touch them. The heat in the dryer was intense. Grabbed the plastic guard over the lint filter and had to drop it, it was so hot. Nothing was scorched, but when I walked back into my bedroom about an hour after I'd hung the clothes in the closet, it still smelled like someone had been ironing. The collar on one of one poly-blend shirts actually felt a bit crunchy. Fast forward to this past Saturday. I threw in a load of bath linens, pressed start and got busy on a project in the apartment and forgot about the load in the dryer. Two and a half hours later, I opened the door to the laundry room (just a couple of steps from my apartment door) and again, things smelled hot. The dryer had completed the Heavy Duty cycle and there was only about 20 minutes (of 60) remaining in the Anti-Wrinkle portion of the cycle. Again, top of dryer was very hot. Opened the dryer door and it was a replay of the blast furnace. Obviously, the heat had been "stuck" on during both tumble and non-tumble periods of Anti-Wrinkle. Today, I threw in a medium-sized load of kitchen and personal whites and selected the Regular cycle without the Anti-Wrinkle option. I checked on the dryer every few minutes. Everything seemed to be operating normally until the timer display hit 10 minutes and the 'cooling' light came on. The heat kicked in and apparently remained on for another 25 minutes (the timer sat at 10 minutes for a full fifteen minutes before continuing the countdown toward zero). The dryer shut off when the timer hit "00". The top of the dryer, again, was hot. Opened the door and it was not quite a blast furnace, but obviously the heat had been "stuck" on high ever since the timer got to 10, at which point it ran for another 25 minutes. We joke about the high temps of newer SQ dryers, but something is obviously wrong, here. Does this sound like a familiar problem to any of our service guys or those who have worked on newer SQs? I'd like to get some opinions from AW before I call the dealer. Since the dryer seems to operate normally until the time display gets down to 10 minutes, I feel I can still use it; just have to keep an eye on it and pull clothes out the moment they're dry. Thanks for any ideas, input and experience anyone can provide! This post was last edited 07/21/2020 at 17:29

Post# 1081864 , Reply# 1 7/21/2020 at 12:11 (1,374 days old) by appnut (TX)
Checkrate/Likes 1 Just a lame observation, but am I understanding correctly it appears once it reaches the cool down phase it not only continues to add heat, but at a higher temp if dry cycle was lower than high? Have you tried running the dryer on air only to see if heat comes on?

Post# 1081866 , Reply# 2 7/21/2020 at 12:22 (1,374 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)
Checkrate/Likes 2 *Overheating SQ Electric Dryer* Hi Eugene, You might have a stuck relay on the board, See if the dryer heats on air-fluff. Good news is the generous warranty, this should be completely covered. John L.

Post# 1081886 , Reply# 3 7/21/2020 at 14:37 (1,374 days old) by Frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)
Checkrate/Likes Bob and John: Thanks for your input! I'm not sure if the heat malfunctions each time I use the dryer or if its sporadic; at any rate, it has happened several times, now, so will have the dealer in to service it. As is often the case, I suppose it will behave itself when he's here. Will run a 'no heat' cycle to see if that functions properly. What I don't understand is why the heat seems to cycle on and off normally until it reaches the 10-minute/cooldown mark--and why the timer sits on the 10-minute mark for so long before the countdown continues, even though the load inside is surely dry. That's when things seem to go haywire. When the malfunction occurs, it's definitely overheating. You wouldn't believe how hot the clothes are, as well as the top of the dryer. For instance, I know the load of whites I dried today was probably fully dry a good 15-20 minutes before the timer hit the cooldown/10-minute mark, and it didn't start overheating till the cooldown was supposed to start. I checked the top of the dryer a couple of times when the timer was between 20 and 11 minutes remaining and there was no sign of trouble. I wanted to see what the dryer would do on its own without interruption, so I did not open the door at any point during the cycle. I'll follow-up after the service call.

Post# 1081926 , Reply# 4 7/21/2020 at 20:34 (1,373 days old) by Supersurgilator (Indiana)
Checkrate/Likes 1 I'm curious if it is actually operating "normally" at the earlier timer markings, or if it is just because the load contains more moisture at that point that the heat hasn't built up yet. I'm kind of wondering if you might have a heating element that has grounded out to itself which would cause it to run continuously instead of cycling on and off like it should. Like others have mentioned, run an air fluff cycle and see if the heat kicks on.

Post# 1081929 , Reply# 5 7/21/2020 at 21:13 (1,373 days old) by Maytagbear (N.E. Ohio)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *Innocently meant.....* Are the controls based on a moisture sensor, or are they one of those themostat timer things? Lawrence/Maytagbear

Post# 1081965 , Reply# 6 7/22/2020 at 07:56 (1,373 days old) by Frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)
Checkrate/Likes 1 AND WE HAVE AN ANSWER: Set the dryer for a timed, 30-minute cycle with no heat. I checked it after about 15 minutes and...the top of the dryer was warm. I opened the door and sure enough, it was obviously heating. Hadn't had time to overheat yet, but it was probably on its way to that point. Bruce: The dryer didn't seem to overheat even when the load of whites had already been fully dried. As I mentioned above, when the timer hit 20 minutes remaining, the load inside was certainly fully dried. Although I didn't open the dryer, the top was merely its normal warmish temp until the timer stalled for awhile at the 10-minute mark. That's when things really got hot. However, your explanation makes more sense, so we're going to go with it, lol. Lawrence: The 9 Series dryer has a moisture sensor, but it is nowhere near as responsive as the sensors on my Frigidaire dryers or the 2015 Maytag, which was always spot-on. Will call the dealer for service this morning.

Post# 1081979 , Reply# 7 7/22/2020 at 11:10 (1,373 days old) by appnut (TX)
Checkrate/Likes 1 Good going Eugene!!!

Post# 1081980 , Reply# 8 7/22/2020 at 11:26 (1,373 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)
Checkrate/Likes 2 *overheating SQ Electric Dryer* Hi Eugene, try to get the servicer to bring a relay board with them so you can minimize the number of trips and number of people coming into your house, it could be a shorted heater, but SQ has a heater design that does not seem to short as often as other electric dryers do. John L.

Post# 1081983 , Reply# 9 7/22/2020 at 12:23 (1,373 days old) by Frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)
Checkrate/Likes 1 Will do, John; thanks! Now...the last thing I'm curious about: If I simply power up the dryer but don't press start, will the heat come on? May have to try that one last experiment and then I'm going to leave it alone before I start a fire or something.

Post# 1082035 , Reply# 10 7/22/2020 at 19:52 (1,372 days old) by Supersurgilator (Indiana)
Checkrate/Likes No the heat should not kick on until the motor starts.