The dryer at Oakwood Apartments unit 4B keeps tripping the breaker after 10 minutes

I was out at Oakwood Apartments in Phoenix last Thursday for a routine call on a Whirlpool dryer. After about 10 minutes of running, it would pop the breaker every time. I checked the heating element and found a short to ground, swapped it out for $18 part, and it's been running fine since. Anyone else seeing these dryers fail the same way around the 5 year mark?

3 comments

3 Comments

kelly_craig14d ago

That's a solid fix for sure. I had a similar headache with an old Kenmore condenser dryer a few years back. It would run for a bit then just stop, but in my case the breaker would actually trip a split second after the motor kicked on. Turns out the motor windings were going bad and drawing too much current on startup. I replaced the whole motor assembly and it worked fine after that. Have you run into any dryers where the timer itself starts acting up around that same age, like skipping cycles or not advancing properly?

ivan_mason14d ago

Whoa, the breaker tripping? That's wild. Motor must've been screaming.

robinson.hannah13d ago

Read a forum post from an appliance tech in Tucson who said those Whirlpool dryers from around 2018 have a run capacitor that goes bad and makes the breaker trip after a few cycles. He swapped a $12 capacitor out and it fixed it, same model you're talking about. Seems like the heating element short is the more common issue though, based on what I've seen in those repair groups. Your fix sounds right on the money.