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My kenmore dryer (model 11086880100) stopped heating. My hours of research lead me to believe that I should test the thermal fuse, heating element, hi limit thermostat and thermal cut off. Ended up buying this kit on Amazon since I don’t own a multimeter. It came with most of the parts that I need.

Here is a picture of the back of my dryer with a few notes I made. It looks like there are 2 hi low thermostats installed on the heating element case. I thought the heating element is supposed to have 1 hi low thermostat (on the bottom) and a thermal cut off switch (on the top)? What am I missing here? Part of the confusion is the variance of that component names.

Obviously, this dryer is very old and I bought it second-hand. I was VERY surprised to see that the thermal fuse was bypassed. I’m not 100% sure if the blue and black wires are normally used to connect to the fuse or not. Every picture I have seen illustrates 2 blue wires, which sounds close enough. But why leave it like that since it presents a potential liability? Thankfully, nothing has happened in the 8 years I’ve owned the dryer.

Do I really need to solder on new clamps to the wires or can I crimp the 2 extra red wires came with the orange caps I have left over from the Amazon kit I haven’t used? Are they even the correct wires that should be connected to the thermal fuse? You know what they say about assumptions.

So far, I replaced the heating element and replaced L290-40f (top position) with L290-80f. Turned on the dryer for 30 seconds and it produced VERY hot air, so mission accomplished. I assume the heating element was bad and I may not have had to replace the hi low thermostat.

But shouldn’t that be where the thermal cut off is connected instead?

Why are there 2 hi low thermostats? What purpose does that serve? Obviously the dryer has been working forever, but I’m concerned about safety now that I know how it was connected inside. I’d prefer not to burn down my new house lol.

The way I understand things is the cycling thermostat monitors the temperature, via the heating element. If it gets too hot then the thermal fuse shuts off the dryer to prevent a fire. My heating element (see picture above) is controlled by a wire that comes from the cycling thermostat and another one from somewhere else. There’s a jumper from the heating element prong (way at the bottom) to the hi low thermostat. That thermostat helps to protect the dryer from overheating from the airflow and if it’s too hot the thermal cuts off power to reduce the risk of fire.

I don’t even know if the wires are connected the correct way. Does it really matter since the dryer is now heating? Why did they have to be all red lol.

I’d really appreciate some help.