How to Troubleshoot & Replace Whirlpool AP6008281 / WP3387747 Dryer Heating Element

This is a 15 to 20 minute repair. First and foremost, ALWAYS UNPLUG THE MACHINE!!! After that you pop off the lower cover of the dryer with a putty knife. You pull the heat shield out, then the single sheet metal screw holding the heating element in place and the load line (2 wires) for the element. You pull the old element out and replace it with the new one and reinstall the wiring, heat shield and lower cover for the dryer and you are drying your clothes once again. This is the quick repair version. I do not do it this way. Our clothes dryer is used heavily every day so I always do the full service and maintenance version. I pull the top off of the dryer, then the front panel with the door, this comes off with the two front support wheels for the drum. Next I pull up on the tensioning pulley for the drum belt and remove the drum entirely, it is light in weight and slides out very easily. Now you have a very clear view of the motor, heat chamber, blower fan and exhaust venting. I grab the shop vac and vacuum out all the lint in the bottom of the dryer. This lint build-up is one of the main causes for house fires every year. I then remove: the blower fan and shroud; heat chamber with heating element; and the exhaust venting. I thoroughly clean all of these with the shop vac and a damp soapy shop cloth. I check all four drum support wheels, two in front on the front panel and two in the back of the machine, for lint build-up and entangled hair. I lubricate them very lightly with a spray lubricant to ensure smooth operation. I have found that is easier to reinstall the heat chamber in the machine before reinstalling the heating element. Sometimes it is a tight fit and you can get better leverage this way. Even though you have vacuumed it out, there are areas that you cannot get to by this method. I reverse the hose on the vacuum and blow the entire base out. After this I reverse the dismantling procedures, put it all back together and we are back to drying our clothes once again. 

A few months prior the dryer heat worked off an on for a couple weeks, but then it healed itself somehow. This time there was no heat at all, so I started with the how-to videos--and narrowed it down to fuses or heating element based on the fact that the dryer was running but not heating. Unfortunately there was no specific video on my Kenmore 110.68722700 dryer, and some videos suggested that I'd have to access things from the back, others said from the front. Since I had a removable front panel, I started there--and much of the suspect parts were visible once the panel was off. I tested them with a cheap multimeter--which I learned to use watching more videos. This confirmed that the heating element was dead. (The new element also tested fine prior to install). I watched about 3 or 4 Kenmore videos before I found one with an element that looked like mine. I took off the front heat shield and the 1 screw I could see that connected the heating element to the chamber around it, and pulled, but the element would not move--I wasn't sure how hard I could pull without breaking it. I re-watched the video and they said it could be snug, so I pulled harder with a pair of vise-grips and it came loose. The new one also slid back in fine, and the fit was similarly snug. I put it all back together, and the multimeter again confirmed that my install was successful. Since I had the front open and the blower cover was right there, I opened it (4 screws) to see how clean it was. Pretty mild, lint and crud (14 year old dryer). I cleaned that, and all the loose lint in the base of the machine, and closed everything up. I ran it for 10 mins, and the dryer heated (yay!) but the but the exhaust pipes did not warm up, so I figured there must be a clog. After cleaning them out (I have about 12 feet of metal venting to the outside) everything worked great. $85 bucks for the element was a win. Last note: I was surprised at how much lint had accumulated since I cleaned it last year. But then I remembered that I had cleaned at the beginning of the COVID lockdown, so it had been almost 3 years. So, if you see heavier than expected lint coming out of your exhaust vent, trust what you see, not what you remember. 

This was a pretty easy diagnosis of a broken heating element. As a precaution, we also replaced the thermistor with no luck. The reason we replaced the thermistor first is because of the symptom of graduating and fluctuating heat. In reality it was just slowly declining. Replacing the heating element in our dryer, a front loading Kenmore Elite, was a bit more complicated since we had to remove the front and back panels to properly access the heating element. The lower front panel of the dryer needs to be replaced because the element housing connection to the front support needs to be disconnected so that you can remove the heating element housing; and therefore the heating element from the housing. The rear panel, and therefore the top panel, needs to be removed so that you can easily access the wires to the heating element. Be sure to take a picture of how the wires are connected to the heating element through the housing. Once you remove the heating element housing, you can easily remove and replace the element. Be sure to wear some type of gloves so you do not get any oils on the heating element coils themselves. Removing the front and back panels sounds like a lot. But doing so allows you to thoroughly clean the dryer as well. And if you're at the stage where you need to replace a heating element, you're probably at the point where you need to clean the unit as well. All the bolts are 1/4 inch except for two which connect the wiring bus to the frame. You will need a ratchet wrench, an extender screwdriver that can hold the 1/4 filing to remove the bolts, pliers to easily remove the element from the housing, and a Philips head to reattach the power cord wiring assembly. I'd say the complete job is probably an hour tops, once you know what and how to access. 

It was pretty simple actually I just popped open the front bottom panel of the dryer and swapped out the heating element. There was just one screw holding it in. The hardest part was pulling out the old element only cause it fit pretty snug in the compartment that it was in. Other then that piece of cake. 

First of all, I'm the poster boy for hiring an expert to handle problems I'm unfamiliar with or don't have time for. That said, I wasn't in a position financially to just pick up a phone & be willing to write a blank check based on the word of a so-called EXPERT. At first I mistakenly assumed my issue was a thermal fuse & thermostat. I ordered & replaced the parts. No luck. Decided to keep the installed parts at the time & ordered the Dryer Heating Element. That did the trick !! Heated up immediately. A couple of important lessons I learned: 1) Do-It-Yourself projects are possible when you have a legitimate support system helping you with your issue. That would be you guys (AppliancePartsPros.com) 2) You must have PATIENCE & STAMINA to complete most projects. Unfortunately, some of the projects I have taken on recently have not been as easy as advertised. That said, (AppliancePartsPros.com) is the BEST site I have seen for price, information & support. It also doesn't hurt that they offer a 365 day money back guarantee. With your help, I have fixed my Washer (agitator dogs), my Refrigerator (ice maker door kit), and of course my Dryer (thermal fuse-thermostat-lint screen-heating element). I paid about $150.00 for the parts. I figure I saved $400 - $600 dollars between service call charges, labor & the SAME parts @ retail cost. I will tell all of my friends and family about your great company and customer support. Thanks for ALL OF YOUR HELP !! 

U tube 

Because my dryer is so old I decided to order the parts from appliance pro to fix it myself. I have never made any kind of appliance repair on my own. Before I ordered the parts I reviewed the repair videos which seem like it would not be too hard to replace the heating element and the thermal cut off. I replaced three parts and put the dryer back together all within a couple of hours. I now have a working dryer. It took a while to vaccum all the lint and dust on the inside of the dryer. I am so pleased with the service and the cost of the parts that my next task is my 10 year old dishwasher. The videos were excellent in showing exactly how to make the repairs. 

Unplugged dryer. Removed top of dryer, removed back of dryer. Removed duct from element box. Removed spade connectors from sensors and heating element. Removed element box. Removed bad element and replaced with new. Reassembled. Plugged in dryer. Started cycle. Heat! 

I deduced it was the heating element since all lights worked and it ran normally, just no heat. I ordered the heating element, it arrived in 2 days. I first ended up taking off the top of dryer and the back since I read the forum of a guy who had my model. Wrong info. The element shaft is in the front...so that took me the longest amount of time. The cap screws took a long time, I didnt have the right tool. Anyway, once I took off the front panel, I saw the old heating element in the front metal tunnel, I bent the lid, unplugged the wires, ( mind you, no instuctions or u tube video, had to just wing it) Un screwed the element, slid it out, solid the piece in, scewed it back in, rep lugged wires, plugged in dryer, started it up, watched the coils turn bright orange, (oh, I cleaned up 8 years of heavy lint before this), watched for a bit, wanted to make sure it didn't catch on fire, it smelled really strong, I was kinda freaking out, I opened the dryer and it was hot, so I figured this was it was supposed to do.. I closed up the shaft, put everything back together, did a load of towels and everything is perfect! I'm 46 year old blond, semi handy, housewife, my husband told me to just get a new dryer or cal a serviceman, this dryer is only 8 years old. I'm very proud of myself, I had to brag on facebook!! I'm going to fix my dishwasher that doesn't drain next. #handywoman?? 

I took the piece below the dryer door off and on the lower right side there was the heating element and it was pretty easy to change. It took like 10 minutes.