Whirlpool WP307473 Thermal Fuse OEM Part

Through 15 years of vibration, the Cycling Thermostat evidently had degraded to the point where one electrical connection or more came loose and caused a short. There is also a possibility that the Bakelite section of the Dryer Cycling Thermostat body separated from the metal base, simultaneously exposing all four connections to a short. The thermostat literally exploded into chunks and dust. There was a heavy arcing and then, thankfully, the thermal fuse blew and shut down power to the short before a fire could begin. It smelled pretty bad. There was a good bit of soot on the strategically placed heat shield surrounding three sides of the thermostat. Now we know why that shield is there. Some small portions of steel shielding were eroded by the short, just gone. I studied some online tutorials to be sure of what I needed. The Appliance Parts Pro brand specific tutorial for changing out the thermostat was very helpful. It was an easy job for someone with all the necessary tools at hand. I confirmed that the Thermal Fuse was bad by doing a continuity test with a multi meter. Dead as a doornail. Tools needed: a Phillips #2 screwdriver, a T-15 Torx driver, a 1/4" nut driver, needle nose pliers, headlamp. I also used a 5/16" nut driver to remove the band clamp on the flexible dryer duct connection in back, so I could clean out the dryer duct work with a vacuum. Don't pass up a chance to do that. I applied a little dielectric grease to all connections. A Milwaukee cordless electric screwdriver with adjustable clutch really speeds up the work. The two T-15 Torx screws that hold up the control panel are a little tricky to engage, because of interference by brackets that hold the panel directly below. I ordered a new Dryer Cycling Thermostat and Thermal Fuse. Parts arrived in two days time. It took a couple hours to repair, mainly because the wiring harness was damaged from the short and I had to slip shrink tube insulation down over the four blade connectors to replace some of the burned off wire insulation. Gotta love a handy insulating shrink tube selection. Make sure the four blade-type connectors fit tightly to the thermostat connections. One can tune the female portion of the connectors with a needle nose plier. Make the fit as tight as possible. There is a lot of vibration from the front loading washer below and we now all have a better understanding of what happens when the connections come loose and cause a short circuit.

I figured there could only be a couple reasons why the dryer would not heat so I did some research. I read where you could test for continuity on the parts to determine which one was bad. A friend referred me to this site, I looked up the part for my particular model, ordered and replaced the part. It could not have been any easier. I will come back to this site with my future appliance parts needs for sure!

Initially I cleared out the dryer vent but that didn't solve the problem. I searched online about the issue and found that the heating game elements often expand and come in contact with the frame of the enclosure which shorts the heating element and causes overheating. Inspecting the heating element revealed this was exactly the problem. I removed he heating element and its enclosure. I decided to replace the fuse and the high limit switch because they were inexpensive and may fail soon if not already.

I found good videos on this website that gave me the confidence to swap out the Heater Assembly. Excellent videos. I also swapped out the Hi-Limit Thermostat that resides on the Heater Assembly although I think the old one was fine because it had continuity. But I had purchased it so replaced it. Thank you for this website!!

Changed Heating Element Assembly and the Thermal Fuse.