G.D. Dryer Down AGAIN!!!

[alan802]

The old american texair is giving us fits today.  It starts up normally and runs for a few minutes and heats up then just shuts down and throws the alarm.  I've handled a number of issues with this dryer on my own and I don't know if I just don't have the stomach to do it today or if I've finally run into something I can't handle.  We were just getting back ahead of schedule now this.  I'm convinced we need a new dryer, with as many jobs as we've done over the past 6 months, I believe we are going to continue this growth and we can't be down like this.  Plus this dryer is gas and electric with 4 radiant panels so I know this thing has to be an electricity hog.  Our electricity bill for this building is over $1100 a month with maybe 1000-1200 sq/ft of it being air conditioned.  I wish I knew for sure how much this dryer was costing us a month in electricity, but I've never sat down and tried to figure it out.  Guess I better do that soon.

This dryer is electrically complicated to me, you open the panel and it's 20 miles of wires that looks like a birds nest, it's very intimidating.  I do believe we've got a gas flow, maybe an air flow problem here and I hope it's not electric.  And there are so many contactors, gas/air valves and things to go down on this dryer I don't know where to even start.  Not motivated to F with this F'er today, Friday's are supposed to be trouble free and easy.  FML

[JBLUE]

Man that sucks. There are so many other problems we can work around to get a job out the door but when the dryer is down your just F'd. Hope you get it handled quickly.

[Printficient]

Alan,
Contact Winston Strickland.  He is your man.  I do not have his number on me but I have posted it many times.  It is a 904 number.

[blue moon]

The old american texair is giving us fits today.  It starts up normally and runs for a few minutes and heats up then just shuts down and throws the alarm.  I've handled a number of issues with this dryer on my own and I don't know if I just don't have the stomach to do it today or if I've finally run into something I can't handle.  We were just getting back ahead of schedule now this.  I'm convinced we need a new dryer, with as many jobs as we've done over the past 6 months, I believe we are going to continue this growth and we can't be down like this.  Plus this dryer is gas and electric with 4 radiant panels so I know this thing has to be an electricity hog.  Our electricity bill for this building is over $1100 a month with maybe 1000-1200 sq/ft of it being air conditioned.  I wish I knew for sure how much this dryer was costing us a month in electricity, but I've never sat down and tried to figure it out.  Guess I better do that soon.

This dryer is electrically complicated to me, you open the panel and it's 20 miles of wires that looks like a birds nest, it's very intimidating.  I do believe we've got a gas flow, maybe an air flow problem here and I hope it's not electric.  And there are so many contactors, gas/air valves and things to go down on this dryer I don't know where to even start.  Not motivated to F with this F'er today, Friday's are supposed to be trouble free and easy.  FML

do you have any type of schematic for it? I can try to walk you through few things.

(I'll be on the road for an hour, if you need to reach me call the office and they'll give you my cell number)

pierre

[mk162]

might be time to upgrade or rebuild.

[Doug B]

  My Air Jet has gone down a few times. I've learned to keep a spare around. I keep
an older American Phoenix electric stashed away in the corner. If my main goes down,
at least I can wheel the standby out and hook it up in a few minutes. It might be slower,
but at least I'm not stopped completely.

[sportsshoppe]

I have a large electric 3 phase dryer and have had only a few probs, start with the fuses then check the connections on the panels. I have had those two problems before... could be worth a try.

[alan802]

Alan,
Contact Winston Strickland.  He is your man.  I do not have his number on me but I have posted it many times.  It is a 904 number.

I called him the last time our dryer went down and left a message and he never got back to me, but I might try again.  I've got a call out to A.W.T. and I will probably call Rich as well.

I have the wiring diagram Pierre, so I might be calling you in a bit.  It's never acted quite like this.  It's never just fired up and ran for a little bit then failed.  It either fails in the very beginning or not at all so this is a new one on me.  I wish I could tell if maybe there is a gas flow problem, but there is no gauge of any kind to read.  I just think it's an air/gas mixture issue, maybe a starvation or excessive flow problem.  Kind of weird that it started this today, with it being 100% humidity, cold and raining, but that might be reaching to think it's weather related.  But this thing has always been finicky with air circulation so it's not too far fetched to think it could be atmospheric related.  It hasn't rained like this during working hours in at least 18 months.

[ebscreen]

Looking into doing the same Doug, having two of everything ain't a bad idea in this industry.

Alan; I can pretty much guarantee that it is a gas issue, and likely with the flame verification circuit. Can you visibly see the flame? If so, verify that it extingushes right at the moment and not before the alarm kicks on. This tells you that the system is getting gas and air as it is supposed to, but the flame checker is malfunctioning. They are touchy instruments. In near your combustion chamber, next to the spark plug that ignites the flame is another plug with a long rod. This is the flame rod that sends an electric signal to the controls to let them know that the flame is in fact lit. It's a very high voltage signal and any fraying or heat damage to the wire can cause issues. Check the flame rod itself for damage as well.

Also, if you aren't able to correct the issue with the gas side, you can jump power over to the electric temp controller side (normally shut off unless the gas side is on and operating) and limp along that way. Shut off your gas if you do this.

[blue moon]

Alan,
Contact Winston Strickland.  He is your man.  I do not have his number on me but I have posted it many times.  It is a 904 number.

I called him the last time our dryer went down and left a message and he never got back to me, but I might try again.  I've got a call out to A.W.T. and I will probably call Rich as well.

I have the wiring diagram Pierre, so I might be calling you in a bit.  It's never acted quite like this.  It's never just fired up and ran for a little bit then failed.  It either fails in the very beginning or not at all so this is a new one on me.  I wish I could tell if maybe there is a gas flow problem, but there is no gauge of any kind to read.  I just think it's an air/gas mixture issue, maybe a starvation or excessive flow problem.  Kind of weird that it started this today, with it being 100% humidity, cold and raining, but that might be reaching to think it's weather related.  But this thing has always been finicky with air circulation so it's not too far fetched to think it could be atmospheric related.  It hasn't rained like this during working hours in at least 18 months.

email me the diagram please. You should have a multimeter, if you do not have one, run out and get the cheapest on you can find.

pierre

[alan802]

Alan,
Contact Winston Strickland.  He is your man.  I do not have his number on me but I have posted it many times.  It is a 904 number.

I called him the last time our dryer went down and left a message and he never got back to me, but I might try again.  I've got a call out to A.W.T. and I will probably call Rich as well.

I have the wiring diagram Pierre, so I might be calling you in a bit.  It's never acted quite like this.  It's never just fired up and ran for a little bit then failed.  It either fails in the very beginning or not at all so this is a new one on me.  I wish I could tell if maybe there is a gas flow problem, but there is no gauge of any kind to read.  I just think it's an air/gas mixture issue, maybe a starvation or excessive flow problem.  Kind of weird that it started this today, with it being 100% humidity, cold and raining, but that might be reaching to think it's weather related.  But this thing has always been finicky with air circulation so it's not too far fetched to think it could be atmospheric related.  It hasn't rained like this during working hours in at least 18 months.

email me the diagram please. You should have a multimeter, if you do not have one, run out and get the cheapest on you can find.

pierre

I've got to figure out a way to get it to you, it's a 3'x3' sheet of paper right now so let me get it into a format I can send to you.  It looks like freaking chinese arithmetic to me.

Looking into doing the same Doug, having two of everything ain't a bad idea in this industry.

Alan; I can pretty much guarantee that it is a gas issue, and likely with the flame verification circuit. Can you visibly see the flame? If so, verify that it extingushes right at the moment and not before the alarm kicks on. This tells you that the system is getting gas and air as it is supposed to, but the flame checker is malfunctioning. They are touchy instruments. In near your combustion chamber, next to the spark plug that ignites the flame is another plug with a long rod. This is the flame rod that sends an electric signal to the controls to let them know that the flame is in fact lit. It's a very high voltage signal and any fraying or heat damage to the wire can cause issues. Check the flame rod itself for damage as well.

Also, if you aren't able to correct the issue with the gas side, you can jump power over to the electric temp controller side (normally shut off unless the gas side is on and operating) and limp along that way. Shut off your gas if you do this.

Last time the dryer went down I replaced that rod with a new one, but that didn't turn out to be the issue but I left it in there.  The flame and the alarm are going out and off right about the same time, they are happening almost simultaneously but not exactly.  The flame is going out a split second before the alarm sounds, but the alarm doesn't always function properly so I don't trust it.  When looking through the glass you can see that rod tip glowing, but it takes it a while to start glowing, I wonder if it should be glowing right away or if it does take a while?

Just got off the phone with American tech support and have a few things to try.  He told me to find the air valve with copper tubing coming out of it and make sure the tubing isn't clogged, and I can adjust the amount of air flow by adjusting a screw, so I'm going out and doing that right now, as soon as I find that part he's talking about.  I know exactly where the little copper tubes are inside the dryer so I'll just follow them back to the gas piping.  Thanks guys for all the help.

Pierre, I've got my artist working on getting you that diagram.

[jsheridan]

When is the last time it was cleaned out.. I mean on the exhaust side. Lint can build up on fan blades and squirrel cage blowers that can reduce the air flow, when that happens the gas mixture is to rich and won't ignite from lack of air and cause a failure. Check your exhaust stack, get on the roof and shine a flashlight in there.

This was the problem with the dryer at my last shop.. due to waterbase prints and 'moist' lint, it built up on the cage blower and reduced the air flow so much that the flame couldn't light. We cleaned it and it was like a brand new dryer again.

A note on heat panels, they usually don't go out or burn up.. the wires that connect them and those points of connection, are what fail. I just recovered my dead dryer panel by simply refreshing up the crispy element ends, attaching new leads and I have a fully functioning panel again.

[blue moon]

take a hi res picture of it and email it.

I used to work as an industrial electrician, but that was decades ago. So, while I know my way around the schematics, 'no promises as to how much I'll be able to help. I will try though!

pierre
 

[244]

Alan,
Contact Winston Strickland.  He is your man.  I do not have his number on me but I have posted it many times.  It is a 904 number.

I called him the last time our dryer went down and left a message and he never got back to me, but I might try again.  I've got a call out to A.W.T. and I will probably call Rich as well.

I have the wiring diagram Pierre, so I might be calling you in a bit.  It's never acted quite like this.  It's never just fired up and ran for a little bit then failed.  It either fails in the very beginning or not at all so this is a new one on me.  I wish I could tell if maybe there is a gas flow problem, but there is no gauge of any kind to read.  I just think it's an air/gas mixture issue, maybe a starvation or excessive flow problem.  Kind of weird that it started this today, with it being 100% humidity, cold and raining, but that might be reaching to think it's weather related.  But this thing has always been finicky with air circulation so it's not too far fetched to think it could be atmospheric related.  It hasn't rained like this during working hours in at least 18 months.

email me the diagram please. You should have a multimeter, if you do not have one, run out and get the cheapest on you can find.

pierre

I've got to figure out a way to get it to you, it's a 3'x3' sheet of paper right now so let me get it into a format I can send to you.  It looks like freaking chinese arithmetic to me.

Looking into doing the same Doug, having two of everything ain't a bad idea in this industry.

Alan; I can pretty much guarantee that it is a gas issue, and likely with the flame verification circuit. Can you visibly see the flame? If so, verify that it extingushes right at the moment and not before the alarm kicks on. This tells you that the system is getting gas and air as it is supposed to, but the flame checker is malfunctioning. They are touchy instruments. In near your combustion chamber, next to the spark plug that ignites the flame is another plug with a long rod. This is the flame rod that sends an electric signal to the controls to let them know that the flame is in fact lit. It's a very high voltage signal and any fraying or heat damage to the wire can cause issues. Check the flame rod itself for damage as well.

Also, if you aren't able to correct the issue with the gas side, you can jump power over to the electric temp controller side (normally shut off unless the gas side is on and operating) and limp along that way. Shut off your gas if you do this.

Last time the dryer went down I replaced that rod with a new one, but that didn't turn out to be the issue but I left it in there.  The flame and the alarm are going out and off right about the same time, they are happening almost simultaneously but not exactly.  The flame is going out a split second before the alarm sounds, but the alarm doesn't always function properly so I don't trust it.  When looking through the glass you can see that rod tip glowing, but it takes it a while to start glowing, I wonder if it should be glowing right away or if it does take a while?

Just got off the phone with American tech support and have a few things to try.  He told me to find the air valve with copper tubing coming out of it and make sure the tubing isn't clogged, and I can adjust the amount of air flow by adjusting a screw, so I'm going out and doing that right now, as soon as I find that part he's talking about.  I know exactly where the little copper tubes are inside the dryer so I'll just follow them back to the gas piping.  Thanks guys for all the help.

Pierre, I've got my artist working on getting you that diagram.

I left you e-mails about this. Give me a call and I will get you back up. I used to build them at Advance.

[alan802]

Alright, I'm covered in lint, actually ate some as well.  It's been operating for 30 minutes no fails, I've got to run a quick little job and I'll get back on here to let you know what I did.  Rich, sorry I haven't been at my desk much this afternoon, when it fails again, which I'm certain it will, I'll call you on your cell.