I wonder if that's my issue as well. My dryer works fine, ( but won't heat up) and after replacing a few parts multiple times, and trying 2 different dryers on the same outlet, which all worked but wouldn't heat up. This CAN'T be a coincidence, much less very possible. What do you think?
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Have you inspected the dryer exhaust venting? These do get clogged with lint. I think I may have sometimes not kept our dryer vent as clear as I should have and maybe shortened the lifetime of the heater element in one dryer.
My elderly neighbor asked me to figure out why his dryer was not working right. He had put a blower on the vent opening in the wall, but the results were unsatisfactory. Up on the roof I found out he had put a screen of hardware cloth inside the vent opening on the roof (to keep out animals) and it was almost completely plugged. Of course, I told him he could not have a fine screen there, and with his permission I removed it. I also had him use the blower from below while I pulled out caked-on lint from the top.
To test the wiring for voltage drop (including the dryer cord) you would slide out the dryer while leaving it connected, remove the cover on the connection block, and measure the voltages between the two hots and each hot to neutral. Then turn the dryer on high and remeasure the voltages. If there is excessive decrease in any of these voltages, that would indicate a problem in the house wiring or the cord.
To test just the receptacle and the house wiring, you would pull the plug out partway and use the voltmeter on the partially exposed blades of the plug without the dryer on and then with it on.
Jim Stewart
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Dryers usually use 1 leg for the motor 120v and both for the heat element. Verify there is 240v at the outlet. If it was just 1 dryer I would suggest checking the thermal fuse on the heat element. When the air flow gets blocked the thermal fuses open and are cheap to replace 5-10$. A inexpensive volt meter can make the measurement depending on the outlet 3 or 4 prong there will be diferent combinations of 120v but only 1 combination will provide 240v.
Ed Beal
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Although note that if there's a bad connection in the house wiring, you may see full voltage with a meter but not get voltage under load. You might want to pull out the outlet (with the breaker off, of course), check for signs of heating from a loose connection and tighten the connections (replace outlet if signs of damage). – DoxyLover Dec 24 '16 at 04:45