Showerthought: Should we even bother replacing dryer thermal fuses, or just bypass them?

I've been in this trade for 12 years now, working mostly out of a van in Portland. I keep running into other repair guys who just bypass the thermal fuse on dryers when they're in a hurry. They tell me it's fine because the high limit thermostat will catch it anyway. But I've seen two house fires in my career that started from dryers with bypassed fuses, and both had working high limits. The manufacturers put them there for a reason, right? On the other hand, I've also replaced fuses on dryers that blew again within a week due to a real airflow restriction that the customer refused to fix. So which is it - are we being too careful or are the bypass guys just taking unnecessary risks? How do you handle the customer who says they'll fix the vent later but you know they won't?

2 comments

2 Comments

clark.faith13d ago

Hold up - did those two fires you saw actually have the high limit still functioning when you pulled it out and tested it, or are you assuming it worked because it hadn't tripped? I've tested plenty that still closed the circuit fine cold but were welded shut or had drifted way past their rating, so they'd never actually open when the real heat hit.

mila_sullivan13d ago

Haven't you found that too many times to count?