Q&A for How to Check a Thermostat in a Dryer

At room temperature, the thermostat should give you a resistance reading of 0 or close to 0. This indicates that there is good continuity within the thermostat. If you warm the thermostat, you may see the ohms reading jump up to around 10.

Set your multimeter to Rx1 resistance, then attach the leads to terminals on the fuse. If the multimeter needle doesn’t move, the fuse is blown.

You can bypass the fuse, but it’s not safe to run a dryer without a thermal fuse. Luckily, replacing a blown fuse is a pretty quick and easy fix. Put in a new fuse as soon as possible, and don’t run your dryer in the meantime!

Check the heating coil, if there are no breaks in the coil, just replace the thermostat. They only cost about ten dollars on Amazon. If there is a break in the coil then that's your problem. Other than testing the thermostat with a meter, this is your best option.

GE requires you to take the top and front panels off of their dryers. Open the door, and there are two screws you have to take out in order to take off the top panel. Then there are two more screws to take off the front.

90% the problem is not your cycle thermostat or thermistor but your vent restriction. Clean your duct vent, go outside a house where available and make sure you can feel the air pressure.

Assuming your meter is set on the "1 ohm" scale, a reading of 1 or .5 is very nearly zero. That indicates your thermostat is probably good.

It is usually on the heating element in one of the lower corners in the back. It will be screwed into a column close to the blowing wheel.

If you're connecting the red or white wires that join the thermostat to the dryer, it won't make a difference. However, there are often other wires around, including power wires usually colored blue. These wires connect in a specific way to the nearby thermal fuse and can burn out the fuse or thermostat if they are put in the wrong place.

It depends on the type of wire. To keep your dryer safe, use a wire of the same size and color. Also, removing wires stops other elements from working, which could damage the dryer.

You may have the multimeter at a high setting. Turn it lower if you can, since that will cause the ohms number to decrease to a more accurate level. If you're already using the right setting, then there is a good chance it is broken.

If it keeps tripping the circuit breaker, there are a few things that could be wrong. Sometimes the circuit breaker weakens over time and needs to be fixed by an electrician. However, check the dryer components first, including all of the heating element components and the drive motor. Also, the power cord plugs into a terminal block that could get damaged by a shorted wire, but this is uncommon.

No, because without removing the wires, your meter is reading not only the continuity through the part but also through all the wires in the entire harness. You need to isolate the part. If you're having trouble pulling the wires, use a small screwdriver to pry them off or needle-nose pliers.

If your dryer has two coils, a small thin-wired one for low heat and a long think-wired one for high heat, there may be a break in the low heat coil. There are other things it could be but the coils seem to be the first things to go.