Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
booboo60

dryer is 'over drying' the clothes!!

booboo60
12 years ago

My Samsung dryer seems to be over drying the clothes and I can't figure out why. The hose is clear and so is the filter on the outside of the house, and I always scoop out the lint after every load. Of course, when I am putting clothes in I kind of forget about them; then all of a sudden I go check and it may say there is still 30 min. left but it has been drying for an hour or more!! The dryer seems very hot too even if it is on a delicate cycle. Any ideas on what the problem may be?

TIA

Comments (16)

  • livebetter
    12 years ago

    You didn't specify which Samsung model you have.

    Are you using a sensor dry setting? That should be measuring the moisture in the load and stopping before over drying.

    Over drying is very bad for your laundry.

  • mark40511
    12 years ago

    I don't use auto dry on my Duet dryer because of this. I've never had any luck with it. If I set the timer for 45 to 50 min's the load is pretty dry. If I use auto dry it runs and still says WET (not even damp) and the clothes are bone dry. The sensor is clean, I don't use dryer sheets. I've pretty much figured out what times to dry the load and what temp

  • asolo
    12 years ago

    FWIW, auto-dry on my 6-year-old Duet still working perfectly. All indicators spot-on. My mother's 20-year-old Maytag with the feature still works perfectly.

    It has nothing to do with "luck". The term simply doesn't apply. Dryer's are pretty simple machines. If yours wasn't working right, why didn't you have it fixed? When it's not broken, like yours obviously is, the feature works splendidly.

  • caryscott
    12 years ago

    I have a Samsung DV665JW which is the rock bottom in terms of pricing for Samsung (it is a compact model) and when using the "More Dry" setting they don't get over dry (sometimes with a mixed load I need to do a 10-15 minute timed setting to dry the larger\thicker items). It sounds like something is wrong to me.

  • dadoes
    12 years ago

    The hose is clear and so is the filter on the outside of the house, ...What filter on outside of the house? The outside exhaust hood should not have a filter or screen on it.

    The temp sensor could be bad if the unit really is overheating.

    Auto-dry cycles have a choice of dryness levels ... usually four or five levels ranging from damp to very dry. Try setting a lower level to see if the machine changes the results accordingly.

  • mark40511
    12 years ago

    Asolo

    The dryer works perfectly for almost seven years (other than that) and it's no big deal to me. I just saw this post and thought I would mention my experience : D

    I believe you when you say yours works great. But when my dryer (on auto dry) says wet (the the clothes have been drying for 45 min's or so (and at that point it should at least say (damp) and you open the dryer and clothes are indeed bone dry (so the dryer itself is working) I don't know what else to say, other than it's been like that from day one, so I've always just used timed dry

  • asolo
    12 years ago

    "Been that way from day one"....got that.

    I said obviously broken and asked why you didn't get it fixed -- especially since it would have been warranty freebie back then.

    Then, again, if you're cool with setting your own time and heat, who cares?

  • booboo60
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    dadoes,

    On the outside of the house the exhaust hood also has a plastic mesh attachment that was installed by the builder, the mesh is pretty big but not big enough to let in "critters"! I always check it though because lint sticks to it a little not completely but I clean it out.

    Thanks for the help and just to let you know, last night I put a load in the dryer on the "sensor", normal setting and it ran perfectly! The next load I had to go stop it because it kept drying again!!

  • sshrivastava
    12 years ago

    @ twotogo

    If the dryer was designed properly and your sensors work correctly, there should be just a little bit of residual moisture left in your clothes after the drying cycle is complete. Since this is not the case, I would ensure that you have checked all the obvious areas - lint filter, dryer duct, etc. If that all checks out OK, which it apparently does, then I would advise to call for service. Your clothes should not be coming out bone dry and you should also not have to resort to using the timed cycle.

    To the person whose machine behaved this way from day 1, why didn't you call for service? It's obviously not working properly. If clothes are coming out of the dryer over-dried, you are seriously stressing your fabrics.

  • mark40511
    12 years ago

    I'm not over stressing fabrics since I'm using timed dry and when the timed dry cycle ends, they are always damp cupboard dry.

    I guess I never called for service since the dryer itself was working great and drying clothes fast.... Even though my Dryer has an auto dry feature, I didn't use it much because I had been so used to using timed dry my entire life and pretty much know how long it takes and what temp to set it on so that the clothes are just barely damp at the end. I don't like drying to bone dry and realize this is not good for fabrics.

    Here's what happens when I use auto dry: For example. I have a medium load and set the dial to normal (which defaults to 40 min's with med heat setting. Turn dryer on, sensor says "wet" the the dryer runs and the countdown starts. So perhaps 30 minutes later you do look at the dryer as it's still running and you see 10 min's left (but the sensor still says wet) even though the dryer is counting down. I let it do it's thing just to see what happens and the timer increased itself another 15 minutes (because sensor still says wet). At this point it's been drying for about 35 min's without me interrupting it. I open the dryer, and the clothes are obvious NOT wet, but merely damp (so the sensor should say damp) not wet. The auto dry (if I had left in running) WILL ultimately go to damp, then automatically cut off when it feels the clothes are dry (so it is somewhat working) but it runs LONGER than it would if I used timed dry. So it DOES work, but not like it "should" work.

    Again I should have called to have it fixed but for some strange reason I guess in my mind since the dryer was drying clothes fast everything was fine.

    I just cleaned those strips AGAIN with vinegar. I also took the front panel off the dryer and cleaned under there really well. I will give auto dry another go and see what happens

  • sshrivastava
    12 years ago

    @ mark40511

    Have you checked your manual to ensure that your auto dry is not using a lower heat setting? Does your auto dry have additional options such as less dry, more dry, etc.?

  • dadoes
    12 years ago

    Many dryers have the auto-dry cycles geared toward specific fabrics which selects the temperature and it can't be changed from the program other than by selecting a different fabric. Manual temp selection "off-program" from the auto-dry fabric choice often leads to timed drying. However, there's no reason one can't choose the wrong fabric for a given load to get the desired temp.

    Other than a few thermostatic auto-dry units from many years ago (1950s), I've not run across any auto-dry machines that don't provide a choice of dryness levels. Early moisture-sensing Maytags had only three cycles/choices (Regular, Perm Press, or Damp), but pretty much all modern moisture-sensors offer at least 5 dryness levels for all the given fabric choices. If "normal" dry is too dry for the liking, chose a lower setting ... that's why the choices are given. Moisture sensors by nature do not work particularly well on loads of disparate-mixed fabric weights, such as lighter-weight sheets with heavy-weight towels. Timed drying has the same problem but since the machine runs for the given time regardless of some items drying faster (or slower) than others, the effect is less noticeable.

  • mark40511
    12 years ago

    Yes it does have three dryness level options. It defaults to medium dryness level (40 mins) when normal is chosen, but that modifier can be changed but the time will go up or down accordingly if changed. I will do a load tomorrow and try the auto dry again and time it to see what happens since I just cleaned the strips (they didn't look coated with anything at all) But I'm not sure whatever substance gets on them is even visible. I will leave it on normal default. I separate most loads to similar fabrics (give or take a couple).

    It seems like I remember ONE time using Auto Dry and I actually remember seeing the light go from "Wet" to "Damp" in a reasonable amount of time.....But if it stays on "Wet" too long, I know something is usually up.

  • sshrivastava
    12 years ago

    @ mark40511

    I doubt dirty sensors are the problem. It may just be flawed programming logic. Is the firmware in your machine upgradable?

  • dadoes
    12 years ago

    Are you sure there's only three choices? My dryer, although not a Duet, has lights for Damp, Dry, and Extra Dry, but can be set at two additional levels between with two lights on:
    1) Damp
    2) Damp + Dry
    3) Dry
    4) Dry + Extra Dry
    5) Extra Dry

    The initial time is an estimate. Try running it empty, check how long 'til it shuts off. Could also be that it'll adjust to your typical load conditions if you'd let it go to completion for a few loads.

    Just speculating ... maybe when the time-count rolls back, that's the machine calculating a few more mins of drying to hit the "mark" it wants, plus some cool-down time until Off.

    Find the tech sheet stashed in your control panel or wherever it may be, there should be a test to check the moisture sensor circuit.

    Why are you using the Normal dryness level if it's drier than prefer? Have you tried the lower level? If you really do have just the three choices, Less, Normal, and More, or whatever, then don't necessarily expect Less to leave the load truly damp. It may be Less dry than Normal, but still dry to the touch.

    Or, of course, if timed drying fits your needs, then that's great, too.

    My machine is 7 years old, I've never cleaned the sensor bars. Auto-dry works perfectly at Normal 99% of the time. Occasionally I choose Dry/Extra Dry for quilts or a load more mixed than the usual.

  • mark40511
    12 years ago

    OK

    So yesterday, I ran a medium mixed colored load of clothes.I put the load in the dryer, set the dial to normal (default medium heat/ dryness level medium)(there are only three dryness level choices on mine) started it at 4:40pm and I just let it do it's thing (just to see how long it would take before the dryer shut off). At 5:29 pm, the dryer shut off and the clothes were bone dry! Now, Why were they bone dry if there are three dryness levels.....Less, medium, or more dry, and mine was on medium. I would have thought there should have been a little moisture still left in the clothes. I suppose next time I can choose "less dry" but then it seems in the past I did that and the clothes were too damp. I guess it could be a problem if the load consists of different types of fabrics but that's going to happen. There are going to be those times when you have different thickness of fabrics that you can't always separate to go together. But..I guess the auto dry is working on mine. I guess next time I will try less dry and see what happens, but I suspect they will be too damp. We will see