Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
workingmomx3

Fisher Paykel DGGX1 cold weather auto sensing problem

workingmomx3
11 years ago

It's that time of year again. Once temperatures drop, our auto sensor no longer works. Clothes will remain wet until we put the dryer on time dry. We lived with it all last winter. The dryer worked fine through late spring, summer and early fall, but now the sensor no longer works again. Any ideas what is causing this and how to fix it?

We purchased this dryer in January 2006 for around $850, so we've had it almost 7 years. Just looking back, we have spent $350 in repairs (idler pulley, lint filter and drum bearing) and $100 in parts (thermostat and another lint filter). We've been trying to do the simple repairs ourselves.

Seems like it's been a rather expensive machine. BTW, the lint scraper has never worked well. I clean the sensors every other week and once a month I pull the filter and clean everything. Lint is everywhere.

Comments (3)

  • dadoes
    11 years ago

    Strange situation you have there. There's no operational connection between the moisture sensor circuit and ambient temperature, or even the dryer's internal heating temperature.

    The sensor bars respond only to moisture. The control board reads a "moisture hit" when a damp item touches both bars and completes a very low-voltage electric circuit across them.

    Heating temperature is monitored and controlled by a thermistor in the outflow air duct. The same thermistor controls the heating temperature on both auto-sense and timed drying.

    What exactly happens on auto-sense regards to the clothes not drying? The unit heats, or no? It runs for a reasonable time and shuts off but the load is still damp? Or it runs for just a few mins, shuts off prematurely?

    The moisture sensor circuit can be tested thusly:
    1. With power off, press & hold Auto Dry Down, then press Power at the same time. Release the buttons.
    2. Press Auto Dry Up five times. Auto Sensing, 40 Min, and Lid Locked lights will be on. The Denim & Regular and possibly Perm Press cycle lights may be lit and/or flickering.
    3. Touch a damp cloth or your fingers across the sensor bars. The lights on the panel will change and dance when moisture is sensed, then settle back down when the bars are not touched.
    4. Press Power to exit diagnostics.

  • workingmomx3
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    The moisture sensor circuit test is fine. I'm running it now to see what is happening. For the loads today, it runs about 30 min or more, then shuts off. When I check the clothes they are warm, but still quite wet. I've been trying to keep better track of the time, but today the kids are doing their laundry and I don't pay as much attention to their stuff.

  • dadoes
    11 years ago

    Check the exhaust air temperature (directly at back of the dryer). Regular or Denim cycle, 40 min timed. Let it run 15 mins to insure maximum temp is attained, should reach 149F.

    Check for clogged exhaust ducting. Examine all the way from the wall to where it exits outside the house. The load should dry (really has no choice, LOL) if there's heat and proper airflow ... the clothes will be warm/hot but still damp if there's heat and insufficient airflow. However, an obstruction would normally trip the resettable overheat protector on the burner box and throw an airflow restriction fault code ... beeping and Auto Sensing light flashing. No fault codes are occurring?