LG gas dryer DLG2302R is not Heating

If your LG gas dryer is not heating and you’re pulling out your last hair trying to figure out what in the actual F is going on, then this post is for you. It’s my hope this may help the next poor soul who’s trying to troubleshoot this issue without having to go through what I did… or incur the expenses of a “qualified technician.”

Let’s start with some symptoms. We bought the washer and dryer set used and they have been pretty solid up until recently. On occasion, my wife would tell me she’d detect a faint smell of natural gas. Other times, she’ll say it took more than on cycle to get the clothes dry. This all while we’ve been diligent on emptying the lint trap and keep the vent and ductwork clear.

One day, the dryer just stopped heating all together so I was finally forced to dig in to see what was happening. Anyone can google and find what is typically the common causes. The common causes are usually when one or more of the following parts fail. I have lettered them for easy ID.

• (E) LG 6323EL2001B Thermistor Dryer, $6-10
• (C) LG 6931EL3003C High Limit Thermostat, $9-10 (notice the reset button)
• (B) LG 6931EL3003D Thermal Fuse Dryer – Burner Tube, $9-12

When you read about no heat, or poor heating problems online, everyone agrees that the above parts are all cheap enough to replace ALL while you are in there. This also fixes about 90% of the problems people have. Alas, it was not the case for me.

What is strange is that there is also an extra thermal fuse in this particular LG model that isn’t documented in the manual, nor in the parts schematics that I found online. It’s a fuse located exactly next to the thermistor on the blower housing before it gets to the burner tube.

I was finally able to track this part down as. Refer again to diagram above.

• (D) Samsung DC47-00016A Dryer Thermostat Assembly – It’s cheap, ranging from $3 to $6.

I replaced it, and still, NO DICE!

So, now what? Back to reading, and huffing and puffing about the thought of having to buy a new dryer. The next things to consider were the flame sensor and the ignitor. I pulled both of these out and tested with my meter. BOTH WERE FINE! These parts are also not too terrible to replace, but I was pretty confident they were OK. I can watch the ignitor glow upon start up, and since the flame sensor checked out OK, I moved on.

The next part to look at was the gas valve. Most gas dryers have gas valves with two coils. One or both of these coils can go bad over time and often, they can both be replaced individually for around $12-25 each. For this particular gas dryer, however, the coils are built on to the valve and the entire gas valve needs to be replaced. Of course. Refer again to diagram above and image below.

• (A) LG 5221EL2002A Gas Valve Assembly Dryer, part #: 5221EL2002A – $115-120

I thought this had to be it! And before anyone thinks I didn’t get out the multi-meter and test it out, I did. Even more discouraging, it checked out fine. I was thinking, what. in. the. F? When you do an ohms test on smaller components like thermostats, thermistor and fuses, the resistance falls into the lower ranges and many meters have an audible sound. However, when you test the coils on a gas valve, the resistance is much higher. There should be ohms in the range of 500-3000. This is not enough to trip the audible sounds on most meters. Both of the coils on my gas valve looked like they were burnt up though… so, I decided to risk it. If it worked, I thought it was better than having to buy a new dryer. So I ordered it up, and had the dryer apart ready to get it in when it arrived. I put it all back together and anxiously kicked it on.

….aaaand, NO! It still didn’t work! The igniter was glowing, but the gas valve was still not opening. With everything else checking out, I was beginning to lose hope. My wife, sharing my frustration decides to get on the net and google along with me. Anyone who thinks their woman has nothing to offer in this scenario needs to take a breath and sit down for a moment. She was reading in some forum where someone (who seemed reasonably qualified) said something to the extent of… “This particular LG dryer has a history of the coils on the gas valve taking out the main control (PCB) board.” At first, I was like… oh, great, let’s plan on buying a new dryer. But after looking it over and keeping an open mind, I found the control board for like $125 on Amazon. Reading more… someone said, “they sealed up the entire board in silicone. There’s no testing or troubleshooting it, and with the pricing of like $140 to replace the board, it suggests they just decided to skimp on this and make it so that someone can reasonably replace the board at some point.”

• LG EBR36858802 Dryer Main PCB Assembly, – $120-160

Whooo-hoo! Let’s piss another one in the wind. With no way to test the board, I ordered another one, and it was in fact, very easy to replace. I shouldn’t forget to mention that there are videos on the net that show how to tear down the dryer and replace all the parts I have mentioned… and let’s give a hand for www.appliancepartspros.com because they have made most of the videos. I have bought many parts from them for past appliances as well.

After buying the board, I was going to be in the hole for like a total of $250. I reasoned that it was still better than paying a repairman or buying a new dryer entirely. I got the board, put it in, and it fired right up! I was happy as can be.

To conclude, one may be thinking that I replaced the gas valve unnecessarily, but it does appear that the bad coil(s) on the valve did fry out the controller board. So, I didn’t buy the gas valve in vain. I promptly tossed the old gas valve in the garbage along with the controller. Make sure that if you isolate the fact that the coils on your otherwise working gas valve did take out the controller… that you do not replace the controller and re-use the old valve. Otherwise, you’ll be heading for the next heartache.

Well, that’s all here. If this helped you out, comment below to let me know, and good luck!