5 Reasons Why Dryer Won’t Turn OFF Unless Door Is Open – Let’s Fix It

Drying machines are an essential part of many of our homes — and sometimes, they can be pretty annoying. A common problem for dryers is that the machine will continue to run after the door is closed. To get out of this cycle, you’ll need to open the door and get the machine to stop. This can get pretty frustrating — but luckily, We have come up with a simple way to get fix this issue.

Don’t worry, we’ve got your back. There are a few steps you can take to troubleshoot the problem and get your Dryer to turn off. We’ve spoken to our engineers and found out that this happens sometimes because of one of the following reasons.

Dryer Won’t Turn OFF Unless Door Is Open – Troubleshoot and Diagnosis

If your clothes dryer won’t stop running, there is probably something faulty with the motor or relay. Even if you aren’t very handy, fixing the dryer shouldn’t be too difficult for you — you’ll just need to use a multimeter to test the electrical current in the unit. This will help you solve the problem faster and more effectively.

Stuck Motor Relay

Over the long term, a dryer that doesn’t shut off reliably can be a fire hazard. The safety switch on your dryer is intended to shut the machine down if any part of it becomes overheated – but it can only do its job if the switch itself isn’t defective. In addition, a dryer that continues running after the door has been opened could waste energy and be an unnecessary drain on your power bill.

When your dryer motor relay is stuck in the “ON” position, your dryer doesn’t respond to commands from the control board and keeps running, even when you shut the door. This creates a safety problem because the dryer will run until it overheats or completely burns out. To fix the problem, you need to replace the motor relay.

Unplug your dryer. Flip the dryer over onto its back, if you need to remove the screws in the back of the dryer to do so. Remove the screws. Pull the control panel up to it snaps out of the slots, using care not to rip or damage any wires. Locate your relay switch.

When you find black marks or burnt pins, it usually means one thing: there’s a problem with your dryer’s motor relay. The good news is that if you’re using a soldering iron and some basic tools, replacing the relay is actually pretty straightforward — we’ll walk you through what you need to do.

Unplug the dryer and remove the control board to gain access to the motor relay. If you don’t know how to unplug a washer, consult your manual before attempting this. Once you have the control board out, look for a black box containing a small black switch. If possible, think about switching it back and forth while looking for any debris that could be caught underneath.

To replace the relay, you’ll need to remove the circuit board from the heating unit. Use a soldering iron to heat up the pins on the pilot light relay. Melt the solder and lightly pry it off, along with the other components mounted on the circuit board. Clean up any burn marks or discoloration on the back of the circuit board so the new relay will lie flat against it.

Put the cover back on the venting system, if it’s the kind that has one. Put the cord back in place, or hook it up if it was pulled loose. Press the control panel back into place. Screw it in with the screws, and replace any other parts you removed to get at it. Plug the thing in, and turn it on for a test cycle.

Replace the Control Board

Turn off power to your dryer. First, turn off the circuit breaker or shut off the fuse that powers the appliance in your main electrical panel. If it’s a gas dryer, also check the gas supply line where it enters the house and turn it off. Next, if possible, disconnect the dryer from the venting system.

Slide the dryer away from the wall and pull up around its top panel.

Remove the unit’s lint screen and open the dryer door. Refer to your manual to locate the screws that secure the control board to the inside of the top panel. Take them out with a screwdriver. Release all tabs holding down the console in place, using a flat head screwdriver. Pull up on the console to dislodge it from its slots.

Locking tabs located on the left and right sides of the control board hold it in place. Release the tabs by pushing them to the left with your fingers. Next, pull out the harness plug from the connection receptacle on the control board. Remove the screw that secures the control board in place, and remove it from its mounting brackets.

Slide the new board into place, lining it up with the mounting screw hole. Insert the mounting screw into the top of the machine if it isn’t already there. Align all wires with their corresponding harnesses. Make sure that they are snapped into place completely, so they don’t come out when you move the machine around. Refer to your photo for a reference on how to connect all of your wires. From here, you are good to go!

Faulty Door Switch

The door switch only allows the dryer to run when the door is fully latched. If you find that your dryer stops before it should, you may have a problem with the door switch. A faulty switch doesn’t always mean replacement is in order. You might be able to fix it yourself or just get a repair person to give it a look.

To test the door switch, unplug the dryer. Using your multimeter, put the black probe on the COM terminal of the switch. Put the red probe on one of the other terminals (C or NO), and attach the red probe to the positive (+) terminal on your multimeter. Use your multimeter to check for continuity between two terminals on your dryer’s plug end. If the door switch is faulty then replace it.

Wrinkle Prevent Is Enabled

You can’t prevent wrinkles entirely, but if you remove your clothes from the dryer as soon as the cycle is finished running, you’ll help reduce the number of times you need to iron. Most people just see an empty dryer and think they’re done for the day, but the best way to prevent wrinkles is to actually take out your clothes immediately after the cycle finishes. It’ll save you loads of time in return.

There’s nothing worse than removing your clothes from the dryer and having to spend several minutes getting rid of wrinkles. It usually happens when you’ve got a tight schedule and don’t have time to wait for the cycle to complete. But if you use Wrinkle Stop, you can skip the hassle and get on with your day.

With wrinkle prevention cycles, dryers can combat the biggest problem that busy people face: the time it takes to iron their clothes. Tumble cycles let you get out of the house fast without worrying about embarrassing creases and folds — and they work with your current settings, so all you need is a couple of simple tweaks to make them work for you.

A new option called Wrinkle Prevent has been added to your dryer settings. This option is turned off by default. If you turn it on, your dryer will not turn off until the door is opened for the first time after the cycle has started. We all know that this is not an issue when you are around to check on your laundry, but if you load up the dryer and go to bed, this could cause some big problems.

If opening the door results in it stopping, you can prevent this issue in the future by disabling the Wrinkle Prevent option.

Stuck Start Button

Another common reason for this problem is that the dryer’s start button is stuck, which causes it to continually send power to the motor. If you notice this, unplug the dryer and clean whatever is preventing the button from returning to an off position.