Creda Tumble Dryer starts, works for 2 mins, then stops:suggestions?

Have a look at the start relay. Take the lid off and you will find it lurking behind the buttons. It is a double pole relay but it only uses one pole to effect a simply hold in circuit. When you push the start button the relay pulls in and feeds itself through its own contacts with a supply which first passes through the door switch. The relay will then hold itself in and run the dryer until either the timer switches off, or the door switch is operated.

You may be lucky and find a simply intermittent connection somewhere, but it sounds more likely to be in the relay itself. Probably the winding going open circuit when it warms up and then remaking when it cools down. If that is the case, there will probably be no tell-tale signs of a faulty connection, and when you take the relay off it will be cool so a continuity test will show positive, but it’s worth eliminating the relay with a replacement. (If you are unsure of the connections be sure to make sketch of which colour goes on which terminal).

James Roach
October 2006