Stackable appliances like Frigidaire’s stacked washer/dryer can be extraordinarily convenient, especially for those who have little floor space for their laundry machines.
Yet sometimes, the convenience of a two-in-one appliance becomes a cumbersome repair, such as when the dryer portion of your device either does not heat up enough or heats up too much.
Because stacked dryers are literally built differently from traditional dryers, it can be challenging to locate the parts you’re looking for.
Unfortunately, it seems that Frigidaire dryers don’t come with a traditional reset button on the high-limit thermostat. Instead, you’ll need to reset the appliance using the control panel.
This post will give you more details about how exactly to perform a reset on this machine and what to do if it fails.
Frigidaire Stackable Washer And Dryer Reset Button Location
Most dryers come with a reset button on the high-limit thermostat that you can use to reset the dryer’s heating components. It’s especially beneficial when your dryer starts to heat too much or not enough.
However, Frigidaire dryers don’t seem to come with this thermostat reset button. Instead, you’ll need to perform a reset using buttons on the control panel.
The dryer controls should be on the right side of the laundry center.
How to Reset the Frigidaire Stackable Washer and Dryer
Fortunately, all you’ll need to do is hold a couple of buttons on the control panel down until you hear a
These buttons are the Soil Level and Spin Speed buttons. Holding them down should reset your appliance to its default settings, potentially fixing your over- or underheating issue.
How to Replace the High-Limit Thermostat
Performing a factory reset using the control panel may be all you need.
But sometimes, a reset isn’t enough. Frequently, a reset won’t work if heating components like the high-limit thermostat have failed.
The high-limit thermostat controls how hot your dryer gets. If it’s set too low, it may not let the appliance heat up enough to dry clothes thoroughly. Conversely, it may let it get too hot and potentially start a fire.
You can test your thermostat using a multimeter and should replace it if there’s insufficient continuity.
How to Access the High-Limit Thermostat
Unfortunately, it’s quite a hassle getting to this component on a Frigidaire stacked washer and dryer. Below, we’ve outlined all the steps you’ll need to take in order to replace this component and get your dryer back to heating as it should:
First Steps: Disconnect the Dryer from Power and Water
Unplug the appliance from the wall.
Unscrew the venting at the back center of the dryer and remove the duct.
Turn off the water to the dryer and remove the hot and cold water supplies. Even though these components connect to the washing machine, you’ll need to detach them to work on the dryer above.
Move the Idler Arm and Pulley
For this next part, you’ll need to get into the back of the dryer and move some components around.
This is because you’ll later need to remove the dryer drum, which is intertwined with pieces like the idler arm and pulley, which you can access from the back.
Unscrew the rear access panel that looks like a square, silver cover with slats. It will be toward the middle right of the back of the appliance.
Move the idler arm and pulley. Find the white plastic wheel on the silver idler arm toward the middle of the opening. Pull the pulley—a thin black rubber strip—off of this arm and wheel.
While you’re at the back of the dryer, unscrew and remove the top rear panel. There should be 4 screws evenly distributed along the top edge for you to remove.
Remove the Drum and Reach the Thermostat
This section will tell you how to remove the drum, which you’ll need to do in order to reach the thermostat behind the drum. You’ll need to go to the front of the dryer for this one:
Unscrew the front access panel. This will be on the underside of the dryer portion of the appliance—that angled portion just under the control panel.
Once you’ve removed the panel, remove the control panel as well by removing the two bottom screws holding it up.
Unplug the white plastic connector between the blue cables on the inside, underneath where the control panel goes.
NOTE: The control panel has wires attached to it that you don’t want to disconnect. Find something to hang the panel up with.
Remove the front of the dryer. You’ll need to take out 6 screws to do this—4 along the top edge and 2 on the bottom corners of the panel.
Unscrew the bearing at the top of the drum and pull out the drum.
NOTE: The front panel and the dryer drum are both heavy. Use caution when moving them to prevent damage and injuries.
Replace the Thermostat
You’ll find the high-limit thermostat toward the top left corner at the back of the dryer, behind where the drum was. It will be a black, cylindrical component held in by two screws in the metal bracket. To replace it:
Pull the red and yellow wires off of each side of the thermostat.
Remove the two screws holding the thermostat into place. Given the angle, you may want to get a socket wrench to make this easier.
Pull out the old thermostat and put the new one into place.
Screw the new thermostat into where the old one was.
Reconnect the red and yellow wires. The yellow one should go on the left and the red on the right.
Backtrack the steps for disassembling the dryer in order to reassemble it—this includes putting the drum back into place, screwing the bearing back in, putting the idler pulley back into place, and putting all the panels back on that you’ve removed in the process.
There you go! While it was probably a tedious process, all you need to do now is run a cycle to verify that all is in working order.
Also be sure to reconnect the water supplies so that the washer works, too.
While most Frigidaire dryer models—including the Frigidaire stackable washer/dryer—don’t come with a traditional reset button on the thermostat, you can still reset some parts of the appliance by holding down the Soil Level and Spin Speed buttons.
While it’s a long process, it may be worth your while to test and potentially replace the high-limit thermostat if a control panel reset doesn’t work. Consider calling in a licensed professional if you’re having trouble.
