What is this heat device?

Identifying Devices in Your Home
1

I have a device that I am pretty certain now is a part of my dryer.
My dryer is gas, and this device (labeled Heat) turns on for roughly 16 seconds at a time, every 6 minutes.

the only thing in the dryer I could think would do that may be some sort of sensor that judges the humidity of the air in the dryer. Maybe? to know whether the clothes are dry. it isn’t a fancy dryer, cheapest one at Home Depot, but it has an auto cycle mode.

It can’t be the motor for the tumbler. and it can’t be a “heat source.” I don’t know much about how a gas dryer operates. maybe it isn’t constantly burning fuel, but every 6 minutes or so an electric element turns on to light the gas?

only thing that is confusing is that two days earlier this month, from 12 pm to12 am, sense claims it ran for 10 hours in one day consistently divided between the 12 hours. I live alone. No way I used the dryer that much.

edit: dryer was overdue to turn on, went to check the current part of the cycle. and, conveniently, it is on cool down. so either an element to ignite the gas, or a sensor of some kind to judge the humidity. would an ignition element stay on for 15-18 seconds?

2

Things like sensors draw virtually zero power (milliwatts). The result of the sensor decision may cause something else to draw bursts of power.

So, for example, a dryer may have a temperature sensor (non-detectable) that causes the heat to torn on again. A gas dryer has an electrical ignitor, which can draw significant power for a very short time. More expensive dryers do have humidity sensors (my Kenmore does), which adjusts the overall run time, but doesn’t affect the heat applied….that’s the temperature sensor.

3

How much power ?? I would guess it is a combination of the gas solenoid and the igniter.

4

good question. very miniscule. I’m going to ignore the two days where it drew lots of power all day as a mistake on Sense’s part. it ranges from about 260 to 500 and then back to 400

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5

I’m pretty certain it is a part of the dryer now. I’m doing another load. It doesn’t turn on till a bit of ways into the cycle. Perhaps the first time it turns on, there is too much interference from other components? I should have recorded the time when I turned the dryer on :frowning: