Dryer Report

The final report on the dryer is that the hi level thermostat got so hot that it burnt one of the wires, thereby the heating element wasn't turning on. Here's how I tackled this problem:

1. My father-in-law repairs washers/dryers, so I gave him a call.
2. Removed the vent pipe.
3. Disconnected the power.
4. Removed the front cover and found hidden directions on the schematics & where all the parts were.
5. Normally you can get to the heating element, thermostat, shutoff switch from the back but for my model you had to take the drum (the thing that rotates) out to get to that stuff.
6. Visually inspected the 3 parts back there, found the burnt wire for the thermostat.
7. Used Ohmmeter to test the resistance on the different components. Heating element should start with some, the thermostat shouldn't (which it did for me). Sometimes the heating element breaks as well, but that should be visible.
   
8. Did a search on Google for my part. Didn't find too many matches for my part that weren't wholesale suppliers.
9. Looked for the manufacturer of the part and did a search for "Hi Level thermostat" for them, starting to see if I could find an image of one that had the same part number.
10. Found one on eBay for $18.49 after shipping, was shipped out at 2:30 AM today.

The total effort for this project was about 2 hours so far, when the part gets here it'll probably be another 1/2 hour. The lessons learned though are so much more valuable than me just going out to buy a replacement or calling a professional to take care of it for me.

Thankfully, I knew someone that was a professional willing to teach me. I would recommend anyone trying to get out of debt to get to know someone that does different repairs (eg: Tuckpointing I need to learn this summer, but need to get to know someone who does). In the short-term it'll cost you time, but in the long run it'll save you time and money.