Gas Dryers

The earliest gas dryers with electric ignition [ these started being produced in the 1940s ] used a small platinum glow coil that ran on 2 1/2 volts. This glow coil would light a pilot that would stay on any time that the dryer was running and a main burner valve coil was cycled when drying heat was called for. This style ignition was used by almost all dryer manufacturers that were building gas dryers in the 1950s and gradually went out of production in the 1960s. Makers that used this system included Apex, Bendix, Blackstone, Maytag [ all their gas dryers before HOH and none there after ] Hamilton, Philco, Whirlpool, Kenmore,and I am sure I missed a couple. You will notice that GE, Westinghouse and Frigidaire are missing as these three didn't make gas dryers at all till the 1960s and therefore none ever used this early style ignition system. The Kenmore Gas Combos continued to use this expensive to build ignition system till the end of KM combos in the fall of 1971. They did this because if the machine was badly oversudsed and because the gas burner was in the base of the machine the ignitor area could get wet. The low voltage ignitor coil would not be hurt by water unlike the direct spark ignition or later glow bar ignitor that both have exposed parts that are electrically live with 120 volts. Tom you are absolutely correct as this early style ignition could be easily affected by low voltage if the ignitor was old and weak and we did have this problem on my 1965 LKM gas combo when it would try to light when I was running three or four washers on the same 20 AMP circuit at the same time.