I've had several difficult days trying to troubleshoot an issue with my dryer, and potentially the rest of my house. I'll give the long story here with a tl;dr at the end.
Several days ago, my wife told me that my LG DLE3500w electric dryer wasn't drying clothes. I went into the basement utility room and saw that it had an "np" error code, which corresponds to an error where the heater in the dryer can't turn on because of a lack of voltage. I used my multimeter to measure volts for both of the hot wires in the plug, which came back with one with 120v and one with 0v. I tested the breakers in the main, and even though neither was tripped, one of the two breakers was outputting 0v as well. I bought a new 30a double pole breaker to replace the old one, plugged it in, and my clothes were drying again. I though the briefly flickering lights around the house was nothing.
Later the next day, the problem returns. The dryer stops working and has the same error code, "np". I flip the breaker on and off and try again, hoping that I can reset the dryer or something. I believe this works for a while, until that evening, a large section of my house loses power. It's actually the circuits from one quarter of my main breakers. The odd thing is, these breakers do not include my dryer breaker, and are not connected to the main breaker that feeds into the portion of the panel that powers my dryer. I get some extension cords set up so that I can have internet, and I buy a new 100a breaker to install when the power company/electrician turn off the power into my box in the morning.
When I wake up, all of the lights are working, and so is the dryer. I have my electrical company come out and look at my stuff. They basically tell me that they don't know what the problem is, because everything has power and there are no voltage drops, even when running the AC, electric range, and dryer at the same time. After fiddling with the main breaker, we realize that by pressing on it, the set of circuits that were turning off the night before would be affected. We turned off the power into the main box, and I replaced the breaker. I ran my appliances for a while to see if that fixed the problem, and I didn't have any issues for over half an hour, so the the power company guys left.
After running some more errands today, I came back to find the dryer with the same "np" error, and I swear the lights are flickering again. Additionally, even when the dryer stops because of the "np" error, I no longer get a wire/breaker that has 0v. Each time I check, the main breaker, the dryer breaker, and the dryer outlet all have 240v total volts as appropriate.
Any thoughts would be appreciated. I won't mind calling in an electrician if this is something that really needs a professional, but I'd like to know what I'm dealing with if possible.
tl;dr: My LG dryer runs normally when is has 240v at the breaker box and the outlet, but sometimes it loses voltage through one of the two wires and shuts off with an error saying it can't heat itself. I tried replacing the breaker for the dryer, and a breaker for the main, but the problem has not been fixed. What could be causing this? Any tips for more troubleshooting?
Additional info:
- I don't know much about house electrical systems
- I visually inspected both the breaker box and the dryer outlet for loose wires and other issues but didn't see anything.
