Sense identified a bad dryer relay

I noticed a 1200W spike in the Sense energy monitor that would cycle on for 2 minutes and off for 10. They cycle repeated for about 24 hours before I noticed it. I looked around the house for any appliances that someone may have left on like a space heater or coffee maker. I couldn’t find anything so started turning of breakers one at a time until I saw the cycle disappear. It was the circuit for our drying center. It’s a natural gas dryer on the bottom and an electric dryer rack on top for drying delicate items like sweaters. I turned the breaker back on and the cycle continued. The dryer control panel was dark indicating that the dryer was off but the upper cabinet was warm. The blower fan was not running. The found that heating element was on all the time and it was cycling off when the temperature reached the high limit. I traced the problem back to a relay that was stuck on.

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I usually check my Sense from work after everyone has left the house so I can see if anything was left on such as a clothes iron or curling iron. I noticed a high wattage cycle and called my wife to see if she was using the crock pot or had left something on in the house. She said she didn’t have anything on that she knew of. The next morning was a Saturday and I looked at the Sense again and the cycle was still there. I looked around the house and couldn’t find anything that looked like it would be using that much wattage. I opened the Sense app and waited for the cycle to start and then started turning breakers off and on until I saw the wattage decrease by 1200watts. When I found the correct circuit, I turned it back on to verify that I had the correct one. This circuit is a dedicated circuit for the dryer so I was able to find it pretty quick after that.

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