Dryer Installation
or
10 hours of patience pays off

back view

Figure 1. View from the back of the dryer, fully assembled

Today the washer and dryer arrived from Sears. We ordered the LG Tromm Steamwasher and LG Tromm gas dryer. After several years of living in apartments with crappy laundry machines, we were really looking forward to something better, especially to a front-loading washer, which is supposed to be much more energy efficient.

Front with control panel off

Figure 2. Front with control panel off

Much to my surprise, the delivery guys were planning on installing the appliances as well, which was very nice. However, they will only install natural gas dryers, not propane. So they installed the washer and tested it, and then I got to work installing the dryer once they left. I had known ahead of time that I would need to convert the natural gas (LNG) to propane (LPG), and Ellen had already ordered the necessary conversion kit. The kit is actually just one little part (see Figure 11 below). Swapping this part out is in theory pretty easy, but in practice was quite difficult. I thought it would be worthwhile to put my experience on the internet.

Top view with top cover removed

Figure 3. Top view with top cover removed

Now that I have done it once, I probably could do it again in less than an hour, but the first time was very tricky. The real tricky part was figuring out where this little piece should go. The part came with some instructions, including a diagram of the relevant parts, but this was by far only a tiny bit of the necessary information. First of all, the instructions said to hire “qualified technician”, but not only did I have no clue of who to hire, since we had just moved, but I also did not want to pay for it. So, I read the instructions:

  1. To avoid personal injury, disconnect power before servicing this dryer.
  2. Gas supply line shut off valve must be in off position
  3. Disassemble the dryer
  4. Replace orifice as follows:
    1. Remove 2 screws
    2. Disassemble the pipe assembly
    3. Replace natural gas orifice with propane gas orifice
  5. Close the “change screw”
Closeup of screws to remove

Figure 4. Closeup of screws to remove

Backup there a second!!! “Disassemble the dryer”??? What exactly is meant by that? Well, that was a good question. I initially started down the wrong path, trying to open the back cover of the dryer, but after an hour or so realized that was the wrong place to look. I asked Clare for some help, and she suggested taking off the bottom. We put the dryer on its side to check into this option, and discovered some access panels on either side of the dryer near the bottom. After prying off the access panels, we were able to see a bit more of the inside, and lo and behold, we saw the part shown in the diagram in the instructions — all the way at the front right bottom corner of the dryer. Now the question was to figure out how to access it.

More screws to remove to get off front cover

Figure 5. More screws to remove to get off front cover

Normally, in this situation, we would turn to the internet. The problem was, that we still have not gotten internet hooked up at home. So, we ended up going to the public library to use the internet. And that turned out to be little help as well. I spent at least half an hour searching the internet before I found any helpful advice, which was in a forum called fixya.com, and consisted of the following steps (paraphrased):

  1. Remove 2 screws on each end of control panel frame
  2. Disconnect control panel harness. Pull up and forward
  3. Remove 4 screws on top of front cover
  4. Disconnect harness for the door switch and pull forward
Front view with front cover off

Figure 6. Front view with front cover off
Front view with lint cover removed

Figure 7. Front view with lint cover removed

These instructions started to make sense to me. I wrote them down, and we headed back home, where I continued working on it. I had already taken the top panel off, by first removing the small bracket which connects the top panel to the back panel (6 screws total), and then the top cover slides back a bit, then lifts off. The next step was to remove the control panel (with the LED, buttons, knobs and all that. The first step there is to remove 2 screws from each side of the back of the panel (note that each side includes one pointy screw and one flat screw). Then, you must disconnect all the wires to the control panel. If you ever installed a hard drive in a computer or anything like this, this should not be too scary. Just make sure you don’t have excess static electricity built-up, by touching something metal. All of the connections clip in, which means you have to press in on a tab to get them out. Once you have disconnected the wires, the whole panel should come off fairly easily (there are also some plastic tabs to be careful of).

Once the control panel is off, you will see 4 screws at the top of the front panel which were hidden by the control panel. You will want to remove these. This step took me well over an hour, because one screw was in so darn tight. After removing these screws, the door latch must be removed, as well as the screws next to it and the screws holding in the lint trap. Now the front cover should come off very easily, and the part we are interested in should be visible.

Figure 8. Wires from control panel

Figure 8. Wires from control panel

The next step that I took is probably not necessary, but I found it helpful. The lint cover partially obstructs the path to the orifice housing, so I also removed it, as shown in Figure 7.

Housing for the orifice

Figure 9. Housing for the orifice
The part that holds the orifice

Figure 10. The part that holds the orifice

Now one simply has to have a short screwdriver to remove the two screws on the top side of the piece that shields the orifice (Figure 10). Once this part is removed, it should be possible to unscrew the LNG orifice (I used pliers to get it started), and put in the LPG orifice. Once this is done, it is important to switch the regulator screw from open to closed.

The two orifices

Figure 11. The two orifices. Propane is on the left. Gas is on the right. Ruler shows approximate size.

Finally, just put everything together again, and that is it. Once I had everything back together, I plugged it in (since there are electronics, it requires electricity as well as gas (or propane) and nothing happened. A moment of shock! But, I kept my cool, and decided to re-check all the wires. Sure enough, I had overlooked one. I plugged it back in, and then everything was working like a charm.

Figure 12. Regulation Screw

Figure 12. Regulation Screw
Control panel wires reconnected

Figure 13. Control panel wires reconnected. (Except for one that I missed. Can you see it?)

So, after about 10 hours (including the time to search the internet at the library, and to do the normal hooking up of the gas line and the vent), we had a working dryer, which should not cause the house to blow up.

Hopefully someone else will find this information useful.

20 Replies to “Dryer Installation
or
10 hours of patience pays off”

  1. This is an amazing tale of disassembly work to convert the dryer to LPG. Remember we meant to show you where the conversion was done on the old dryer but forgot? It turns out that was a good thing as it kept you from expecting simplicity. The old nozzle was located in the same place, front right bottom corner of the dryer, but the access panel was larger and directly in front of the housing! As I remember it, we popped off the access panel, unscrewed the old nozzle, screwed in the new one and were done in less than an hour with no knowledge of hard drives–the old dryer was installed in the early 80’s before hard drives were common knowledge. Even without fancy electronics, the dryer also needed to be plugged in to run the motor to turn the drum.
    I love the detail in your directions. I also search the Internet when trying something new. I should post more of the hassles we encounter and installation details for various projects. I like being able to click on the photos to get a larger detailed photo. The only photo that confuses me is the one that supposedly shows the housing. Where is the nozzle in that photo? I don’t see it! Also, was it the yellow wire you overlooked when reconnecting?
    Congratulations on a job well done. As a Spencer wise person (Inez Townsend) used to say, education costs money one way or the other. In this case your dryer disassembly education will reduce your future installation time by 900% because you figured it out yourself (and didn’t break anything–you have a future in home repair!) But it cost you 10 hours the first time. The way of all projects.

  2. I just wanted to thank you for saving us 10 hours of Dryer conversion misery. If it were not for your kindness in posting the pictures and instructions for converting our LG Tromm dryer we might have either divorced or gone back to the clothes line. My husband is your very greatest fan. Instructions were excellent!!!

    The Beckers

  3. Where did you find the conversion kit? I just had the dryer dropped off yesterday and am still looking for one.

    Chris

  4. Thank you! Excellent information and so helpful when I thought I would pull out what was left of my hair I found this! THANKS !!!

  5. Thanks so much. I just received my Tromm Dryer after waiting almost a month. I also had trouble finding the LP conversion kit. After many hours I found and verified the LG part # 4948El4002B was correct. My next task was to find the cheapest source…Sears Parts Direct won. They don’t show the LP kit in the parts breakdown but if you search using the LG part number, it’s available for $14.99 plus S&H. I had it in 3 days for $23.03 delivered to 08088.

    Robert

  6. Thank you so much for this information. I had my propane company come out and after a few hours(with a half hour on the phone with LG support), my propane man gave up and told me to get a different dryer that was easier to work on. Ridiculous! A quick search on the internet got me this page and after an hour or so I had a nice propane dryer humming along nicely. The only thing I did differently was use a 10 mm socket on the orifice that gets changed out. If anyone has had trouble getting the part, you can call the Home Depot appliance parts and accessories department at 800-378-5830. The part was $10.00 with $7.99 S&H(UPS) and I got the part at my door step within 24 hours. The part number is 4948El4002B as previously stated. Thanks again so much. Would have been lost without you.

    Michael

  7. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.
    I’ve found this info MOST helpful!! As you had probably found out, LG has created a catch-22 with this situation in that they don’t publish schematics. That, and living in western Montana, there were not really any other options (sigh).

    oh, and did I say Thanks?!

    Tom.

  8. I want to THANK YOU! We bought this dryer and had to convert it to propane and didnt want to spend $150 to have a repair man to do it. I was nervous that we spent this much money on a dryer and didnt want my husband to mess it up but with your WONDERFUL instructions we got it done within an hour! I am so glad you decided to post your story and how to on this as it helped us greatly! If I saw you in person I would give you a great big hug!

    Again THANK YOU!

  9. After spending half of 10 hours staring in wonder at the STROMM and/or trying to convince the LG technical support phone drone that I was a licensed gas-certified plumber, I discovered this guide and finished the project in 90 minutes with my leatherman and nothing else.

    Many thanks!

  10. It’s been a couple months since I did the propane conversion on our LG dryer. Our dryer’s working great (and the house hasn’t burnt down!). I just wanted to thank you for your detailed instructions and photos. They made all the difference in the world, allowing me to do the conversion in about an hour. I was also able to pass on the advice to a relative, helping him to do it himself
    too.

    I decided to do the conversion on our dryer because the folks that Best Buy used to do the coversion couldn’t give me a time frame more specific than on the order of a day — like I’m going to sit around waiting for them all day! I ordered the part from Sears parts. It wasn’t listed online, but they looked it up no problem when I called them.

    A kind of scarry side note is that the regular delivery/install guys first hooked up the dryer when they delivered it WITHOUT the propane conversion, even though my wife told them that we had propane. She tried it, not knowing any better, and said she saw flames coming out the back! We’re fortunate our house didn’t burn down. Like they say, it’s hard to find good help…

    Thanks again for your help! God bless you.

  11. What a great post. My only question is the Regulation screw. Does it get screwed down tight or turned over and screwed down? Again, excellent information. Thank you.

  12. @Fred,

    It has been over a year since I did it, so I can’t recall for certain, but I am relatively sure that the regulation screw only gets turned a half turn or so. That part was actually in the instructions that came with the orifice.

  13. I had the gas company over today, as I was unsure as to how far the Regulation Screw is suppose to be down for LP. The tech called LG and spoke to their tech. From LG: the regulation screw is to be screwed down to the nut. The nut is placed on the regulation screw in the LP position. They seal in that position. So, screw it down to the nut.

  14. Excellent post. Saved me lots of time and aggravation. Took about 90 minutes total and all systems operating perfectly. Thanks for posting!

  15. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. We had two plumbers try and give up before we found this site. With this and the service manual as guides, I completed it in 90 minutes.

    As a note, if you decide to remove the lint cover (which does improve your access), there is some insulating tape that will be broken/disturbed. I think it went back pretty well, but it’s something to be aware of.

    Thanks again for a great post!

  16. This really helped. I was able to get the right part and get it in, except…. upon putting things back together I broke the igniter which is a very fragile piece of ceramic on the far end of the venturi tube stand. You need to be aware of this as it costs about US39 plus shipping from Home Depot ( Thank you Michael for the Home Depot info). And another two days of “Why didn’t you think of this before we moved” from my obviously better half.
    Anyway, all will be well. thanks again.

  17. Yup. I have converted a number of past appliances to LP but was taken aback when the conversion instructions stated first thing to “Disassemble the dryer.” Wha…?!?!?? I removed the screws on the backside of the dryer but that was a quick deadend. When I removed the top I realized I had to either remove the drum or go in from the front. That sent me to the internet where I discovered your site and that proved invaluable. Nice work sharing with the rest of us. You saved a lot of people a lot of headache. As a footnote to all this, you can order the conversion part from LG for only $10. The catch is they WILL NOT SHIP IT TO YOU. They will ship it to only a LICENSED GAS TECHNICIAN. LG even stated that if someone other than a licensed technician installs the part it will void all warranties on the dryer. I didn’t like that Gestapo attitude so ordered the part elsewhere ($18) and did it myself. In the event of a warranty claim I don’t see how LG could determine who did the conversion so I’m not worried about that.
    The only gripe I have about the conversion instructions is this: it should state clearly that the regulator screw should be turned down until the nut on the screw shaft contacts the base, and that the nut itself should remain undisturbed on the shaft and acts as a stop. LG is too secretive and uncooperative about the conversion process, making consumers scramble elsewhere for clear information. Of course LG doesn’t want consumers doing the conversion because of potential liability should something be done incorrectly. But if LG shared accurate and forthright information on exactly what is required to do the conversion (including how to disassemble, orifice location, etc.) then just about anyone could do it safely and QUICKLY. Unfortunately LG has fallen into the same corporate morass as others, and this is what happens when company policy is determined by bean counters and lawyers. Once again common sense is a casualty.
    Anyway, much appreciation for your helpful post.

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