Old timer told me to skip the ohm meter and trust the smell, he was right

Had a Whirlpool dryer that kept tripping the breaker after about 5 minutes of run time. I pulled the drum, checked the heating element with my meter, tested the thermostats, everything read fine. A retired guy who used to fix appliances in Cleveland stopped by my shop and said, just put your nose near the blower housing, if it smells like burnt dust, it's the thermal fuse about to go. I thought he was full of it, but I sniffed it and sure enough, that faint burnt odor was there. Replaced the thermal fuse, which I had already tested as good, and the dryer has run fine for 2 months now. Why do these intermittent parts act fine on a bench test but fail under load? Anyone else had a part that tested good but was clearly the culprit?

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sethhernandez6d ago

Smell test never lies, watched a fridge get fixed by a burnt toast sniff once.