Well, my Frigidaire dryer in only 2 years old, and the heating element has burned out. Our previous dryer was made in the early 90's, so it was designed differently and it was VERY easy to change the heating element. However, this Frigidaire is a different story...so after NOT finding the answer via google, I will document it here:
To replace the heating element, you must remove the front of the dryer and extract the drum. Here's how:
1. Remove the top panel, held on by 2 screws in the back. It is not necessary to remove the silver bracket that the top panel mounts to. This will give you unfettered access to the inside of the dryer.
2. Remove the rear access panel in the lower left hand corner, held on by 2 screws. This will allow you to remove the belt from the motor pulley.
3. Remove the drive belt from the pulley (take a picture first so you know how to put it back correctly) by pushing the tensor arm to the right. This will create slack in the belt and all you to remove it from the pulley.
4. Time to remove the front of the unit. There are 4 screws on the top, 2 on either side of the control panel. Be careful with the 2 that go into plastic, as you don't want to crack the plastic by overtightening during reassembly.
5. There are 2 screws inside the unit holding the front panel to the side panels, one on either side of the drum, about 8 inches down from the top.
6. The last 2 screws to remove are the bottom screws. I found it easier to prop the dryer up by putting something (my cordless drill actually) under it, so it was easier to get my screwdriver on the screws. They are about 6-8 inches in from the side.
7. On the top right there are 2 electrical connectors (possibly held up by a zip tie) that need to be disconnected (all other electrical connections are to the front panel itself, so nothing else to disconnect there). I found it easier to clip the zip tie (and replace it with a new one later on during reassembly)
8. Once those 8 screws have been removed and connectors released, the front panel will come off. There are some clips that will release as you pull the panel off from the sides (2 on each side). It's not easy to grasp, but you can open the door and reach inside for a little more leverage.
9. Once the front panel is off, set it aside.
10. Next, there is a small, white plastic retainer on the top that keeps the drum from moving too far forward (and adds support to the top panel as well). Remove it.
11. Everything is now out of the way of the drum. The back of the drum has a ball-joint assembly, kinda like your hip, that it sets down in. To remove the drum from that joint, you need to lift it up. It might be called a jerk. Grasp the drum at the back, under the lip, and give it a good yank. You should feel it lift out of the joint. Now just slide the drum straight out the front of the dryer.
12. The heating element and it's casing are now exposed. On top of the elements housing, there is a high limit thermostat, held on by 2 small screws. Remove them.
13. The housing itself is held on by 4 screws from the back of the dryer. Remove them, being careful to hold it as you remove the final screw to keep it from falling.
14. There are still 2 leads connected to the heater coil, so disconnect them, being sure to note which is connected where. Now you can either restring a new coil, or buy the entire housing for $20 more.
While you have it apart, take a minute to vacuum it out, cleaning out all that nastly lint.
Reassembly is the opposite. When I did mine, I connected the wires to the heater element housing and held it in place with only 2 of the 4 screws (from the back), just in case it needed a little wiggle room when I put the drum in. The drum needs to be lifted a little and set down into the ball joint fitting. The trick to reisntalling the front panel is do it top down. If you look at it, you will see that the there is small tab on each upper corner of the panel, and that tab fits into the long slot on the top rail, so if you lift the front panel up, and tilt it so the tabs can fit into the slots (not the small slot at the front edge, but the bigger, longer slot behind the small one), then when you lower the panel, the locking tabs will line up perfectly and you can press them to snap them into place (I learned this easy way of reattaching the front panel because I had to do it 4 times because I kept dropping screws or drivers inside, thereby having to remove it again).
There you have it. I read somewhere that you should run a dryer on AIR only for 10 minutes after replacing the heating element. And then run it on a medium heat for 10 minutes after that...I think.
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