5 Common Reasons Dryers Won’t Heat and How You Can Fix Them
It’s laundry day, and you run a load in the dryer. But the dryer finishes, and you find that the clothes are still damp. Maybe this is the first time this has happened, or it has been going on for a while, and you’re forced to run the same load multiple times through the dryer just to dry it.
What’s worse, for those of us who like to fall back on the old air-dry technique of leaving our clothes out in the hot Texas sun, we no longer have that option with fall fastly approaching.
The good news? In most cases, a dryer that’s not heating well can be fixed with some simple troubleshooting. For the more serious cases, on the other hand, a part or two will likely need replacing. If your dryer is heating at least a little bit, then there’s a good chance that the problem can be quickly identified and fixed without needing fancy tools or technical expertise. In other words, this is prime DIY territory.
1. Your Lint Screen Needs to Be Cleaned.
Ideally, your lint screen should be cleaned after every use, but most of us forget and sometimes let it go uncleaned for weeks. If that’s you, good—you may have just found your problem.
Take your lint screen out and use your hands to scrape all the lint away. It may be tempting to run the screen under your kitchen sink, but please don’t. If it’s still wet when you run a load, it will be a lot harder to clean the next time.
2. You’re Overambitious
It can be tempting to shove as many clothes as you can into a dryer… after all, if it fits, shouldn’t it work?
As a dryer heats up to dry your laundry, steam from your clothes rises and escapes through the house vent. If your dryer is too full, then your laundry will get in the way of the steam that is trying to escape—hence why your dryer isn’t drying well.
That said, not all dryers are made equal. Try splitting your load up and testing to see what type of load your dryer can handle with one go.
3. Your House Vent Is Blocked
Dryers, especially older ones, can have a tendency to bounce around. As a result, the house vent may get bent or crushed, making it a lot harder for the steam to escape. Check to make sure your house vent is in good shape.
It’s also possible that your house vent looks fine on the outside but has a blockage on the inside. To check, you can unhook the vent from your dryer and shine a light through it to check for any obstructions.
4. Your Clothes Are Too Wet
Maybe your washer isn’t doing a good job at wringing out your clothes during its spin cycle, resulting in clothes that are too wet for your dryer. Or maybe you just finished dancing in the rain and want to quickly dry off your clothes… which are soaked.
Check to make sure your clothes aren’t too wet. A good rule of thumb is if you can twist your clothes like you would a mop, and water is dripping, then they’re too wet.
5. Your Dryer Lacks the “Juice” It Needs to Heat Up
If you have an electric dryer, it needs a certain amount of electricity to operate—240 volts. If you just moved to an older house or have a strange plug-in setup, your dryer may not be getting the full voltage it needs. Check your outlet to make sure it’s delivering the power needed.
For those with gas dryers, keep in mind that these dryers will run but not heat up if the gas is not turned on. If your dryer is not heating up at all, then check the gas valve to make sure that it’s in the open position.
Other Reasons Dryers Won’t Heat and What to Do
Ah, if you made it here, then unfortunately, your dryer may have a more complex problem. For these, it’s best to consult a professional lest you risk making the problem worse or end up with a dryer that’s no longer safe to use (picture: a raging ball of fire).
1. Blown Thermal Fuse
Unless you have a really old dryer, it should have a thermal fuse. These fuses help keep your house from going up in flames. They blow when the temperature within the dryer gets too high. The result is a dryer that will not work until the fuse has been replaced.
Replacing a fuse requires some disassembly of the machine, examination, and reinstalling a new one.
2. Damaged Heating Element
Heating elements for electric and gas dryers are different, but they’re the same in that if the heating element is damaged, you will notice either weaker heating or no heating at all.
This is a hard one to diagnose because it usually involves disassembling the machine to some degree to inspect the heating element and determining how to best fix or replace it.
3. Other Things That Could Go Wrong
Dryers, especially the ones that talk to you, are complex, and they can vary widely from model to model. That said, there are plenty of problems that could be the reason why your dryer is not heating. Here are a few:
- Broken thermostat
- Glitchy electrical system
- Bad timer motor
- Defective control board
- Fluctuating power
- Etc., etc., etc.
Need Help? Get a Professional to Diagnose and Fix the Problem
So, what’s the easy and safe solution? Have a professional look at it… Seriously, it’s not worth doing it yourself if the problem is not obvious or is not an easy fix. More complications may result, and it’s not the safest thing in the world to be tinkering with a dryer.
That said, Mr. Appliance can help. A technician can come out, look your dryer over, and diagnose the problem. Then, the technician can provide a plan to resolve the problem as well as the skill to complete the repairs.
Sound interesting? To start, it’s quick and easy. Just schedule your service, and we’ll handle the rest.
