One of the common scenarios you might face is placing your clothing 3-4 times in the dryer before it gets hot. If you are faced with an issue such as your dryer not getting hot as it is supposed not to, or your dryer is getting hot but the clothes aren’t, then you need to read this article to the end.
In some instances, the dryer and the clothes inside the dryer might be lukewarm leaving you with partially wet clothing. That might be something you have faced and it has led you here.
Since you are here, I will be breaking down some of the things you ought to first do when you are faced with this issue along with some ways you can easily self-diagnose this issue without needing a repairman.
Let’s delve right into it.
How to Troubleshoot Dryer not getting Hot
Since you are stuck with your dyer not getting hot, the first thing you ought to do is to disconnect the back of the vent pipe located at the back of the dryer and try running the dryer without clothes.
If you notice that air is blowing freely from the vent at the back of your dryer, then you should focus on the vent duck firstly.
All you have to do here is to get a brush/Magic Wand and clean out any lint or particles blocking hot air from coming out through the vent once you’ve done that, the issue would be resolved.
In a scenario where there is no air blowing out, proceed to the troubleshooting steps listed below.
1 . Check for Tripped Circuit Breaker
Your dryer needs a sufficient amount of power to operate optimally depending on the type of dryer you are using. However, this is synonymous with an electric dryer since an electric dryer has two 120-volts breakers for heating and power.
When there is damage to one of these volt lines or one of the volt lines is tripped, you might experience a situation such as your dryer spinning but it isn’t heating your clothes.
In scenarios like this, all you have to do is to check the electrical panels for any tripped circuit and reset any tripped circuit breakers
here is how to reset a tripped circuit breaker
How to Reset a Tripped Circuit Breaker
- Turn all the lights off and unplug all your devices
- Now, open up your electrical panel and locate the breaker that was flipped in the wrong direction
NOTE: if the breaker is damaged quit the resetting process and call for the services of an electrician for replacement if not, continue to the next step.
- On the breaker, move the switch to the OFF position to fully reset it
- After doing that, move the breaker to ON and be patient for at least 10 seconds.
NOTE: if after doing all these, the breaker doesn’t move away from this position then the rest procedure is complete
2 . Check for your Gas Level
Just as similar to an electric dryer, if your dryer uses gas, and you are short of gas probably because you haven’t paid your gas bills then your dryer won’t work.
Also, the gas valve has to be turned on and the Pipe the gas passes through must be connected to the dryer for the dryer to heat your clothes.
if one of these conditions is not met, you might keep struggling with your dryer not getting hot.
3 . Check for Blocked Lint Trap
Your lint trap has one job which is to remove dryer lint after every dry cycle. However, that doesn’t write off the fact that lint something gets through the lint screen causing a blockage to the vents.
So to resolve this, it is wise to clean out the lint trap area either before drying your clothes or after drying them since it reduces excessive lint from gathering around the lint screen.
You can make use of a magic wand to clean it. However, you might need to do a little disassembling to get to the lint trap
NOTE: before you disassemble the lint screen and the panel surrounding the lint screen ensure that you have disconnected the dryer from its power outlet and you’ve turned off the gas
4 . Check for Blown Thermal Fuse
One of the few pointers to a thermal fuse issue is if your dryer isn’t heating at all. Probably, it is spinning but there is no heat generated.
If you are faced with this, your thermal fuse might be blown out since its job is to Tripp off either the heating element or turn off the dryer as a whole where there are instances of overheating.
You might not be comfortable losing out on the inner part of your dryer. However, if you are, you can follow the steps below
- Remove the back pane by Unscrewing it
- Now, locate and remove the thermal fuse.
- Insert a new fuse as the old one was earlier placed
- Now, cover the panel and screw it back.
5 . Check for Defective Heating Element
This will less likely be an issue for you if you’ve just gotten your dryer newly or not long ago. This issue is synonymous with those who have been using their dryer for around a year or more.
A good rule of thumb is, that if your thermostat and your thermal fuse are working just fine, then the problem might be coming from your coils in the heating elements.
To self-diagnose the coil, all you have to do is
- Locate the heating element and remove the metal frame covering the coils
- Now, use a multimeter to test for continuity of the heating element
- If the multimeter test fails then the coils need replacement
6. Check for Defective Timer
If your timer is faulty, one of the things you might experience is your timer not moving to the next cycle. This might cause a serious issue as the heating might continue while the dryer overheats.
This in turn could trigger the thermostat to trip off the heating element or the whole dryer.
That is one of the reasons why a tripped thermostat would always have a background issue which you have to deal with when you’ve replaced it in order to avoid burning out the thermostat again
7 . Faulty Dryer Flame Sensor
This issue is very common with gas dryers since it uses a flame to heat up your clothes. In a scenario where the flame sensor is faulty, it might not allow the flame to ignite causing your dryer not getting hot.
In cases like this, you might have to replace the flame sensor and here is how you can do that
- Locate the small black box attached outside the flame igniter below the dryer drum
- Now get a multimeter and test the resistance to check if the flame sensor is functioning or not
New Dryer not Heating
If you have a brand new dryer and you are stuck with your dryer not getting hot the first possible thing you have to check is the vents, since it doesn’t take long for the lint filter to get clogged with lint after a few usages.
You can do a test for that by disconnecting the back of the vent pipe located at the back of the dryer and try running the dryer without clothes. If there is air coming out then there are some lints blocking the air from flowing properly which you can clean using equipment like a magic wand.
But in a scenario where there is no air coming off the vent then you should go through the troubleshooting steps earlier discussed on this page
How to Fix Gas Dryer not Getting Hot
If your Gas dryer isn’t getting hot there are a few things you have to check
1 . Check the Gas Valve Solenoid Coils
The solenoid coil has one job which is to open the gas valve and let gas flow into the burner. If you are faced with a scenario where the igniter glows and shuts off, but there is an absence of flame, then the gas valve solenoid coil has issues and needs replacement.
2 . Check your Thermal Fuse
A faulty timer and clogged vents will cause the Dryer to overheat. And when the dryer gets to a certain temperature the thermal fuse would blow out while tripping off the system.
You might not be very sure if the issue is coming from your thermal fuse, however, you can check it and test for continuity using a multimeter.
if it doesn’t have continuity then it needs a replacement
3 . Check the Gas Supply To The Dryer
This is a common issue since the gas Dryer cannot work if you don’t have enough gas being supplied to the unit. Over here you want to ensure you have gas and the gas supply line is open. If any of these are not met, the Dryer will come on but won’t heat up your clothes.
4 . Check the Flame Sensor
In a scenario where the flame sensor is faulty, it might not allow the flame to ignite causing your dryer not getting hot. Since you are not sure of this, you can test for its continuity to determine if it is working or needs a replacement.
Whirlpool Dryer not Getting Hot
If you own a whirlpool dryer and the dryer isn’t getting hot or it is spinning but while there is no sign of heat then you should check here for a guide on that
Maytag Dryer not heating
Maytag dryer is easily embraced by people due to its short dry cycle, however, it also faces similar issues related to the dryer is not heating. If you have one, check here to learn how you can fix your Maytag dryer
Why is my Dryer running but not Heating
There are a series of reasons why your dryer would run but not heat, Most electric dryers come with two 120-volt breakers for both heating and power.
If the one for heating is not functioning, the dryer would run but there would be no heating
Also, in scenarios where the thermostat turns off the heating element due to overheating, you can also experience this too.
Conclusion:
By now, you should have figured out the cause of your dryer not getting hot and the appropriate steps to self-diagnose this issue. Also, in case you are not comfortable tinkering with the dryer you can check here to find a repair service.