Dryer not heating or drying your clothing? If your dryer is all of a sudden not drying your clothes, then we have a few simple DIY fix tips you can try yourself. If the dryer is no longer drying your clothes then the first thing to do is to check and clean the dryer lint filter trap.
How To Fix A Clothes Dryer That Is Not Drying
Check Dryer Lint Filter
We were forced to add that as our first step as there really are some people who do not realize there is a LINT FILTER that must be cleaned before or after each use. Once that is cleaned out, check if the dryer is still NOT drying your clothes.
Check Vent Hose On Back Of Dryer
If that was NOT the cause of the problem, then you will need to inspect the vent hose on the back of the dryer. Commonly this HOT AIR VENT HOSE will become clogged, caked or full of lint that is constantly being removed from your clothing when drying. When this happens your dryer is unable to expel the hot air from within, therefore making it impossible for your dryer to actually dry your clothing in a timely manner or at all.
Common Causes For Dryer To Stop Heating
- The dryer lint screen (lint trap) has not been cleaned (poor or restricted airflow).
- A clogged or kinked (bent) dryer air vent hose (inadequate or no airflow).
- Drum has stopped turning, broken drum drive belt.
- Overheated or bad motor (possible thermal overload).
- Thermal fuse or thermostat (could be caused from dryer air vent hose lint buildup)
- Heating element burnt out.
- Loose electrical plug or power socket.
- Other mechanical issue, fault or malfunction.
Click here for a faster way to troubleshoot your dryer not heating
Clothing Takes Forever To Dry
If your clothes dryer is taking forever to dry your clothes or it is not drying your clothing at all (and you already thoroughly cleaned the lint filter screen), then the first step is to CLEAN OUT THE INSIDE OF THE DRYER VENT HOSE.
First, unplug your dryer from the electrical socket on the wall. Slide the dryer forward very carefully so you can get behind it. Locate the (usually silver colored) air vent hose, and remove it from the wall and the dryer (2 connection points).
Do this by squeezing the clip at both ends and pulling the hose outward. Using a long dryer vent brush or similar, clean out the inside of the air vent hose by removing all of the built up lint and dust looking material.
Clean the area on the back of the dryer and the hole in the wall where the air is vented out. Most of the time the lint will be built up in both of these areas.
Once all of the lint is cleaned out, reattach the vent hose and slide the dryer back in place. Make sure you DO NOT KINK the vent hose when repositioning the dryer as this will cause the dryer to NOT expel the hot air properly.
If you kink the hose the dryer will not function properly and your clothes will take forever to dry. Next, plug the dryer back into the power outlet and run a test. If your dryer is now heating and properly drying your clothes then you fixed the problem. If not, read on…
If you know what Dryer Replacement Parts you need, here is where to get them at a GREAT PRICE and most have FREE shipping.
Here is how much lint that can become stuck in your dryer vent hose.
This much lint in the hose or in the wall, will prevent your dryer from properly drying your clothes.
DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN! Dryer air vent hose clogged with lint.
Clean your dryer AIR VENTING HOSE on a yearly basis!
It is the reason your dryer takes forever to dry AND can be a fire safety hazard!
Dryer Has Overheated
At times your dryer can overheat and this can cause the motor that turns the drum to stop working temporarily. There is a safety mechanism built into the motor that makes it stop working if it gets too hot. This is called a thermally protected motor.
Your dryer may seem to be running but the motor will not be turning the drum. If the drum is not turning then the clothes are not moving. Therefore they can not get DRY. So if your dryer motor is NOT turning on but the rest of the dryer works, such as the lights and other mechanical parts, then your motor is probably overheated.
For this, you need to just give the motor some time to cool down. If you suspect that this is your problem then give the dryer about an hour to cool down and run a test after that. If your motor has overheated then you may be overloading your dryer with too many clothes. Try running the dryer with less clothes in it the next time you dry a load and this should remedy the issue.
The solutions above are the most common causes for this specific malfunction. If the explanations above have not been your specific problem, then there can be a number of things wrong. If you feel comfortable you can remove the front panel of your dryer (while unplugged) and look to see if there are any obvious causes of the problem.
A possible loose wire, loose part, burnt area, pieces of the dryer that have come off, fried or burned mechanical switches, etc. If the problem is not visual and you do not know what the issue can be, we recommend going here and posting an appliance repair question to online appliance repair technicians. If all else fails then simply leave a comment or question below and we PROMISE to answer your question in a timely manner.
Other components that could be at fault would be the Thermal fuse, Thermal cutoff, Heating element, Operating thermostat, and High limit thermostat. You can check all of these for continuity with a multimeter. If any are determined bad, remove and replace.
How Does It Work? Basic Clothes Dryer Function
Dryer Parts Schematic Parts Location Diagram Chart
If you still need help, assistance, or answers to fix your Dryer Not Heating problem, ask your
questions over at our Appliance Repair Help page for free answers to fix your broken appliance!
Duet Gas Dryer (Mod. GGW9260PW0) will not ignite flame after initial start up. The dryer will ignite flame when cycle starts, but when it calls for heat after the initial lighting, the igniter glows but the flame does not return. It will continue running the cycle as if all is normal, but the flame will not light when called for after the first lighting at the beginning of the cycle.
I have a GE DBVH512 and it was shutting off after 3 minute when running on high. After 5 minutes the power comes back on and it was running fine. It runs fine on medium heat. I checked the lint filter, piping, and hose and there was no blockage. I also cleaned all of them out and it still continued to do it. I even vacuumed out the inside (including the motor). There were no error codes when I tried to pull them.
Had a professional come out and went through the same process of cleaning and found a large amount of lint on the vent on top of the roof. He ran it empty and it ran fine, but when we put cloths in later we had the same problem (my wife suggested running it with cloths in it when he was here, but he told her that this wouldn’t make a difference. On the return trip, they replaced the thermostat and said if that doesn’t solve the problem; we may want to replace the control board. Now the dryer is shutting off twice when running it on the high cycle. They want $300.00 for the board. Any suggestions?
Eric,
Not to imply you did anything wrong, but if it shorted out the moment power was applied, something was wired wrong or a wire may have been touching the side of the dryer. Did the breaker reset? Is the dryer plug burnt? Where is the damage? Inside where the blower wheel was installed? Let us know.
-RR
kenneth patrick samek,
Most likely the dryer power is on 2 breakers and one is off. Possibly 2 120V breakers are connected to the dryer and one is turned off meaning the dryer has the power to spin and turn, but not to heat. The dryer needs 120V to spin and 120V to heat. CHECK THE BREAKER BOX OR FUSE BOX. Let us know what you find.
-RR
My friends dryer would heat clothes so i gave her my dryer that worked now it dont dry at her house either.
Hi, I just replaced the blower wheel on my stacked maytag dryer. Put the front back on and ran the dryer for about 5 seconds heard a pop, saw a spark and burnt smell. No power now with no sound of the motor running… any ideas what to do?
Tanya,
Test the thermal fuse at back with a meter to be sure it is not blown. As long as you have cleaned the vent hose, lint trap, and the wall is clear of lint, the next most likely problem is the fuse. If the fuse is okay then it may be a thermostat or a board issue. Check thermal fuse first.
-RR
Matt Pisani,
Yes the vent hose is most likely clogged with lint. If the vent hose or in the dryer or wall, there is lint build-up, the dryer cannot expel the hot air and therefore will take longer to dry your clothes. Try cleaning all the venting areas and that should solve your issue. If not let us know.
-RR
I have a Maytag dryer that’s not quite 2 years old and my dryer vent was cleaned out about 2 years ago. It seems like all my clothes need to go through a 2 drying cycles before they are dry. Could that really be the dryer vent causing this issue or are there other things to look for like a bad sensor?
Hello I have a Frigidaire dryer, it says affinity on the front along with wrinkle release technology, my problem is the dryer is spinning but no heat, I unplugged it and pulled it out and took the hose off and looked in it but didn’t see any lint, I am always cleaning the lint trap after every load. What else could be wrong with it! Thank you