There are a multitude of problems, issues, and defects that can occur in any of the major appliances in your home, but one of the most common failures we see is for a customer’s clothes dryer to stop heating. They’ll run a load of laundry through the dryer, and everything seems to cycle and work properly, but their clothes still come out just as soggy as when they came out of the washer. In fact, this is such a common breakdown that we tend to receive at least one or two calls on a daily basis from customers describing this very dilemma. You should always use an authorized service company or technician to diagnose and repair your brand of appliance, but here are some of the more common parts failures and issues that can cause your dryer to stop heating.
First and foremost, when inspecting or testing parts in any appliance, be sure to disconnect the power source by unplugging the unit from the wall or flipping the appropriate breaker in your circuit breaker panel. Once the power source has been cut off, there are a handful of parts that you can search for and test to determine what is causing the absence of heat while the unit is cycling.
The three most common parts to fail and cause this problem are the thermostat, thermal fuse, heating element, all of which can be tested using a continuity multi-meter. Thermostats are used to regulate the internal temperature of the dryer depending on which cycle it’s in. Locating the correct thermostat can be tricky, but once found you can disconnect the wires and test it. If the thermostat is bad you will need to replace it, but luckily it’s not a very expensive part. Another inexpensive part to replace is the thermal fuse, but is also difficult to locate inside of your unit and requires a much deeper knowledge of appliance repair. A thermal fuse can be blown when your dryer gets too hot due to the dryer vent being clogged. You can test and replace this part, but without having your vents professionally cleaned, it’s likely to fail again. The last part you should look for is the heating element. This is a fairly easy part to locate, test, and replace if necessary, but unfortunately it’s a somewhat more costly part. And to make matters worse, a broken heating element is irreparable, although it hasn’t stopped some customers from trying their own homespun fixes! Do not try to repair a defective element, it will fail again shortly, and possibly damage another part or area of your machine.
Knowing is half the battle, but we strongly recommend you utilize one of our certified and authorized service technicians to diagnose and repair you dryer if it stops heating. We guarantee that our diagnosis will be accurate, we back up our work with a 90 day warranty, and stand behind all parts we install with a one year warranty. Don’t take a gamble when we at Lake Appliance Repair are a sure thing for repairing your dryer, or any home appliance!
