Troubleshooting Difficult Home Appliances

What Causes An Electric Dryer To Experience Hot Air Problems?

Dryers are a vital part of any modern laundry room and the warm air is the heart of the dryer. Technical difficulties can cause an electric dryer to either fail to produce warm air at all, which leaves you with a drum full of wet clothes, or produces overly warm air that causes a safety risk to both you and the clothing.

What causes an electric dryer to experience hot air problems?

Dryer Doesn't Heat: Air Flow Blockage

The one dryer check you can safely perform without any experience relates to air flow. If your dryer isn't producing hot air, the problem could be that not enough air is getting inside to be heated.

Vents on your dryer suck in surrounding air to fuel the drying cycle. If the vents are blocked or clogged with dust or lint, your dryer won't work properly. Check for vent blockages and move the blocking item or clean the vents as necessary. Continue to clean the vents regularly to prevent a recurrence of this problem.

Do the vents look unblocked and clean? Time to move on to the tougher troubleshooting.

Dryer Doesn't Heat or Heats Too Much: Heating Element

Heating element problems can cause opposing issues depending on the nature of the malfunction. Electric dryers have a heating element that warms the air that passes through the dryer's vents.

A malfunctioning heating element can simply stop working, which means the incoming air doesn't warm up and your clothing won't dry. Or the heating element can short out and overpower the dryer's safety system to pump overly hot air into the dryer.

If you suspect a heating element issue, call an appliance repair company, such as Appliance Technology. Call immediately if the problem is overly hot air as this is a safety concern. Do not use the dryer again until the hot air problem is fixed.

Dryer Doesn't Heat: Thermal Fuse

The heating element isn't the only potential cause of the dryer failing to heat. The thermal fuse that serves as the safety system can also fail. Instead of closing when the element is in danger of overheating the air, a malfunctioning thermal fuse can close before the element even starts to warm the air.

Unless you have prior experience in appliance repair, don't try to diagnose which problem or problems are causing your temperature issues. The thermal fuse and element both involve electricity, which poses a safety risk, and making a mistake can render your dryer completely inoperable.