A dryer has two jobs, spinning and heating, and they run on separate circuits. That's why a dryer can tumble happily for an hour and hand you a load of warm, damp towels. It's also why the first question is simple: is there no heat at all, or some heat that isn't getting the job done? The answer sends you down two quite different paths.
Safety comes before any of this
- •If you smell gas, don't touch light switches, the dryer controls or your phone inside the house. Get everyone out, leave the door open behind you, and from outside call 911 and Washington Gas's emergency leak line (844-WASHGAS). Don't go back in until you're told it's safe.
- •Unplug the dryer before opening any panel. Electric dryers run on 240 volts. For gas models, turn the handle on the dryer's gas shutoff so it sits crosswise to the pipe.
- •A burning smell, scorched clothes, or a cabinet too hot to touch is a reason to leave the dryer off until someone inspects it. Lint is flammable, and those are overheating signs.
Some heat, but loads take forever
This is the more common complaint, and the dryer itself is often fine. What's wrong is that hot, wet air can't get out fast enough. The heater cycles off on its safety thermostat, the drum air stays saturated, and a load that should take an hour takes three.
Work through these in order:
- The lint screen. Clear it after each load, and every few weeks scrub it in soapy water: dryer sheets leave a waxy film that blocks air even when the screen looks clean. Hold it under the tap; water should pass through, not bead up.
- The lint screen housing. Lint packs into the slot below the screen. A long, flexible brush clears it.
- The transition hose. This is the short connector running from the dryer's back to the wall opening. It ought to be rigid or semi-rigid metal, short, and not crushed. White vinyl or foil accordion hose sags, traps lint, and is a fire hazard; replace it.
- The outside vent hood. Go outside with the dryer running. The air coming out ought to be warm and forceful enough to push the flap well open. Barely any breeze, or a flap that hardly stirs, means a blocked run. Birds nest in vent hoods, and screens installed to keep them out clog with lint.
Long runs in condos and newer houses
Stacked units in high-rise condos, and dryers on the second floor of newer houses, often vent through long ducts with several bends before they reach the outside wall or roof. Some buildings use a booster fan or a shared exhaust. Long runs build up lint faster and are harder to inspect, and in a condo the part beyond your wall may be the building's to clean. If the air at the outside hood is weak even with a clean screen and a clear transition hose, look to the duct beyond the wall, and in a condo, ask management who maintains it.
A word about summer
On a muggy August day, a laundry room without air conditioning, or a basement that stays damp, gives the dryer wetter air to work with. Drying can take somewhat longer in those conditions without anything being wrong. A properly vented dryer should still finish a normal load in a normal cycle, though. If it's taking two or three runs, don't blame the weather.
No heat at all: electric dryers
Heating in an electric dryer depends on both legs of its 240-volt supply, but the motor and controls can run on just one. So a tripped half of the double breaker gives you a dryer that tumbles without warming.
Start at the panel. Find the dryer breaker (usually a double-pole breaker labeled for the dryer) and switch it fully off, then back on. Even if it looks on, one side may have tripped internally. If that restores heat and it keeps tripping, have the wiring and the element checked; don't just keep resetting it.
If the breaker isn't it, the usual failed parts are:
- •The heating element. A long wire coil that eventually snaps or touches its metal housing and shorts.
- •The thermal fuse. A one-time safety fuse that blows when the dryer overheats. It rarely fails on its own; it blows because the vent was blocked. Replace the fuse without fixing the vent and the new one will blow too.
- •The high-limit and cycling thermostats. These switch the heat on and off. A stuck-open thermostat means no heat.
A technician tests these with a meter to find the one that's open, rather than replacing them all.
No heat at all: gas dryers
Plenty of houses on Washington Gas service have a gas dryer. On these, the burner assembly is reached through an access panel low on the front or from inside the cabinet. Many have a small window you can see the igniter through when the drum is running with the door switch held.
The sequence goes like this. The igniter, a small gray bar, glows orange. A flame sensor on the burner tube confirms it's hot. Then the gas valve opens, the burner lights with a soft whoosh, and the igniter goes dark.
What you see tells you where it stops:
- •Igniter never glows. The igniter itself, the flame sensor, a thermal fuse, or a thermostat upstream.
- •Glow, then nothing: the bar fades and no flame appears. Often the gas valve coils, which weaken with age. The dryer may heat fine cold and fail once warm.
- •Flame lights, then goes out quickly and repeats. Airflow or a thermostat problem, which brings you back to the vent.
One easy miss: the shutoff handle behind the dryer should run parallel with the pipe. After a move, or when someone installs a new washer next to it, it can end up half turned.
Gas valve and burner work is not a do-it-yourself job. Leave the fittings alone.
When to book a visit
Book once the vent is clear and a no-heat or slow-drying problem remains, or if the thermal fuse has blown more than once. Expect the technician to look at the exhaust path first, then meter the heat side, whether that's an element or a burner assembly, until the failed component is pinned down. You hear the price and decide before anything is swapped. If a long or crushed duct is the real problem, you'll hear that first, because a new part won't fix it.
Our dryer repair page has more on the gas and electric models we service. Call or book online.