A dryer that tumbles happily but leaves clothes cold and wet has lost its heat source, and the diagnosis splits immediately on fuel type. On an electric dryer, the two things worth checking before you open the cabinet are the cycle setting and whether the machine is still receiving both of its 240-volt legs — between them they account for a great many no-heat calls and neither costs anything. On a gas dryer, the ignition sequence is visible through the burner opening, and watching one cycle tells you which of three parts has failed. Work through the shared checks first, then take the branch that matches your machine.
Read this first
- Unplug the dryer, and on a gas model close the shut-off valve behind it, before removing any panel.
- Never bypass or jumper a thermal fuse or thermal cut-off to get the dryer working. They are the last defence against a vent fire, and one that has blown is telling you the machine overheated for a reason you have not fixed yet.
- Electric dryers are fed by 240 volts across two hot legs. Treat the cord and terminal block as lethal until you have verified with a meter that the breaker actually killed both legs.
- If you smell gas at any point, stop, do not operate any switch, leave the building, and call the gas utility from outside.
Step by step
Rule out the cycle setting and the load
Start with the free answer. Air fluff, air dry, no heat and delicate settings all run the drum with reduced heat or none at all, and a knob knocked one position over produces a perfect imitation of a broken heater. Select a normal or cottons cycle at high heat and try again. Then check what you are asking it to do: a drum packed to capacity, or a load that came out of the washer still dripping because the spin failed, will feel cold and wet even on a dryer working correctly. Put your hand at the exhaust outlet outside the house a few minutes in — you should feel warm, moving air.
Check both 240-volt legs on an electric dryer
This is the single most useful check on an electric machine, because it explains the exact symptom you have. The motor and controls run on 120 volts from one leg, while the heating element needs the full 240 volts across both. Lose one leg and the drum turns, the light works, the timer counts down and nothing ever gets warm. Push the double-pole breaker firmly all the way off and then back on — a partially tripped breaker looks closed and passes only one leg. If that changes nothing and you are qualified, verify 240 volts across the two hot terminals at the outlet and 120 volts from each hot to neutral. Otherwise this is a wiring fault and a job for an electrician.
Clean the entire vent run, not just the lint screen
A restricted exhaust is both a fire hazard and the underlying cause of most blown fuses and cut-offs, so do this before replacing any part or the new part will fail too. Pull the machine out, disconnect the duct, and run a vent brush the full length of it. Replace flexible foil or plastic ducting with rigid or semi-rigid metal and take out unnecessary bends. Then go outside and check the termination hood — the flap is very often jammed shut by packed lint, a bird nest or paint. Quick test: disconnect the duct entirely, run the dryer a few minutes, and see whether it now heats. If it does, the vent was the whole problem.
Test the thermal fuse
The thermal fuse is a small one-shot device, usually white or black plastic with two terminals, mounted on the blower housing or the exhaust duct. It blows open permanently when the exhaust temperature exceeds its rating. Unplug the dryer, pull the connectors off, and check it on continuity: it either conducts or it does not, with no partial state. Note the design difference between brands — on many Whirlpool, Kenmore, Maytag and Amana machines the fuse sits in the motor circuit, so a blown one kills the dryer completely, while on others it only interrupts the heater and the drum keeps turning. Fit the correct part for the model, never a generic one, and clean the vent at the same time.
Test the thermal cut-off and the high-limit thermostat
Electric dryers usually carry a second layer of protection on the heater housing itself: a one-shot thermal cut-off, often paired with a high-limit or biased thermostat and sold together as a kit for good reason. If the cut-off has opened, the element is disconnected but everything else runs normally. Test both for continuity at room temperature with the machine unplugged — both should conduct when cold. Replace them as the kit, because a cut-off that has blown means the high-limit failed to cycle first and is suspect by definition. Again, this part does not fail on its own: something restricted the airflow.
Test the heating element for both open and shorted faults
With the dryer unplugged, pull the element housing and check the coil two different ways. First, put the meter across the element's two terminals: a healthy element shows a low resistance reading, and an open circuit means the coil has burned through. Look at it too, because a break is usually visible as a parted coil sagging away from its insulators. Second, check between each terminal and the metal housing. Any continuity there means the coil is touching the housing and shorted to ground, which produces a different symptom entirely — a dryer that heats constantly even with the drum stopped, or one that trips the breaker. Compare your reading against the value on the tech sheet inside the cabinet rather than a generic figure.
Watch the ignition sequence on a gas dryer
This is the whole diagnosis, and you do it with your eyes. Take the lower front access panel off, start a high-heat cycle, and watch the burner tube. The correct sequence is: the igniter begins to glow orange, brightens over roughly thirty to sixty seconds, the flame sensor sees it and opens the gas valve, and the burner lights with a soft whoomph. Now match what you saw. Igniter glows brightly, goes out, gas never lights, sequence repeats: the gas valve coils have failed and are replaced as a set. Igniter never glows at all: either it has cracked, or the flame sensor beside it has failed open — test both for continuity with the power off, and note that a cracked igniter often looks intact. Burner lights and goes out within seconds: the flame sensor is dropping out early.
Test the cycling thermostat and blower airflow
The cycling thermostat is the part that turns the heat on and off to hold the drum temperature, and it lives on the blower housing or the exhaust duct. At room temperature it should show continuity; open means it has failed and the heat will never come on. It is a cheap part but a comparatively rare failure, which is why it belongs at the end of the list rather than the beginning. While you are in there, check the blower wheel: a wheel that has loosened on the motor shaft or cracked its vanes moves far less air, and a dryer with poor internal airflow will overheat, trip its safety devices, and dry badly even with a perfect element and a clean vent.
What this repair costs
Doing it yourself
$5–$70
Hiring a technician
$150–$400
Prices are general estimates for typical US jobs, not quotes. What you actually pay depends on your appliance's brand and age, the part required, your region, and each shop's labour rate. The DIY figure assumes you supply the labour and buy the part yourself.
Parts you may end up buying
| Part | Install | Typical price | Typical lifespan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thermal Fuse | easy | $5–$20 | One-time (blows when overheated) |
| Heating Element | moderate | $20–$60 | 8–15 years |
| Cycling and High-Limit Thermostats | easy | $10–$40 | 8–15 years |
| Drive Belt | moderate | $12–$45 | 8–14 years |
| Drum Rollers and Idler Pulley | moderate | $20–$70 | 7–12 years |
| Gas Igniter | moderate | $20–$65 | 6–12 years |
| Gas Valve Coil Kit | moderate | $20–$65 | 8–15 years |
| Door Switch | easy | $10–$40 | 8–15 years |
| Blower Wheel | moderate | $20–$70 | 10–15 years |
| Moisture Sensor Bars | easy | $15–$50 | 10+ years |
Still not fixed
When to call a pro
On a gas dryer, anything past swapping the igniter, flame sensor or valve coils — adjusting the burner, opening the gas valve body, or touching the supply line — is licensed trade work in most jurisdictions and should not be attempted at home. On an electric dryer, get an electrician rather than an appliance technician if the outlet, cord or terminal block shows scorching, if a leg of the 240-volt supply is genuinely missing, or if the breaker trips the moment the element energises. And if every heating component tests good but the element still never gets power, the fault is in the timer or the control board — a diagnosis worth paying for rather than guessing at.
More dryer guides
- Dryer Takes Too Long — Restore Full Drying Speed45–120 minutes
- Dryer Squealing or Thumping — Find the Worn Part60–150 minutes
- Dryer Won't Start — Complete Diagnostic Checklist30–75 minutes
- Dryer Drum Not Turning — Belt, Pulley and Motor Checks60–150 minutes
- Dryer Shuts Off Mid-Cycle — Overheating and Sensor Faults45–120 minutes
- Dryer Smells Like Burning — Stop and Find It Before the Next Load60–120 minutes
- Dryer Trips the Breaker — Find the Fault, Not a Bigger Breaker60–120 minutes
- Dryer Getting Too Hot — Scorched, Shrunk and Damaged Loads60–120 minutes
- Dryer Tearing or Snagging Clothes — Find the Sharp Edge45–90 minutes