Introduction
Everyone has that one lucky day where you shove washed clothes inside the dryer and even after a full cycle, they are still wet. In this case, you can search for “dryer repair near me” and hire professionals to fix it for you. You can also try to fix the problem by yourself. Let’s check out some common dryer repair issues.
The Issues
- Drum doesn’t spin – When the dryer drum isn’t spinning, but you can still hear the motor to be running, it’s usually due to a worn-out dryer belt. If the dryer belt is broken, you can simply replace it with an identical one. The drum has markings for the belt. Slide on the belt to align with the markings and wind it around the idler pulleys and motor pulley to get the job done.
If the belt is fine, then you should check out the roller under the dryer. If it’s worn out enough to be useless, you may need to replace it. Unscrew the front panel of the dryer and bring out the tumbler. After that, remove the retaining clip on the roller and slide it off. Next, replace it with a new roller and put everything back in its place to fix the problem.
If both the roller and dryer belt is fine, then the problem probably lies with the idler or motor. Remove the front panel and take a look at the drive motor. If the pulley configurations are odd, fix them by sliding on the belts in place. On the other hand, if the motor itself is faulty, removing it will require a lot of work. It’s best to hire a professional in this case. They have all the necessary tools to loosen the blower wheel and disassemble the drive motor from the dryer. After that, they can check the motor and assess if it needs to be fixed or replaced.
- High temperature – A dryer should get hot. That’s how it dries your clothes. However, if the dryer is getting alarmingly hot that you can’t even touch the external surface, then something needs to be fixed. Unplug the dryer from the wall and wait for it to cool down. After that, check the lint trap inside the dryer and the vent outside your home that exhausts out all the dryer moisture and carbon emissions.
If the lint trap and vent are clogged, they can spike up the temperature of the dryer since the airflow and moisture extraction is restricted. When that happens, the dryer burns more fuel since it continues to detect a lot of moisture in the system. Clean the clogs and make sure that they stay unclogged to avoid future overheating issues.
If the vents and lint trap are unclogged and the dryer continues to be very hot, then the dryer’s heating coils, or thermostat may be damaged. Those components regulate the temperature inside the dryer. Access the coils or thermostat and connect one of the terminals with the Volt-Ohm meter probes. If the reading is anything other than zero, then those are faulty components that need to be replaced.
- Drum spins without heat – When the dryer drum spins and you still return to find a cool dryer with wet clothes, there may be a bunch of underlying problems. Start the diagnosis by checking the thermal fuse. Unscrew the back panel and unplug the thermal fuse to check if the wire is broken. In that case, replace it with an identical fuse and it should fix the problem.
If the fuse wasn’t broken, then proceed to check the temperature switch. Remove the knob on the temperature dial and open up the control panel. Once you have access to the temperature switch, you’ll need a volt-ohm meter to check it. Set the meter to RX-1, connect the terminals to the probes and check the reading.
The voltmeter should read as zero or infinity. Repeat this process again and take the reading two more times. If it was zero at first, then it should change to infinity on the next reading and to zero on the final one and vice versa. If it shows any other reading and doesn’t flip values as mentioned above, then the temperature switch needs to be replaced.
If both the temperature switch and thermal fuse are in working order, then you need to check the heating coils and thermostat. Follow the same procedure mentioned above and use the Volt-Ohm meter to check their reading and replace them if they turn out to be faulty.
- Dryer doesn’t turn on – There are several reasons why a dryer wouldn’t turn on or stop working completely. Start with the power switch. Use the Volt-Ohm meter on the wall outlet that the dryer is connected to. If there’s no power, then check the fuse box or the breaker in your home. If nothing has blown out there, then you may need to replace the outlet. On the other hand, if there’s power at the outlet and your dryer won’t turn out, try changing the power cord.
If the outlet and power cord have no issues, then use the above-mentioned methods to check the timer and thermostat. Replace them if necessary. If both those components are fine, then something may be wrong with the start switch. Pull out the knob on the switch and access the control panel.
Use the VOM to check the start switch. It should read infinity or zero. Remove the VOM and check the reading again. It should be zero if the previous value was infinity and vice versa. If that’s not the case, then you may have a bad start switch that may need to be replaced.
Conclusion
When a dryer stops working or doesn’t produce heat, there are numerous points of failure. From a bad fuse to a worn-out belt or even a fried thermostat. If you can’t identify the problem, or it seems too complicated to fix yourself, you can search for “dryer repair near me” and hire pros for the job.
Comments