Why is my dryer not drying?
November 25, 2018 8:41 PM Subscribe
Recently clothes going through my electric dryer have been coming out cold and damp. I cleaned out the ducts--no change. I replaced the heating element, which worked at first, but now the dryer's back to the status quo. What am I missing? Details after the jump.
I have a LG DLE2101W, at least 5 years old. (It came with the house when my wife and I moved in.) It has worked well, up until a few months ago, when clothes started coming out cold and damp. So I checked the ducts, found a whole heck of a lot of lint, and cleaned it out. Unfortunately, that had no effect. So I ordered a new heating element from LG and installed it. At first, that did the trick: the dryer was heating up like normal. But soon after, it went back to cold and damp.
So now I'm perplexed: why isn't it running properly? Everything else about the dryer is functioning as it should be. And if I had screwed up replacing the heating element, that doesn't explain why it was heating up at first. My next step after this is probably the repairman or even a new dryer, but I thought I would put the matter to you guys before I sink the funds for either of those.
I have a LG DLE2101W, at least 5 years old. (It came with the house when my wife and I moved in.) It has worked well, up until a few months ago, when clothes started coming out cold and damp. So I checked the ducts, found a whole heck of a lot of lint, and cleaned it out. Unfortunately, that had no effect. So I ordered a new heating element from LG and installed it. At first, that did the trick: the dryer was heating up like normal. But soon after, it went back to cold and damp.
So now I'm perplexed: why isn't it running properly? Everything else about the dryer is functioning as it should be. And if I had screwed up replacing the heating element, that doesn't explain why it was heating up at first. My next step after this is probably the repairman or even a new dryer, but I thought I would put the matter to you guys before I sink the funds for either of those.
Are you sure that it is getting the right voltage? if one side of the 240v connection is out the motor might still run but the heater won't work (or might only work in some sort of low-heat mode).
posted by BillMcMurdo at 8:53 PM on November 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by BillMcMurdo at 8:53 PM on November 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
Is it possible that there’s more lint somewhere else in there? Something similar happened to a friend. She had a guy clean out her entire lint airflow thing, beyond where she could reach, and it got better. (I’m so sorry I don’t know the proper words. Going to educate myself now.)
posted by allison00 at 9:04 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by allison00 at 9:04 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
Did you clean out the vents and ducts thoroughly, or have it professionally done? Have you done that regularly since moving into the house? We blew two fuses and heating elements on our dryer because we didn't know vent cleaning was a thing. The repair person who fixed the dryer said that he would only finish the repair (replacing the element again) if we called and scheduled a duct cleaning while he was there. He went on to say that we were lucky not to have started a fire and/or burned the house down. We've added a regularly-scheduled dryer duct cleaning to the household maintenance checklist and everything has been fine since.
posted by danielleh at 9:07 PM on November 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by danielleh at 9:07 PM on November 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
Can you check the thermostat?
posted by mefireader at 9:09 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by mefireader at 9:09 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
If the ducts--or more comprehensively, the through air-flow--are still plugged then the heating element may have overheated and burnt out in relatively quick order after you replaced it.
One thing you could try is just completely disconnect the "out" air duct.
When you do that, does rather a strong breeze of air come flowing out of that at pretty much all time? Does the dryer work any better?
posted by flug at 10:21 PM on November 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
One thing you could try is just completely disconnect the "out" air duct.
When you do that, does rather a strong breeze of air come flowing out of that at pretty much all time? Does the dryer work any better?
posted by flug at 10:21 PM on November 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
Try the dryer in every mode it has, and see if it's warming up in other modes. Electronic devices can lose their minds sometimes, to bugs or some breakdown.
Right now, though, I'm learning towards the exhaust clogging resulted in a second burned-out heating element.
Also, can you just reassure us that you empty the lint-trap on a regular basis? Every once in a while you hear about someone who has never heard of that thing...
posted by Sunburnt at 10:59 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
Right now, though, I'm learning towards the exhaust clogging resulted in a second burned-out heating element.
Also, can you just reassure us that you empty the lint-trap on a regular basis? Every once in a while you hear about someone who has never heard of that thing...
posted by Sunburnt at 10:59 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
You mention cleaning out ducts, but my dryer has a filter I need to remove and rinse out every few months. (It's not the lint trap, it's a big-ass filter.) Otherwise, the dryer makes my clothes smell moldy. If your clothes aren't even warm, I wonder if something has already broken though.
posted by AppleTurnover at 11:51 PM on November 25, 2018
posted by AppleTurnover at 11:51 PM on November 25, 2018
my painter painted over the outflow vents of the dryer, and the paint dried when they were closed preventing flow. slim chance for you probably, but something I wouldn't have thought of myself.
posted by iiniisfree at 4:52 AM on November 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by iiniisfree at 4:52 AM on November 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
I checked the ducts, found a whole heck of a lot of lint, and cleaned it out. Unfortunately, that had no effect. So I ordered a new heating element from LG and installed it. At first, that did the trick: the dryer was heating up like normal. But soon after, it went back to cold and damp.
That suggests to me that the original failure was caused by a cascade: airflow is restricted by lint, heating element doesn't see enough airflow and therefore runs hotter than it's designed to, heating element burns out - and that although you found a whole heck of a lot of lint before replacing the heating element, you didn't actually sort the blockage, which made your replacement element fail the same way as the first one.
If that were my dryer I'd be making sure I fully understood the entire airflow pathway from intake to fan to heater to drum to filter to outlet, and could get eyeballs on every part of that pathway, and could remove all dust and lint from all of it. This might or might not involve tearing down the entire machine. Then I'd replace the element again and go from there.
If you've still got the first element (the one you originally replaced) it would be worth using a multimeter to check its resistance against both the replacement element and a new one.
posted by flabdablet at 5:21 AM on November 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
That suggests to me that the original failure was caused by a cascade: airflow is restricted by lint, heating element doesn't see enough airflow and therefore runs hotter than it's designed to, heating element burns out - and that although you found a whole heck of a lot of lint before replacing the heating element, you didn't actually sort the blockage, which made your replacement element fail the same way as the first one.
If that were my dryer I'd be making sure I fully understood the entire airflow pathway from intake to fan to heater to drum to filter to outlet, and could get eyeballs on every part of that pathway, and could remove all dust and lint from all of it. This might or might not involve tearing down the entire machine. Then I'd replace the element again and go from there.
If you've still got the first element (the one you originally replaced) it would be worth using a multimeter to check its resistance against both the replacement element and a new one.
posted by flabdablet at 5:21 AM on November 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
There might be an onboard fuse that needs to be replaced. troubleshooting a dryer or troubleshooting a dryer. repair manual
posted by dlwr300 at 6:07 AM on November 26, 2018
posted by dlwr300 at 6:07 AM on November 26, 2018
Dryer thermostats die, in fact I junked a broken Whirlpool dryer purely because the thermostat died and the spare part wasn't available.
posted by w0mbat at 1:50 PM on November 26, 2018
posted by w0mbat at 1:50 PM on November 26, 2018
Response by poster: Thanks, everyone.
1. The washer is working fine, so I don't think that's a factor.
2. I will check the voltage to make sure it's right.
3. I can double-check the ducts, but I'm pretty sure I got all the lint out. But I could be wrong!
4. The thermostat and thermal fuse are part of the heating element assembly in LG units, so those are new too.
5. The new heating element stopped working within a day of installation, so either it was defective, or there's something else going on.
6. I do empty the lint trap regularly, but cleaning out the ducts was not something I did until recently. I've seriously learned my lesson here.
posted by Cash4Lead at 7:53 AM on November 27, 2018
1. The washer is working fine, so I don't think that's a factor.
2. I will check the voltage to make sure it's right.
3. I can double-check the ducts, but I'm pretty sure I got all the lint out. But I could be wrong!
4. The thermostat and thermal fuse are part of the heating element assembly in LG units, so those are new too.
5. The new heating element stopped working within a day of installation, so either it was defective, or there's something else going on.
6. I do empty the lint trap regularly, but cleaning out the ducts was not something I did until recently. I've seriously learned my lesson here.
posted by Cash4Lead at 7:53 AM on November 27, 2018
Response by poster: After calling around, I've concluded that it's time to buy a new dryer. Thanks, everyone!
posted by Cash4Lead at 12:27 PM on November 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Cash4Lead at 12:27 PM on November 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
« Older Am I repelling guys by being shy? | Ideas for children's art projects that can be made... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 8:51 PM on November 25, 2018 [2 favorites]