Electric Dryer Not Heating: 6 Causes, Ranked
Heating Element
- 32.5%of repair attention
- —no confirmed part
- 45 minto check
- Multimeter neededDIY
No continuity = the element is open — you've found your problem.
Check yours now ↓Two checks cost nothing — do those first.
⚠ Unplug the machine before opening it. On a 240V dryer that means pulling the cord, not just switching it off at the panel.
Two checks that cost nothing
- Check the vent, not the dryer Pull the machine out and disconnect the duct. Run the dryer for a minute — if airflow out of the wall is weak, the vent is blocked. A blocked vent is the most common reason a dryer stops heating, and it's also what kills thermal fuses, so replacing the fuse without clearing the vent just blows the new one.
- Confirm it's a heat problem, not a cycle problem Does the drum turn and the timer advance, with the clothes just coming out cold and damp? Then it's heat. If the drum won't turn at all, that's a different fault.
Check each cause, easiest first
Ordered by how hard each is to check, not by how likely it is — so the cheap answers get ruled out before you open anything. The badge on each row shows where the smart money is. Percentages are share of repair-video attention, not a measured failure rate.
blower wheel#5 most-watched · 5.8% of repair videos —
How to check. With the machine unplugged, reach in and spin the blower wheel by hand. Listen for scraping and feel for wobble or looseness where it mounts to the motor shaft, and check for lint packed around it.
⚡ This one check needs the appliance plugged IN and running — the rest do not. Keep hands clear of the panel, touch nothing inside while it is live, and unplug again before replacing anything.
A cracked hub or debris caught in the fins is a common source of a rattling or grinding noise, and a wheel that's loose on the shaft gets worse over time, not better. A packed wheel also restricts airflow, which can affect heat as well as noise.
We are not naming a part here. This page does not know your brand, and the part that fits a Whirlpool will not fit an LG. The diagnosis, the free checks and the order to work through them are the same on any machine — pick your brand below and we will name the exact part and what it costs.
heating element#1 most-watched · 32.5% of repair videos —
How to check. Look at the coil through the housing — a visible break or a burnt spot is a definite fail. Otherwise test continuity across its terminals.
No continuity = the element is open — you've found your problem.
We are not naming a part here. This page does not know your brand, and the part that fits a Whirlpool will not fit an LG. The diagnosis, the free checks and the order to work through them are the same on any machine — pick your brand below and we will name the exact part and what it costs.
thermal fuse#2 most-watched · 32.2% of repair videos —
How to check. Test continuity across the fuse near the blower or exhaust duct.
No continuity = blown. This is a one-shot safety device — it blew for a reason, and that reason is nearly always a blocked vent.
We are not naming a part here. This page does not know your brand, and the part that fits a Whirlpool will not fit an LG. The diagnosis, the free checks and the order to work through them are the same on any machine — pick your brand below and we will name the exact part and what it costs.
high-limit thermostat#3 most-watched · 17.3% of repair videos —
How to check. Test continuity across the thermostat on the blower housing.
No continuity = failed. Note it usually fails *because* of restricted airflow, so clear the vent too or it will fail again.
We are not naming a part here. This page does not know your brand, and the part that fits a Whirlpool will not fit an LG. The diagnosis, the free checks and the order to work through them are the same on any machine — pick your brand below and we will name the exact part and what it costs.
moisture sensor#4 most-watched · 7.8% of repair videos —
How to check. Test this component per the video below before buying anything.
Replace only if it tests bad.
We are not naming a part here. This page does not know your brand, and the part that fits a Whirlpool will not fit an LG. The diagnosis, the free checks and the order to work through them are the same on any machine — pick your brand below and we will name the exact part and what it costs.
thermistor#6 most-watched · 4.5% of repair videos —
How to check. Test resistance and compare against the value in the machine's tech sheet.
Out of range = the control is being told the wrong temperature.
We are not naming a part here. This page does not know your brand, and the part that fits a Whirlpool will not fit an LG. The diagnosis, the free checks and the order to work through them are the same on any machine — pick your brand below and we will name the exact part and what it costs.
Is it worth fixing at all?
Most pages answer this with the “50% rule” — spend no more than half a replacement's price. We went looking for the origin of that number and could not find one: it is widely credited to ENERGY STAR, whose actual published guidance is an age-and-condition checklist with no percentage in it. We use your machine's own measured running cost instead. We hold it for 0 Any brand dryer models.
LG DLEX4000B607.0 kWh/yr · $114.30/yr to run — get the verdict →We rank every dryer we hold certification data for within its own size and configuration class — so you are comparing machines that would actually fit the same space. See the dryer rankings →
When to stop and call someone
Leave the appliance alone, ventilate, and call the gas utility. Nothing on this page is worth doing around a suspected leak.
Compressor and refrigerant repairs need EPA certification — that is a legal requirement, not a difficulty rating. A service call runs roughly $75–$150 before parts, so read the repair-or-replace maths above before booking.
Common questions
Share of repair-video views for this symptom across 396 videos. The walkthroughs shown on this page come from AppliancePartsPros, PartSelect and RepairClinic.com. It measures what people watch. That correlates with what fails, but video age, channel size and search visibility all influence it, so we publish it as attention and never as a failure rate. Each cause shows the video count and total views behind its percentage.
We only show a part when it comes from a repair on a machine in the same Any brand family. Where we have no family-matched part we say so rather than substitute another brand's. For parts confirmed on one exact machine, use the model page above.
Usually yes for simple mechanical parts like belts, fuses and thermostats; less reliably for control boards and sensors, where tolerances and firmware matter. Every listing is labelled.