Frigidaire dryers are popular due to their performance and their reliability. However, as reliable as they are, they do have issues from time to time. One of them is the dryer may not be heating well.
Why is your Frigidaire dryer not heating? Simple issues such as overloading, poor air supply, or a clogged dryer vent may cause this issue. More serious reasons may include blown thermal fuse, faulty heating element, faulty heater relay, or gas igniter.
According to appliance experts, most of these issues can be fixed by yourself, provided you have the right tools and parts.
Consider getting the KingTool 325-piece Home Repair Kit. It comes with 325 pieces of home tools that may make your diagnosing and repair work easier to execute. Get yours delivered to you by clicking here.
How Does A Dryer Work?
A dryer uses a steady flow of hot air and tumbling wet clothes to dry them. The heater makes heat, and a fan inside the dryer moves that heat around. The tumbler turns, which lets the clothes move around and be exposed to the hot air. As the clothes move, the hot air pulls the moisture out.
| Stage | Process |
| Intake | The intake fan sucks in air from outsideAir flows in, heated up by the heating element. Air travels into the dryer, removing moisture from the clothing. |
| Exhaust | The exhaust fan sucks moist air from the dryer drumAir is filtered through a lint filterHot, moist air leaves the dryer |
Before you can safely and confidently diagnose issues with your dryer, perhaps it is more useful to first learn how a dryer works.
In essence, a dryer works by orchestrating a symphony of three elements, heat, tumbling, and airflow.
Heat: Heat is the most important part of a dryer. Without it, the dryer would not work well at all. Most dryers have a heating element inside that gives off heat. This heat can warm the air as it is pulled through the dryer.
Tumbling: Tumbling is the action that helps the drying process to go faster. As the tumbler turns, the baffles inside help to move your clothes and expose more of its surface. The exposed area could be hit with hot, dry air, which would take away the moisture. Repetition of this process dries the clothing.
Airflow: Airflow helps get new, hot air into the tumbler and removes the moist, humid air in your clothes. Airflow is performed by two fans, intake and exhaust fans.
The intake fan pulls air from the outside into the heating element, where it gets hot, and then sends the hot air into the tumbler. The exhaust fan pulls the hot, moist air from the dryer that is full of moisture from the clothes and sends it outside.
This is how the dryer works, from start to finish:
- When you turn on the switch, the tumbler starts to turn. Usually, the tumbler goes in one direction for about 30 seconds before stopping and going in the opposite direction. This keeps your clothes from getting clumped up.
- When the intake fan turns, it pulls cold air from outside into the dryer.
- After going around the heating element, the cold air becomes hot, dry air.
- The hot, dry air is introduced into the tumbler.
- The hot air helps to draw out moisture from the clothing.
- At the same time, the exhaust fan is also operating, pulling hot, moist air out of the tumbler.
- When the hot, damp air comes out of the dryer, it goes through a lint filter, which catches dust and bits of fluff.
- The air keeps moving, going through a vent hose and leaving the dryer. Some new dryers may use a device called a condenser to pull moisture out of the air and then recycle the heat to save energy.
Why Is My Frigidaire Dryer Not Heating?
Suppose your Frigidaire dryer is not heating up. In that case, the issue may be as simple as overloading, clogged dryer vent, or poor air supply. More technical issues may involve things such as a blown thermal fuse. A faulty heating element, heater relay, or gas igniter may also be the reason.
| Systems | Likely Reason |
| Operational | – Overloading – Poor Air Supply – Clogged Dryer Vent |
| System | – Blown Thermal Fuse – Faulty Heating Element |
Generally, when your Frigidaire dryer is not heating up, the issues may be as simple as overloading or as serious as a faulty part. The key is to diagnose it one by one.
Overloading: This may just be the culprit. Many of us are in a rush, which sometimes makes us overzealous, and we try to load more clothes into the dryer. When you overload the dryer, what happens is that there is not enough space to circulate air inside the dryer.
When the hot air cannot move, the temperature goes up faster, causing the controls in the dryer to stop the power supply to the heating element. This eventually stops hot air, and as a result, your dryer does not heat up.
Poor Air Supply: Another possible issue is poor air supply. At times, in the quest to free up space, we place our dryer in the corner of the laundry space. We sometimes like to also have cabinets built around the dryer.
This may cause the dryer to not be able to get enough air, and in the case of a gas-based dryer, the flame may burn out, causing it to not generate heat.
Clogged Dryer Vent: Another common reason why your dryer is not heating up. As hot and humid air is sucked out from the dryer, it passes through the vent, where the lint filter catches the fluff or anything floating in the air.
When this is clogged, air circulation becomes slower, meaning the hot air cannot be cycled out well. Over time, this may reduce the efficiency of your dryer, making it not heat up well. Your garments may also take longer to dry as a result.
Blown Thermal Fuse: The thermal fuse inside your dryer primarily serves as a safety device. If the temperature inside the dryer increases over the limit, it will blow and kill off the dryer’s operation. This is to protect the dryer from becoming too hot.
A blown thermal fuse is a rather common occurrence with dryers, including those from Frigidaire. This is because many simply like to overload their clothes into the dryer or don’t clean their dryer vent. These cause the internal temperature to go up, resulting in the fuse blowing up.
Faulty Heating Element: The heating element is probably the hardest working part of your dryer, as it produces high heat throughout the drying process. This also means that the constant cycle of heating and cooling may eventually wear out the heating element over time. If your Frigidaire dryer is not heating up, this is one likely reason.
How To Fix Frigidaire Dryer Not Heating?
Fixing your frigidaire heater starts with performing diagnostic work, such as visually inspecting the dryer or attempting low-difficulty solutions. You may use a multimeter to confirm some of the parts that may be faulty. You then replace the part before testing the dryer to ensure it heats up well again.
| Possible Fault | How To Diagnose & Fix |
| Overloading | – Operate with 3-5 pieces of clothing, and observe if the dryer heats up. – Operate again with half the usual load, and observe if the dry heats up. – Overload the dryer and run it again. – If the problem is overloading, the dryer should not be heating up now. |
| Poor Air Supply | – Remove objects around the dryer. – Operate the dryer as usual. – If this is the problem, the dryer should work well now. |
| Clogged Dryer Vent | – Open the dryer door. – Observe if the vent is clogged. Clean up if necessary. – If this is the problem, the dryer should work well now. |
| Blown Thermal Fuse | – Open the back or bottom panel – Remove the fuse – Check for continuity with a multimeter – If the reading is not 0 ohm, consider replacing it. |
| Faulty Heating Element | – Open the back or bottom panel. – Remove any wire connections to the heating element. – Check for continuity with a multimeterI – f the reading is not 0 ohm, consider replacing it. |
You will need to partially disassemble the dryer to perform the diagnostic work. You will also need to check the condition of the suspect parts. This means you need to have some tools ready.
We recommend that you get for yourself the KingTool 325-piece Home Repair Kit, as well as a multimeter.
Overloading
To test for overloading:
- Start running your dryer with only 3-5 pieces of wet clothing.
- Observe if the dryer seems to be heating up better.
- If it is, then try loading more wet clothes into the dryer.
- Again, observe if the dryer still performs well.
- For one last confirmation, now overload the dryer with more wet clothes.
- If the issue is purely from overloading, your dryer should not be heating up well this time.
Suppose your experiment shows the same result as above. In that case, you may want to load less clothing into your dryer next time and check for the applicable load limit from your user guide.
Poor Air Supply
To diagnose and determine if your dryer is suffering from the poor air supply, start by:
- Removing things around the dryer that may be blocking the air. It could be the cabinetry, plants, shelves, or many other items.
- Now power up your dryer with your usual load of clothing.
- If the air supply is indeed the issue, the dryer should not have enough air and heat up well.
If the air supply is the issue, you may need to figure out a way to get more air into the dryer, perhaps by connecting the air intake vent with a hose. You can also just move the dryer to an open place.
Clogged Dryer Vent
To diagnose for clogged dryer vent:
- Locate your dryer vent. Your user guide should have the information where it is in your Frigidaire dryer.
- Observe if there is a thick layer of lint. If yes, remove the lint using a brush or a vacuum cleaner.
- Now, load your usual clothes, and power up your dryer.
- If the issue is from the clogged vent, your dryer should be heating up well after cleaning it.
Blown Thermal Fuse
Diagnosing a blown thermal fuse will require you to partly disassemble your Frigidaire dryer. Ensure you have your toolbox and multimeter ready and have your user guide on standby if you need to refer to it.
- Turn off the power switch. Disconnect the plug from the source.
- Pull out the dryer so that you can access the rear panel. Depending on your Frigidaire dryer model, you need to remove the rear or the bottom panel to access the thermal fuse. Your user manual should have the information.
- Remove the thermal fuse from the dryer. You may pull it out from the holder with your hands.
- Use a multimeter to check if the fuse is in working order. Switch the multimeter setting to test for ‘continuity.’
- Take the multimeter’s probes and place them at both ends of the fuse.
- If the multimeter reads 0 ohms, then the fuse is working correctly.
- If there is no reading, the fuse may be faulty, and it’s best to replace it.
Faulty Heating Element
Similar to a thermal fuse, diagnosing a blown thermal fuse will require you to partly disassemble your Frigidaire dryer. Ensure you have your toolbox and multimeter ready and have your user guide on standby.
To check for faulty heating elements:
- Turn off the power switch. Disconnect the power plug from the source.
- Pull out the dryer so that you can access the rear panel.
- Depending on your Frigidaire dryer model, you need to remove the rear or the bottom panel to access the heating element. Your user manual should have the information.
- Locate the heating element. They should look like thick, coiled wires.
- Observe the heating element. If the coils are detached or broken, it needs replacement.
- You may also want to check for the element’s continuity. Start by removing all the wires connecting to the heating element’s terminals.
- Take the multimeter’s probes and place them at both terminals.
- If the multimeter reads 0 ohms, then the heating element is working correctly.
- If there is no reading, the heating element may be faulty, and it’s best to replace it.
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