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🍁 Built for Canadian homes — written to Canadian codes and provincial rules. Not intended for use outside Canada.
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Dryer runs but doesn't heat

A drum that turns with cold air is one of the most common dryer complaints, and the two most likely causes are free to check. One honest note up front: the most common cause — a lint-blocked vent — is also a leading cause of dryer fires, so it's worth ruling out today, not someday.

tuneWhat are you noticing?
Select anything that matches and the checklist below reorders to fit. Not sure? Skip it.
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In Canadian homes, check the vent before anything else. Clothes taking two or three cycles, a hot laundry room, or an outside flap that barely moves all point to a lint-blocked duct making the thermal safety cut the heat. Step outside while the dryer runs: strong, warm airflow holding the flap open is a pass; a limp flap is the tell. This one matters beyond damp towels — lint-blocked vents are a leading cause of dryer fires.

Ranked from real-world failure data. The order updates as you select what you’re noticing above.

Likely causes, in the order to check them

Showing the typical order
Beginner-friendly Doable, with care Safety-critical Call a pro

visibilityHow to check

  1. Run the dryer on heat and step outside to the vent hood. You should feel strong, warm airflow and see the flap held open. A flap that barely lifts is the tell.
  2. Back inside, feel the top of the dryer and the laundry-room air after a cycle — unusually hot points to heat that can't leave.
  3. Pull the dryer forward and check the flexible duct behind it: crushed, kinked, or visibly packed with lint counts as blocked too.
buildNo tools schedule10 min

handymanHow to fix it

warning Why this chore is worth doing todayLint is flammable, and a blocked vent makes heat with nowhere to go — lint-blocked dryer vents are a leading cause of dryer fires. Unplug the dryer before pulling it out and opening the duct, and on a gas model close the gas shutoff and avoid straining the flexible gas connector. If crawling behind the dryer isn't in the cards, duct-cleaning services do the full run for roughly $100–250 — cheap next to what this prevents.

Unplug the dryer (on gas models, close the gas shutoff too), disconnect the duct, and brush the full run — machine outlet to outside hood — with a dryer-vent brush kit; then make it an annual habit.

  1. Unplug the dryer and pull it out; on a gas model, also close the gas shutoff valve behind it (handle crosswise to the pipe is off) and take care not to strain the gas connector.
  2. Disconnect the duct at the machine and work a dryer-vent brush kit through the full run from both ends, vacuuming the lint as it comes. The heaviest packing is usually at elbows and at the outside hood.
  3. Clean the outside hood and confirm the flap swings freely — a stuck or screened-over flap re-clogs fast.
  4. Reconnect with a proper clamp. If the run behind the dryer is plastic or thin foil, replace it with smooth or semi-rigid metal duct — the ribbed plastic kind traps lint, and dryer manufacturers call for metal. Slide the dryer back without crushing the duct, restore power (and gas), and re-test the airflow outside.
schedule60 min savings$20–50
Dryer vent brush kitA rotary brush kit that covers the length of your duct run — most kits extend 10 feet or more

visibilityHow to check

  1. At the panel, find the dryer's double breaker — two joined handles, usually marked 30 A.
  2. Don't trust its looks: a half-tripped 240 V breaker can sit looking almost normal. Flip it fully OFF until it clicks, then fully back ON.
  3. Run the dryer. If the heat is back, a one-off trip happens and you're done. If it trips again, stop resetting — that's a job for a licensed electrician.
buildNo tools schedule5 min

handymanHow to fix it

Reset the double breaker fully off, then on. If heat returns and stays, done — a one-off trip happens. If it trips repeatedly, leave it off and bring in a licensed electrician: repeat trips point to the circuit or the dryer drawing fault current, and a 240-volt dryer circuit isn't a place to experiment.

  1. Push the joined handles fully to OFF — you should feel a definite click — then push them fully to ON.
  2. Run a heat cycle. Heat restored and holding means a one-off trip. Trips again? Leave the breaker off and call a licensed electrician rather than resetting it repeatedly.
schedule5 min savingsusually free

visibilityHow to check

report Unplug it before you open anythingThe panels you're about to remove expose 240-volt connections on an electric dryer. Unplug the machine — don't just stop the cycle — before removing any panel or touching a connector. And know the honest part before you buy a part: a thermal fuse almost never blows on its own. Clean the vent as part of the same job, or the replacement blows too. If either half of that isn't appealing, an appliance tech handles both in one visit.
  1. Unplug the dryer. Not paused, not off — unplugged. On a gas model, close the gas shutoff too.
  2. Remove the rear or lower access panel (model-specific — the model number on the sticker inside the door edge plus a quick search finds yours) and locate the thermal fuse: a small white or black oblong with two wires, on the blower housing or heater box.
  3. Disconnect its two connectors and check across it with a multimeter on continuity. Open (no beep, OL) means blown. Continuity means the fuse is fine — move on to the element on electric models, or the ignition on gas.
buildmultimeterbuildnut driver schedule30 min

handymanHow to fix it

Replace the fuse with the exact part for your model ($10–25), reconnect the two wires — and clean the exhaust vent in the same session, because overheating from a blocked vent is what blows the fuse in the first place.

  1. With the dryer still unplugged, unscrew the old fuse (usually one or two screws), and fit the exact replacement for your model — fuses look alike but have different trip temperatures.
  2. Reconnect the two wires (they're interchangeable on a fuse), and reinstall the panel.
  3. Before you call it done, clean the vent run end to end — a new fuse on a blocked vent is a countdown, not a repair. Then plug in and run a heat cycle.
schedule30 min savings$10–25
Dryer thermal fuseMatch your dryer's model number (sticker inside the door edge) — fuses are model-specific

visibilityHow to check

report Same rule: unplugged, every timeThe element terminals carry 240 volts whenever the dryer runs. Every test on this page happens with the machine unplugged — there is no live testing here, full stop. If any part of this feels like more than you signed up for, element diagnosis and replacement is bread-and-butter work for an appliance tech, typically $150–350 all-in.
  1. With the dryer unplugged, remove the rear panel to reach the heating element housing (location varies by model — check yours by model number).
  2. Disconnect the element leads and meter across the element terminals with a multimeter on ohms: the decisive result is open versus not — an open reading (OL) means a broken element. A healthy coil reads somewhere around 10–50 ohms depending on the model, so trust the open/continuity result over the exact number.
  3. Look as well as measure where you can — a visibly broken, sagging, or grounded-out coil touching the housing tells the same story.
buildmultimeterbuildnut driver schedule30 min

handymanHow to fix it

With the dryer unplugged, remove the rear panel, disconnect the leads, and swap the element — on many models the whole heater housing comes out with two or three screws. Match the part to your model number exactly.

  1. Unplug the dryer and pull it out far enough to remove the rear panel. Photograph the wiring before disconnecting anything.
  2. Disconnect the element leads and any thermostat wires on the heater housing, remove the housing screws, and slide the housing out.
  3. Swap the element into the housing (or swap the whole housing if that's how your part comes), reinstall, and reconnect wire-for-wire against your photo.
  4. Panel back on, plug in, and run a heat cycle. While you're back there anyway, this is the perfect moment to clean the vent run.
schedule60 min savings$40–150
Dryer heating elementMatch your model number exactly — elements and housings vary even within a brand
gavel Check your province first AB: homeowner may do this · BC: homeowner may do this · ON: homeowner may do this · PE: homeowner may do this · QC: homeowner may do this
Repairing a cord-and-plug appliance with the machine unplugged is appliance repair; no fixed wiring is altered. Work on the dryer circuit itself (receptacle, breaker, wiring) is electrical work under provincial rules. REVIEW: confirm no province treats plug-in appliance repair as regulated electrical work.

visibilityWhat you can spot yourself

  1. In a dark laundry room, start a heat cycle and watch through the lower grille or vent slots: on many models you can see the ignitor glow orange within the first minute.
  2. Listen for the sequence: a click, the glow, then the soft whump of the flame lighting. Glow but no flame points at the gas-valve coils; no glow at all points at the ignitor.
  3. Write down what you saw and heard — that observation genuinely shortens the gas fitter's visit.
buildNo tools schedule15 min

verifiedWhy this one goes to a pro

Replacing an ignitor or valve coils means opening a gas appliance's burner assembly, and in every province that's work for a licensed gas fitter. The parts are cheap; the reason the licence exists is everything around them — gas-tight reassembly and proving clean ignition. Your look-and-listen notes are still valuable: hand them to the technician.

gavel Check your province first AB: licensed professionals only · BC: licensed professionals only · ON: licensed professionals only · PE: licensed professionals only · QC: licensed professionals only
Gas appliance repair is reserved to licensed gas fitters across Canada; provincial regulators administer certification.

Your notes travel with the request — what you saw, what you ruled out, when it started — so the pro arrives with a head start instead of a mystery.

sort

Why the list is in this order

We don’t sort by likelihood alone. We sort the way a good, honest tradesperson thinks: rule out the free, safe, common causes first. That’s why the cheap checks outrank the expensive repairs — and why anything dangerous gets a hard stop instead of a pep talk. The order exists to save you money, not to sell you anything.