Tumble dryer blowing cold air and not heating? What to check
A tumble dryer that hums away and tumbles the clothes but blows cold, leaving everything damp at the end, has stopped heating. We attended 221 tumble dryers that weren't heating in the last 12 months. The good part is that blocked airflow, which you can often sort yourself, is worth ruling out first.
Start with the airflow
A tumble dryer makes heat, and it needs air moving freely to carry that heat away. Block the airflow and the machine overheats, which trips a safety cut-out that shuts the heat off but leaves the motor running. The result is a drum full of cold air. That blocked airflow is the thing to check first.
Clean the lint filter. You should do it every load, but really clear it now, including the fluff down in the housing you can't see. Our guide on cleaning the lint filter covers it.
On a condenser dryer, pull the condenser unit out and rinse it, and empty the water container. A clogged condenser chokes the airflow just like a blocked filter. Our guide on cleaning the condenser shows how it comes out.
On a vented dryer, check the hose and the outside vent aren't crushed or packed with lint.
Once it's all clear, let the machine cool down for an hour and try again. Some cut-outs reset themselves once the dryer has cooled.
Check you're not on an air cycle
Worth thirty seconds. Most dryers have an airing or cool-tumble setting that runs with no heat on purpose, and it's easy to knock onto one. Make sure you're on a proper heated programme.
When it's a fault
Cleaned everything, cooled it down, right programme, and still cold. Now it's a heating fault. The heater assembly is the part our engineers replace most on tumble dryers, and it's the usual answer. A thermal cut-out or thermostat that's blown and won't reset, often after the airflow has been blocked for a while, is the other common one.
Heat pump dryers work differently. They heat with a sealed refrigeration system rather than an element, so no heat there points at the compressor or a refrigerant fault. On an older heat pump machine that's often not worth repairing, and we'll tell you straight rather than sell you a repair that doesn't make sense.
What a repair costs
Going on our own jobs, customers typically paid £98 to £199 in total for this repair, including parts and VAT (from 86 repairs). You'll have a fixed price before any work starts.
Book a tumble dryer repair
If the filter and condenser are clear and it's still blowing cold, book a tumble dryer repair or find your local tumble dryer engineer.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my tumble dryer blowing cold air?
Most often a blocked lint filter or condenser has made it overheat and trip a safety cut-out, which stops the heat but keeps the drum turning. Clean the filter and condenser and let it cool. If it's still cold, the heater or a thermostat has likely failed.
Why is my tumble dryer not heating but still running?
The motor and the heater are separate, so the drum can keep turning while the heating has failed or been cut off. A blocked airflow tripping the cut-out is the common cause, then a failed heater assembly or thermostat.
Can I fix a tumble dryer that won't heat myself?
The airflow side, yes: clean the filter, condenser and vent, and let it cool so a tripped cut-out can reset. Replacing a heater or thermostat means opening the machine and is a job for an engineer.
How much does it cost to fix?
Customers typically paid £98 to £199 in total for this fault, including parts and VAT (from 86 repairs). We confirm a fixed price before any work starts. On an older heat pump dryer a sealed-system fault may not be worth repairing, and we'll tell you before you spend anything.
What our engineers found on 221 jobs
The figures below come from NAC's own repair records: 221 tumble dryer jobs our engineers attended for this fault, what they found, what fixed it and what it typically cost.
When a tumble dryer turns and blows air but the drum stays cold, the cause our engineers find most often is a failed heating element. The element can break down inside so that power reaches it but it no longer gets warm, and sometimes the small safety switch built into the element assembly has failed or burned away, which stops the heat altogether. Now and then the element has simply melted down.
To find the fault, an engineer first carries out electrical safety checks, then confirms that power is reaching the heater and tests the element itself to see whether it has broken or is leaking current. They also check that the filters are clean and that air can flow freely through the dryer, so they can be sure the element is the real culprit. If an error code is showing on the display, that can help point them in the right direction.
The repair is to fit a new heating element and then run the dryer on a timed cycle to make sure it heats properly again. The right element often has to be ordered for your model and fitted at a second visit. In the meantime the engineer may leave the dryer unplugged and advise you not to use it.
Written by our engineers from these jobs.
- Jobs attended
- 221
- Confirmed repairs
- 89
- This is not a success rate. Jobs inside their 60-day window, jobs still being classified, jobs held for review and visits that didn't end in a repair aren't counted.
- Fixed at the first appointment
- 39%
- about 2 in 5 of our repairs
- Typical total paid by customers
- £98 to £199
- including parts and VAT, from 86 repairs
What's usually behind it
The causes our engineers found and fixed, as a share of our 89 confirmed repairs for this fault.
-
Failed heating element: about 1 in 3 of our repairs, from 30 jobs.
34%
We only list causes with enough repairs behind them, so the shares won't add up to 100%.
Error codes we see with this fault
- Hoover E21: Heating fault, often a thermal cut-out trip caused by a blocked condenser.
- Indesit F04: Heater fault, such as an open circuit heating element.
- Miele F2: Temperature sensor or thermal cut-out fault.
- Samsung HC: Heat pump fault, often linked to blocked airflow or the heat exchanger not reaching temperature.
About the price. £98 to £199 is the typical total paid by customers, including parts and VAT: the middle half of what customers paid on 86 of these repairs. Repairs paid for by manufacturers and insurers aren't counted, because that work is charged at contract rates. It's a guide, not a quote. Your engineer confirms a fixed price before any work starts.
- Tumble dryer repair
- Tumble dryers
- Not heating
- Heating element
- Airflow
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