Our clothes dryer stopped heating a couple days ago.  A few years ago, I would have just called a repairman, but for some reason, I’ve been feeling very handy lately, so I decided to tackle it myself.  The first place I went to learn how to fix a dryer was, of course, the Internet.  I would have never even attempted a do-it-yourself repair like this before the Internet was around.  I can’t thank Al Gore enough for inventing it.

I had assumed the dryer just needed a new heating element, but when I got online, found that the lack of heat could be due to a variety of different things.  The first thing to check is the exhaust vent - that small vent duct that goes from your dryer to the outside of your house.  If that vent is not clear and allowing good airflow from the dryer to the outside, your clothes will not dry, or will take a long time to dry.  So if your dryer usually takes two cycles to dry clothes, you should probably clean out your dryer vent.  It’s recommended that it be cleaned out about every 2 years.  We’ve been in our house for over 10 years and have never cleaned it out.  Lint collects in there over time, clogging the vent, kind of like cholesterol in arteries.  I bought a dryer vent cleaning kit at Lowe’s for about $35 and cleaned our vent.

It still didn’t heat, so I figured out how to remove the heating element, and took it to CA Wilson.  They tested it, and said it worked.  So the other thing it could be is the thermostats - there are 2 of them.  I removed both of them and took them in to CA Wilson, and one of them was dead.  Of course, they only sell them in a pair for $40, so I have to buy one I don’t need.

I put everything back together, and miraculously, it worked.  This is what it’s supposed to look like when it’s heating.  So I ended up spending about $75 getting it working.  I’m sure that’s a lot cheaper than it would have been to call a repairman.  Lastly, when I was inside the dryer, I noticed there were piles of lint everywhere, including collecting on the can that hold the heating element.  That is very dangerous and can easily start a fire.  So that’s also recommend to clean out the inside of the dryer about every 2 years.