The short answer
An AEG DHP dryer that tumbles without heat has usually lost one supply leg or tripped a protective device, and both trace back to airflow. Tumbling and heating are separately powered on most dryers, which is why a machine can turn perfectly and dry nothing. The split is useful: it means the motor circuit is intact and the fault is confined to the heat side. The table below lists one model for this family, so there is no second configuration to rule out before you begin.
What still works
- The drum turns normally and the air stays cold — The motor side is fine, so the fault is on the heat side alone.
- Heat that worked yesterday and is entirely gone today — A sudden and total loss is the signature of a thermal device having opened.
- Some warmth, but nowhere near enough — Partial heat points at restricted airflow or a partly failed element rather than a clean break.
- It ran hot and then stopped heating — That sequence is a protective device doing its job, and the cause is upstream of it.
- NEAR MISS — no heat and no tumble either — A power or start fault; the will-not-start page for this family is the right one.
Why the heat has gone, most likely first on the DHP line
- The heating element open, or gas ignition failing — The part everyone blames first, and it does fail — but it fails after the devices above have been ruled out, not before them. On the DHP family this holds without qualification, because the family covers one configuration rather than a spread of them.
- A thermal cut-out or thermal fuse that has opened — It is the designed response to overheating, and overheating is what a lint-loaded duct produces — so this part fails as a consequence rather than as a cause.
- A restricted exhaust cutting the heat — The duct is the part of the system nobody looks at, it loads gradually, and it explains both the total loss of heat and the machine that heats and then stops.
- Thermostats and the cycling control — A cycling thermostat failed open gives no heat at all and is indistinguishable from an element fault from the front, which is why both sit behind the same stopping point.
The order to work through on these models
- Stop here — testing an element needs the machine isolated and a meter — Where the owner checks end.
- Clear the lint filter and the entire duct run before anything else — Fitting a replacement without clearing the duct simply opens the next one.
- Disconnect the duct and run the machine briefly with the exhaust directed safely — Either the heat returns immediately or airflow is ruled out.
Models in the DHP family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| DHP240 | aeg:dryer:dhp |
Isolate it first
Safety
Isolate the machine at its breaker, or draw the plug, before any panel is disturbed — stored charge can remain in a capacitor once the supply is gone. Give the cabinet time to cool: drum skin, heater housing and duct all stay hot well past the end of a programme. The door switch stays exactly as the factory wired it, since it removes power from heater and motor the instant the door opens. A dryer must never be run venting into the room, nor with its duct damaged. On a gas machine, a smell of gas means touching no switch at all: leave the building, then call the gas utility from outside.
When to call a technician
Call a technician once the duct is clear, the supply is proven and the machine still will not heat, because everything left needs the cabinet open and a meter on an isolated circuit. Call the same day if there is a scorched smell, if the cabinet has been running hot, or if the machine operates its protective device when the heat should come on. A dryer that has been overheating enough to open a thermal device has a lint problem somewhere, and that is worth finding before the part is replaced.
Other problems covered for this family
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
