The short answer
A dryer on the FDG line that tumbles but leaves the load damp has either lost its heat or lost its airflow, and the two feel different: no heat at all means an electrical or gas-side fault, while warm-but-damp means the moisture cannot leave. On this page the cycle and the supply lead, since a lost supply leg or an air-fluff setting mimics a dead element exactly. Establish which of the two you have before touching anything, because they share almost no causes.
What an owner actually observes on the FDG line
- Drying takes several cycles where it used to take one — Gradual restriction: the duct has been filling with lint for months.
- The machine and the room get warm while the load does not dry — Exhaust escaping into the room instead of outside — a disconnected or split duct.
- NEAR MISS — no heat and the drum will not turn either — Then this is a power or belt fault rather than a heating one, and it starts at the breaker and the drive.
The ranking for the FDG line, likeliest first
- The cycle selected runs cool by design — Ranked first because it is not a fault: air-fluff and delicate settings run with little or no heat, and a machine on the wrong setting behaves exactly like one that has lost its element.
- Half the electrical supply, or the gas, is missing — A double-pole breaker can lose one side, and a gas shut-off can be closed after unrelated work. Both leave a machine that behaves normally apart from the heat.
- The vent run or lint screen is restricted — Lint builds along the duct and at the hood flap. The heat is fine; the moisture simply cannot leave the machine.
- A thermal fuse or cut-out has opened — Last as a part, first as an explanation: it is why the heat stopped, but never why it overheated.
The diagnostic order, and the reason for it
- First — check which cycle is selected — Air-fluff and delicate options run cool by design. Select a normal or high-heat cycle before judging the machine.
- Then — switch the breaker fully off and on, and check the gas shut-off if fitted — An electric dryer with one supply leg missing tumbles and never heats. Re-seating the breaker is the free test for it.
- Only then — clean the lint screen, then disconnect the duct at the machine and run it — Strong warm air at the outlet with the duct off, and weak air at the hood with it on, names the duct as the fault.
- STOP here if the next check needs a panel off or a meter on live terminals — Everything above can be done with nothing dismantled; past it the checks need test equipment.
Read this before any panel comes off
Safety
Unplug the dryer or switch off its breaker before any panel comes off — a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off, and the heater terminals stay live whenever the machine is connected. If yours is a gas model and you smell gas: do not switch anything on or off, leave the building, and call the gas utility or emergency services from outside; do not look for the leak yourself. Never run the machine with the vent disconnected into the room, and never bypass a thermal cut-out to get a load finished.
When it stops being an owner job
Call once the vent is clear, the cycle is right and the supply is proven, because the next steps mean a meter on the thermostats, the fuse and the element — or, on a gas machine, on the igniter and valve coils. On the FDG line, call rather than continue if the rear panel has to come off. Gas work is licensed work: if yours is a gas dryer, nothing beyond the shut-off and the cycle selection is an owner job.
Other faults covered for the FDG line
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
