Tumble dryer not heating
What makes the heat depends entirely on which kind of dryer you own, and the difference decides whether this is a cheap repair or an uneconomic one.
What it usually means
Three sorts of tumble dryer are sold in Britain and they generate heat in two completely different ways, so the first question is which one is in your kitchen. It is written on the rating plate, usually inside the door frame.
A vented or condenser dryer heats with a resistance element, exactly like a kettle or an oven grill. It is a simple, cheap, replaceable part, and it is guarded by thermostats that cut the element out when the air around it gets too hot. That guard is the reason most of these machines stop heating: not a failed element, but a restriction in the airflow which makes the air too hot too quickly, so the protection does its job and takes the heat away while the drum keeps turning. Filters, the condenser block and the vent hose are what restrict it — the page on a dryer that takes hours to finish goes through those in detail, and it is worth reading first, because the cure there and the cure here are the same.
A heat pump dryer has no element to fail. It moves heat rather than making it, using a sealed refrigerant circuit and a compressor, which is why it uses roughly half the electricity. The consequence for this fault is unavoidable: a heat pump machine that is genuinely not heating has a problem in that sealed circuit or its compressor, and that is neither a cheap part nor an owner-serviceable one. Samsung publish two codes that say so directly, one for a compressor overheating and one for refrigerant having leaked out — and on a machine charged with propane, a leak is a reason to ventilate the room rather than to investigate.
Before any of that, rule out two things that are not faults. Every dryer finishes with a cool-down phase, and a load pulled out during it feels cold to the hand while the cycle is entirely normal — Bosch put a message on the display specifically to say so. And the delicate, low-heat and eco programmes run deliberately cooler, so a machine that dries fine on cottons and leaves everything damp on synthetics is doing as it was told.
How to narrow it down
Work through these in order.
Which kind of dryer is it — vented, condenser or heat pump?
Look at the rating plate inside the door. This decides everything else on the page: a vented or condenser machine has an element and thermostats, which are routine parts, while a heat pump machine has a sealed refrigerant circuit whose repair often costs more than the machine is worth. Nothing else you check matters until you know which you have.
Is the drum still turning?
A drum going round with cold air is the classic signature of a thermostat having cut the element out, or of an element that has failed open — the motor and the fan are on their own circuit and carry on regardless. A drum that has stopped as well is a different fault entirely and belongs on the page about a dryer that will not turn.
When did you last clean the lower filter and the condenser?
On condenser and heat pump machines there is a second filter behind a flap low at the front, and behind it a block of fine metal fins that the whole airflow passes through. Blocked, it starves the machine of air and trips the heat protection every cycle. If you have never opened that flap, open it before booking anybody.
On a vented machine, where does the hose go?
Follow it. A hose crushed behind the machine, kinked round a corner, blocked with lint at the wall vent or run uphill for several metres will strangle the airflow and cut the heat out. Manufacturers publish maximum lengths and bend counts for exactly this reason, and a hose disconnected inside a cupboard heats the cupboard rather than drying the washing.
Did you take the washing out during the cool-down?
The last several minutes of a cycle are deliberately unheated so the load is not put away hot and creased, and Bosch display a message during it to make that clear. Cold clothes at the end of a cycle that dried them properly are not a fault. Damp ones at the end of a cycle that ran its full time are.
Which programme was it on?
Delicates, synthetics, wool and eco settings all run at lower temperatures on purpose, and some machines drop the temperature further on a small load. A machine that dries a cottons load and not a delicates one has told you it is working; a machine that dries nothing on any programme has not.
Is there a code, and can you smell anything hot?
Look the code up: the heating and airflow codes in this category are well documented and they distinguish a blockage from a component. And stop using it if you can smell burning or scorching, because restricted airflow, a heating element and accumulated dry lint in one cabinet is the combination behind dryer fires.
Codes commonly shown with this
- E60AEGThe dryer is not heating. AEG’s own page for this code is circular — it defines E60 by telling you the machine displays E60 — so here is what it actually covers.Get it checked
- HCSamsungThe compressor is overheating. Samsung’s website tells you to get an electrician to check the heating element — your machine does not have one, and their own manual says clean the heat exchanger.Get it checked
- F4CandyCandy word this one as "Abnormal heating" and give no owner check at all. On a dryer that is the code least worth ignoring.Stop — call an engineer
- F L tBekoThe only alphanumeric message a Beko dryer shows. It means the filters need attention, and Beko give five things to check — including two most owners do not know exist.Get it checked
- E01BoschA blockage in the filter or heat exchanger. Bosch publish an eleven-step fix for it that most of their current machines cannot accept.Get it checked
- F1LGThe drum temperature has risen suddenly, and LG say unplug it and call. One LG manual also assigns this same code to a compressor failure, which is a documentation error worth knowing about.Stop — call an engineer
When it is urgent
Take care
What it costs
Typical repair cost
£0–£260
Typical UK prices including parts and labour, updated September 2026. Your quote may differ.
Get an engineer to look at this
We do not pass enquiries to a repair firm, so there is no form here. When you book a qualified appliance engineer, tell them the make, the model and the exact code or message on the display, and ask whether they carry parts for this make — that is what turns one visit into a repair rather than a quote.
Technical review
Not reviewed by an engineer
No engineer has read this page. Severity follows what the manufacturer publishes, and we would rather tell you that than let a byline imply a sign-off.