Clothes dryer question

[hickslawns]

Our dryer hasn't been drying so well. Running loads twice to get them dry. I checked the vent and found a hole in it but no apparent blockage of lent. I did find a nice pile of lent outside the hole caked to the basement wall. So I cleaned it out. I patched the hole. I duct taped it tight.

Curious if a leaky vent will cause this? Or do I possibly have a bunch of lent I need to clean out of the dryer, as in disassemble and give it a good cleaning. Or. . .I guess they do have heating elements, but I have never messed with any in my years of owning a clothes dryer. Any seasoned clothes dryer repair veterans out there?

 

["J"]

Probably should do a partial disassembly of the dryer. Just too be on the safe side. If you start the disassembly and don’t see anything then button it up and the hole in the duct was probably the culprit.
We had an issue and the vent had a bad dip in it in the crawl space and trapped the lint and created a pool of water.

 

[Gern186]

The thermostat could be bad along with the heating coils. I've replaced those before on a previous dryer we had. Not too bad of a job if you watch YouTube video of someone doing it. How old is the dryer? Good chance the coils that heat up are in bad shape and need replaced.

 

[Quantum673]

Hole in the vent pipe shouldn’t matter. Lent blockage somewhere, heating elements going bad, thermostat going bad, or the heat selector switch is bad. Those are my guesses. Full disclosure though. I know nothing about dryers other than turning them on.

 

[Jamie]

Run the dryer empty and check the air flow at the vent end to see if the air is hot and of the proper volume coming out. Cold air means you probably have a bad thermostat, selector switch or heating element. Low air flow means you might have a blockage

 

[Fletch]

Hole in vent hose should have nothing to do with it.... I'm betting lint buildup blockage in vent pipe, hose whatever you want to call it... Disconnect it at dryer then use one of your leaf blowers to blow it out...If there's a screen or something on end to keep critters out take it off... I blow mine out every fall.... If that doesn't work, then address dryer...

 

[Outdoorsfellar]

I don't know how many times I had to work on ours. Sounds like the thermostat. Had the same problem one time or two

 

[Big_Holla]

Other than cleaning your vents, to the outside of the house as well as the back of the dryer, you probably would be best to head to YouTube and type in your make and model number and "dryer not drying/heating".

 

[RedCloud]

Had this problem a couple times over the years. Once was the heating Element and the 2nd time it was the heating limit switch.

Hole in the duct wouldn't be the problem. Only thing that will do is allow lent/ heat to escape. Blockage in the lent collection could cause it to trip the limit switch and cause it to go bad over time.

I took the back of my dryer apart and while fixing the broken part I cleaned the entire lent/heat vent internal areas as well as the pipe going outside. Figured I was already in there so why not lol.