- “Air first: the screen, the duct, and the vent outside”
- “LG measures its own duct restriction and reports it as d80, d90 or d95”
- “A ventless heat pump machine has no duct — for those it is the condenser and the water”
Symptom
LG dryer not drying
This is an air problem far more often than a heat problem, and the two feel identical from the laundry room. A dryer works by carrying moisture out; if the air cannot leave, the machine heats a drum full of humid air and the clothes stay wet no matter how long it runs.
- From $95 diagnostic, credited to the repair
- 59 cities and neighborhoods covered
- OEM parts available on order
- In writing the price, before anything is opened
Four ordinary causes
What this usually turns out to be
Cheapest and commonest first, which is also the order we check them in. They sit hundreds of dollars apart, and only the unit settles which one is yours.
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A blocked duct or vent hood
The leading cause on a vented machine in this city, and LG measures it: d80, d90 and d95 are increasing degrees of blocked.
Dryer vent cleaning from $145 -
The moisture sensor
Two strips inside the drum front, filmed over by fabric softener. The machine then thinks the load is dry.
Dryer moisture sensor service from $115 -
A full condenser or water container
Ventless machines only. drn or OE on the display.
Heat pump dryer service from $225 -
Partial heat
One half of a double breaker, or a gas igniter lighting late. The drum turns and the heat is thin.
Dryer heating element replacement from $195
In five minutes
Before you call anybody
None of it needs tools, and all of it makes the visit shorter.
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01
Clean the lint screen and its slot
Take the screen out and vacuum the housing it sits in. Both, not just the screen.
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02
Feel the outside vent while it runs
Strong warm airflow is right. A trickle is the diagnosis.
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03
Run a timed cycle rather than an auto one
If a timed cycle dries and an auto cycle does not, that is the moisture sensor and nothing else.
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04
On a ventless machine, empty the water and clean the condenser
Both are designed to be done by the owner and both stop the machine when neglected.
How it shows up
What people describe when they call
A shortcut
Narrow it down before anybody arrives
A description of the behaviour leaves a few possible causes. A code names the subsystem before anybody opens anything, which is why it is worth photographing before it clears.
In more detail
About LG dryer not drying
Fifteen minutes outside the house
Clean the lint screen, including the slot it sits in. Then go outside and find the vent hood. Run the dryer and hold your hand to it: there should be a strong warm flow. If there is barely anything, the duct is blocked and that is the whole call. The flap corrodes half open, lint packs behind it, and no amount of work inside the machine will fix it.
What it usually means, by the kind of LG appliance
LG sells one appliance in several forms — five shapes of washer, three kinds of dryer, four fuels of range — and the same behavior points at different things on each of them. A built-in side-by-side and an integrated column are not the same service situation, and a dual-fuel range and an induction range fail in different halves.
- Vented electric — The duct and the outside vent are the first two suspects and usually the answer.
- Vented gas — Same air path, plus an igniter that may be lighting late and giving less heat than the cycle expects.
- Ventless heat pump — No duct at all. The equivalents are the condenser block, the lint filters and the water container or drain.
What a dryer actually does
It does not evaporate water so much as carry it away. Heated air picks up moisture from the load and leaves, taking the water with it; new air comes in behind. Everything about drying performance depends on that flow, which is why a restricted duct produces a machine that runs hot, runs long and dries nothing. It is also why the fix is so often outside the house rather than inside the machine.
The number LG gives you
Most makes leave you to guess about the duct. LG measures the restriction and puts a number on the display — d80, d90, d95 — with higher meaning worse. That is a genuinely useful piece of engineering and it is worth acting on the first time you see it, because a restricted dryer is not only a slow dryer. It is a dryer running hotter than it was designed to, with lint packed into the run, and that is how laundry fires start.
This article is based on:
- Official manufacturer documentation
- Internal repair procedures
- Technician repair history
- Company quality standards
Before you book
Questions about LG dryer not drying
It dries eventually if I run it twice.
Then it is restricted rather than broken, and the electricity that second cycle costs will pay for a vent clean several times over in a year. It is also worth doing before it becomes the version that does not dry at all.
The machine is very hot to the touch.
That is a symptom to take seriously. A dryer that cannot move air heats the cabinet instead of the load, and the thermal cutoff exists to stop that becoming dangerous. Stop using it, clear the duct, and if it still runs hot have it looked at.
Where we do it
Across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach
Same terms everywhere we go: an on-site diagnostic first, the price agreed in writing, and the exact figure confirmed once we have seen the unit.
Neighborhoods people ask for by name