One of the most common faults that Indesit tumble dryers develop is when they stop heating up during the drying cycle.
We will be going through all of the reasons your Indesit dryer is not heating up and what you can do to fix them.
Before you go ahead and start to investigate or try to fix your dryer you should always isolate it from the electrical supply so that you can work safely.
This is what you should do if your Indesit dryer is not heating up:
Make sure the drum is turning
If your dryer has not been drying the clothes recently then you might think that it is not heating up but in fact, the drum might not be turning.
When the drum fails to turn the clothes won’t dry properly and eventually the thermostats will be triggered which turns the heating element off.
If your dryer is failing to produce heat, then the first thing you should do is make sure that the drum is turning.
If you find that the drum has stopped turning, then it might be because of one of the following:
- The belt has snapped – This can be diagnosed by taking the lid off and looking for the belt on the top of the drum
- The capacitor has failed, and the motor is no longer receiving power
- The motor has failed and is not turning the pulley wheel which turns the belt
- The pulley wheel has snapped, and the belt has come off of its tracks
If the drum is turning and your dryer is not heating up, then you should move on to looking at the thermostats and heating element
Clean out the condenser
Similar to when the drum stops turning, when the condenser gets blocked up with lint the dryer will fail to dry the clothes.
This problem is specific to condenser tumble dryers so if you have a vented tumble dryer then you should move on to the next probable cause.
This can also lead to the thermostats tripping and stopping the heating element from heating up.
One of the main reasons why a heating element or the thermostat will fail on an Indesit tumble dryer is because there is a blockage which is causing the warm air to not be exhausted properly.
Take the condenser out of the bottom of the machine and look through the grills sideways to see if you can see the light on the other side.
Using a car jetwash is the best way to clear out any lint from the condenser unit.
If the machine is not heating up and the condenser was blocked, then there’s a good chance that the thermostats need to be replaced or reset depending on the model number of your dryer.
Check the thermostats
Indesit tumble dryers have two thermostats that are located on top of the heating element.
If one or more of the thermostats have failed, then you might even be able to see the F08 error code on the front of the machine which indicates that either the heater or the thermostats have failed.
You can access the heating element by unscrewing and removing the large metal cover at the back of the machine.
Depending on the model number of your dryer you might be able to push one of the thermostats in to reset it and the other one will be a one-shot device that has to be replaced.
You should source both of the thermostats and replace them if your dryer is not heating up. This is usually cheaper than replacing the heating element.
If you replace both of the thermostats and the dryer is still not heating, then you should move on to the heating element.
This is also a good opportunity to take a look at the cables that power the heating element and make sure that they are in good working condition.
Replace the heating element
The final repair that you should carry out is to replace the heating element which is at the back of the dryer.
Sometimes when you purchase the heating element for an Indesit tumble dryer it will be supplied with both of the thermostats which can help to repair the machine in one go.
Most of the time, replacing the heating element on an Indesit dryer will solve any heat problems that it is having.
It’s important to remember that the heating element will usually fail as a result of another problem.
Reasons an Indesit dryer heating element will fail:
- The drum is not turning, and the heating element has overheated and burned out
- The thermostats are not regulating the temperature correctly
- The condenser is blocked and causing the warm air to get trapped inside the heater duct which causes the heating element to overheat
- The machine has a blockage which is causing excess moisture inside the heating element duct which can cause the heater to get damp
One thing to note is that if you remove the heating element cover and there is water inside the duct then there’s a good chance that there’s a blockage inside the machine.
This may also be a result of a faulty water pump which is not removing the water away from the machine into the water tank.
Summary
That’s everything you need to know about how to fix an Indesit tumble dryer that’s not heating up.
Here is a quick summary of everything:
- Start off by making sure that the drum is still turning – Sometimes if the drum is failing to turn the thermostats will be tripped because the warm air is not being exhausted properly
- Make sure that the condenser unit is free of lint – Similar to when the drum stops turning if the condenser is blocked it will trip the thermostats and stop the machine from heating up
- Check the thermostats on the back of the machine which are located on the top of the heating element – Replace them and see if the machine starts to heat back up
- If replacing the thermostats didn’t fix the fault, then you should replace the heating element – Sometimes the heating element will be supplied with both thermostats depending on the model number of your dryer
If you have tried all of the above fixes for your dryer and it’s still not heating, then you should look into problems with the control board and the wiring inside the machine.
If the control board has failed, then it might not be supplying power to the heating element and if the cables have burned or melted then you will have a similar problem.
If you need any more information on Indesit tumble dryer faults and error codes, then you can go and check out our complete list which describes each of them and what you can do to fix them.
