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The Fix Bench

Dryers

Heating failures, airflow restrictions, and working out why a load takes three cycles to dry.

Nearly every recurring dryer fault traces back to airflow. Restricted venting makes loads take two cycles, overheats the machine, and takes out the safety components that then get replaced without anyone fixing the vent that killed them. LG encodes the blockage as a percentage in the code itself; Whirlpool's airflow code names "too many turns" as a cause; Samsung resolves two entire code families to the same clogged screen or duct.

The measurement people get wrong is length. Every 90° elbow costs roughly ten feet of the allowed run, so a short duct with several turns can be over the limit while a long straight one is fine. Count the bends, not the feet.

The one fault that is not airflow is worth ruling out first because it is free: an electric dryer runs on a circuit fused on both sides, so it has two breakers. Lose the one feeding the heating element and the drum still turns.