What To Do If Your Bosch Dryer Is Overheating?

Do you know that National Fire Protection Association listed electrical and heating faults among the main causes of fire? In fact, dryers are 92% more likely to cause fires than washing machines! According to NFPA, most of the time the fire starts with the combustion of either lint or clothes, as opposed to more “casual” causes of fire, such as shorts or other electrical issues. This is the main reason why it is so important to pay close attention to your tumble dryer and repair it at the first signs of overheating.

You can classify all dryer overheating problems in two categories – airflow problems and faulty electronics. In fact, according to our experience, it seems that airflow problems are far more frequent than other faults. Still, you should never dismiss the possibility of a faulty electronic component in your home appliance.

It is worth pointing out that rather often an overheating itself may lead to electronic components breaking down, burning and shortening. This is the reasons why it is, in general, a good idea to repair your dryer early in case you encounter the first signs of a problem. Soldering alloys melting point temperature is around 190 degrees Fahrenheit. While normally the heat inside the dryer rarely reaches 150 degrees, the internal temperature will significantly rise in case of overheating.

Bosch Dryer Condenser Issues

Most of the time various tumble dryers’ models do not have many principal differences. Yet, it is important to point out that modern appliances are somewhat more complicated than their predecessors. For example, most of the modern Bosch dryers employ a condenser – which is a radiator, designed to collect moistness from the dry air and cool it, before using the air again. This allowed Bosch engineers to get rid of the complicated hot air venting that often requires unfortunate homeowners to drill holes in the walls to facilitate their laundry units with a proper venting system. While Bosch is certainly not the only company that uses condenser dryers you can often encounter these models among the Bosch dryers.

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These are the frequent condenser-related faults we often encounter in Bosch dryers that may cause it to overheat:

• The cool air fan is broken. Condensing dryers have a secondary air fan, which draws cool air into the condenser, helping the hot air to cool down and to lose moisture. If the secondary fan is broken, the condenser will not work properly. That means that the hot air will continue circulating within the dryer. While the dryer thermostat should prevent your appliance from overheating, it does not exactly solve the problem completely. Sometimes the dryer fails to detect the problem altogether that leads to overheating.
• Lint (fluff that comes from the clothes in the drum) or dust (pulled in from the environment by the cooling fan) inside the condenser may result in poor airflow. The easiest way to prevent this problem is to make sure to conduct regular maintenance on your appliance. Make sure to clean the lint filter and clean your dryer overall at least twice a year!

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Dryer Airflow Issues

Airflow problems within the dryer internal ductwork are the most popular reason of overheating. Luckily, this issue can be fixed relatively easily. It still depends on the specific kind of a problem you encounter – sometimes it may be enough to clean the lint filter, while on the other hand the ductwork itself may be damaged and require either new parts or considerable patching. If your dryer has an external vent, you can go outside the house and check if the vent has considerable airflow when your dryer is working. The lack of airflow might also indicate that the vent itself might be clogged.

Issues with Electronic Components

Unfortunately, electric issues within your dryer may be somewhat harder to diagnose than the problems with the airflow. It is, in general, a good idea to call a professional technician in case you need to have your appliance looked at.

Faulty Thermostat

Dryers employ cycling thermostat to determine the optimal temperature for drying the clothes. In fact, the slight increase in the temperature may be normal – and the thermostat is meant to control it and temporarily disable the heating element in case the air inside the drum is too hot. The situation might get out of control in case the thermostat doesn’t work as intended – it will continue to heat up indefinitely, which might not only damage your clothes or bedding but even lead to a fire.

Faulty Heating Element

Sometimes the heating element may start overheating while ignoring the thermostat functionality completely. This can happen due to a manufactory fault, or a partial short. Sometimes it can be induced by a fault within another electrical component of your dryer. In this case, we would recommend you to invite a technician to conduct the necessary diagnostics.