Samsung dryer stops early [Fixed]

If your Samsung dryer stops early (before fully drying your clothes), you might want to try the repairs in this article.

The good thing is that you don’t need to be very mechanically inclined to perform most of the repairs for the issue- mechanically inclined.

Let’s get started.

Samsung dryer stops early – Possible causes and Suggested repair in each instance

The problem can be due to any of the following faults:

• Moisture sensor issue
• Overloading the dryer.
• Underloading the dryer.
• Mixing loads.
• Incorrect dryer settings.
• Clogged venting system.

As I have promised, we shall look at each cause individually starting with the most common cause- moisture sensor issue.

 

Moisture sensor issue

As the name suggests, this sensor detects the moisture in your clothes.

And depending on how moist or dry they’re, this sensor signals the electronic control board to continue heating or turn off the heating element as necessary.

Problem is with time, this sensor gets covered with fabric from your clothes.

In fact, the sensor sometimes gets damaged.

Needless to say, if the sensor bars(they are usually 2 in a dryer) develop issues, then the sensor won’t be able to properly detect whether the clothes are dry or not, especially when you’re using “sensor dry”.

This can result in the sensor signaling the control board to turn off the dryer early before the clothes are dry.

To know how to troubleshoot the moisture sensor, read our comprehensive Samsung moisture sensor dryer troubleshooting guide

 

Overloading the dryer /under-loading it/mixing clothes

Now, dryers are designed to work efficiently only with proper loading.

In other words, your dryer could start getting a signal to stop prematurely if:

• You have exceeded recommended load
• You have put too small a load- Picture this: you put just 2 pairs of socks in your dryer and then select sensor dry. Will the dryer completely dry the pair of socks? Your guess is as good as mine!
• You have mixed light and heavy clothing- mixing clothes made of different materials such as jeans, t-shirts, and heavy coats typically causes drying problems ( the light clothing tends to be drier and can hence trigger the moisture sensor early)

Recommended fix

If you have already dealt with the sensor bars (I hope you went through the guide  I suggested above), then you need to verify that you’re not loading the dryer wrongly.

And there’s no shortcut here- you have to make sure your dryer is loaded as per Samsung instructions (see your owners manual if you cannot recall how to load it).

Quick tip: 9 times (out of 10), people whose dryers are stopping too early are just trying to dry loads that are too small (for sensor cycles) so getting a full load in there will probably make it work.

 

Samsung dryer stops early – more fixes

Change to timed dry [workaround]

If your Samsung dryer keeps repeating the same fault, you can try the following workaround:

1. Use Sensor Dry until the dryer stops
2. Next, run your laundry load on a 20-minute timed dry.

I have seen it working and even though you will have to run the extra cycle, it is far better than trying to dry clothes manually  

 

Tweak the dryer settings

The way most clothes dryers work is that air is admitted via one part -of the rear panel- and exits via another part.

For that reason, If the laundry load is big enough to block that air exit at times, then the airflow won’t be adequate to prevent the dryer heater from overheating.

The outcome? The thermal cut-off stops the cycle.

Recommended fix

Try running the dryer at a lower heat setting/option- it will take longer, yes but this could keep the heat from rising to the thermal cut-off point even when there’s reduced airflow.

 

Check and clean your venting system

Moving on, if your new Samsung dryer is stopping before clothes are dry, you might also want to check how clean the venting system is.

You see, if the venting system is partially clogged (due to lint build up, it often happens), it can slow down your dryer (and if it is on timed dry, the dryer could stop before clothes are dry).

Recommended fix

Be sure to check and clean the venting system.

And when doing so, pay more attention to the elbows and bents as they are notorious for lint build up.

Watch the YouTube for instructions on how to clean the vent on your dryer…

 

Samsung dryer stops early – final words

If your Samsung dryer stops after a few seconds or minutes, you should consider checking the moisture sensor first as we have seen above.

Usually, if it’s on a “sensor cycle” and the sensor isn’t properly plugged in, or it’s dirty, or it has failed, then it will often do that.

So check the connection -at the two moisture sensing bars themselves- and ensure the harness is properly plugged back in(it may have been left disconnected during disassembly).

Also clean/replace the two moisture sensing bars.

You, of course, want to try the other repairs we have looked at if fixing the moisture sensor does not make it work again.

Who knows? You could end up saving a ton of money- repairmen do not usually come cheap.

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