Mine looks a bit like that, in the center. I’ve had my SQ dryer for 10 years and do 2 or 3 loads a week.

Have you contacted the store where you bought it?

SoCalGal's photo is not a vent (air outlet) grill. It's the heat inlet grill. Christina Hubbard didn't include a photo of the grill's location in her dryer but presumably it's the same. That grill is exposed to the high temperature of the heated air coming into the drum from the heating element or gas burner. I don't have hand-on experience with Speed Queen dryers but that grill presumably is metal to handle the temperature without melting.

The vent grill (where the air exits the drum) is at the front where the filter is located.

SoCalGal, what temperature settings do you normally use? On my 2017 SQ dryer, Heavy Duty or High is extremely hot. So much so, I never use it, even on cleaning rags. On normal and the Perm Press auto sensing cycles, the laundry inside is always warm, even when using the Eco setting. I believe you may want to have your unit serviced. It should still be under warranty if I am not mistaken. Insist they make it right.

Thanks so much for all the responces. I was on the verge of getting a different dryer. I will look into the warranty and a service call and give an update after. Thank you.

My 7 year old SQ electric dryer has the same thing. I never noticed it before but checked after your post (thanks!). Mine did not look as extreme as yours put it still had the same small jagged effect. I took a wire brush on a drill to it and they came off. The metal grill is not affected at all. I do use high heat a lot but only do three loads a week average. I didn't notice any unusal snagging but will keep an eye out to see if these mystery jaggies return.

Clogged exhaust ducting obstructs/reduces airflow which can cause the heating element or gas burner to run hotter than intended, until it gets hot enough to trigger the overheat protector and cycles off, cools and turns on again. Repeated overheating can be a cause of discoloration on the input grill.

Drying temperature is controlled via the exhaust/output air temperature. The thermostat is typically on the blower housing outside the drum, sometimes on the filter housing. Selecting a lower temperature doesn't have a direct effect on the input air temperature. The heating element or gas burner always runs at maximum. Unless a particular dryer has a variable gas burner or two electric elements (lower and higher wattage with the lower-wattage element used alone for low drying temp) which isn't common.

I almost always use the ”Delicate” temperature selection on my SQ dryer. 98% of the time unless I need something like towels or jeans dried quickly. Ordinarily I dry towels and jeans on “delicate” and rarely longer than 35 minutes. Plus clothes last longer this way.

Clogged or obstructed exhaust ducting reduces the airflow rate and causes the electric heating element (or gas burner) to run hotter than designed, which can cause discoloration or possible damage to the input grill, shortens the service life of the element, increases drying time which uses more energy, and possibly damage clothing if/when it brushes against the overheated input grill. Many consumers are unaware of the importance of proper airflow rate to the operation of a clothes dryer. Airflow is equally important as heat, possibly a bit moreso.

Have them check the dry grate inside the dryer in th back mine reached 500 degree.. I'm serious... Speed Queen arguing now.. tech just left my house.. having the same issue inside grate is getting too hot.. even after they changed everything out.. all heating elements.. no blocked air or anything.. waiting to hear back.. have someone come out and check the grate inside Temp.. it's a design flaw per our technician..

I ordered the outlet cover from Amazon back in March and replaced it in our 2017 SQ dryer. After a few loads I was shocked at how quickly it had changed color. The temps are high in these machines. I always select the econ mode-which is supposed to lower the heat- when drying loads on the Permanent Press cycle which uses Medium heat.

Repair guy is on his way right now. We lost a machine a couple of years ago because of fried heating element right outside of warranty and got another (?mistake) that is overheating and shutting off after only 2 years. My mom has a 3 year old machine that has been repaired twice under warranty for the same thing. This is crazy. My SQ washer is going strong after 8 yrs...but likely will never buy another SQ dryer.

Christina Fowler, the previous dryer with a "fried heating element" wasn't repairable? Elements are a simple repair. Were there other parts or damage involved that made repair unreasonable?

Overheating and shutting off ... meaning it's runable again after it cools for a while?

Have them test the dryer vent in th back of the dryer mine got to 515.. they replaced the vent again BS not gonna changed the heat coming out .. I'm arguing with speed Queen now. Such BS it's manufacturing design flaw.. and a fire hazard

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The heat input grill is exposed to the full temperature of the heated air flowing into the dryer, from the heating element box. It's no different than the red-hot bake or broil elements in an electric oven being much hotter than the target baking temperature and cycle on/off to maintain the temperature after reaching it, or electric burners on a cooktop.

Gas dryers run the gas burner at full output whenever heating is needed. I'm not aware of any that vary the flame power like controls on a gas cooktop, other than some models many years ago such as Kenmore's "soft heat" feature.