How to Troubleshoot Air Fryer Problems

With so many air fryers on the market, it can be hard to determine which one is right for you — and even more difficult if you’re not familiar with how they work. But before we get into the details of what makes an air fryer tick, it’s worth noting that if your little machine is emitting a weird smell or leaking oils, there may be a few steps you can take to troubleshoot these problems on your own.

We’ve compiled a complete list of what you’ll need to fix some common issues with troubled air fryers below.

Step 1: Assess the Smell

Sometimes, odd smells coming from your air fryer may be nothing to worry about — especially if you’ve recently added food or oil. While we can’t make any promises, our best guess would be that the smell is emanating from the food you’ve just added. It’s worth mentioning that foods like bananas or tomatoes are known for their strong aromas, so your nose could also be playing tricks on you.

If you notice an unpleasant smell coming from your air fryer after it’s been on for a while, there are a few things you might consider before giving up on it for good. This is especially the case if you’re checking on your machine regularly and don’t notice it acting funny before that. Oil and food that has been sitting around for a while could possibly be making your air fryer smell — or maybe you need to clean it out.

Just remember, air fryers tend to smell like fried food — not the actual smell of fried food, which many people erroneously associate with an “off” smell.

Step 2: Clean Out the Air Fryer

Cleaning your air fryer is a great first step if you’re trying to figure out why it’s leaking oil or making an odd smell. It would only make sense that if something is sitting in your air fryer for a while, it could collect dust and grime. Our suggestion would be to take the basket out of the air fryer, give it a good scrubbing, put it back in, and then clean the inside of the machine as well.

Step 3: Change Your Oils

It’s easy to think that you’re getting high-quality oils when you buy them at the store. Unfortunately, that’s not always true. Sometimes, the oils sitting on your pantry shelf can go rancid after a few months of sitting around. If you’ve noticed your air fryer oil has become cloudy or changed color, it’s time to throw it out and start fresh.

Step 4: Wash Out Your Air Fryer

As we’ve seen, dirty air fryers can lead to bigger issues than just an odd smell. The fact is, if your machine is covered in greasy residue or old food crumbs, you could be experiencing problems with your air fryer’s performance or its durability. So before heading for the return counter at the store, try cleaning out all that grime inside your machine first.

Step 5: Remove All Food

If you’ve assessed the smell, cleaned out your air fryer, and still haven’t fixed the problem, it might be time to consider whether your food is the culprit. Greasy food like French fries or chicken tenders are notorious for sitting on top of or around air fryers after they’re cooked. Is there some kind of reheated pizza sitting in your machine? If so, scrape it off right away.

Step 6: Look at Your Air Fryer’s Timer

If you’re having problems with your air fryer and don’t notice any weird smells or oily residue, you should take a look at its timer and how it works. If your air fryer has a timer, you might be amazed to learn that it doesn’t even turn off or shut down after its set time is up. Instead, it’ll just keep running — and perhaps consuming more oil — until you unplug it.

Step 7: Check for Food Clogs

If your air fryer seems to be working well and the food is still coming out well-cooked and crunchy, but there’s something that’s causing an issue with your food — like a crumbly layer on top of it — you might want to consider taking a look at the basket underneath. If foods like French fries and chicken tenders are in the basket, it might be time to scrape them off and use a paper towel to wipe it down.

Step 8: Keep the Temperature Down

If you’ve checked all of these steps and still aren’t sure why your air fryer is giving you problems, you may want to keep the air fryer’s temperature lower than usual for a few uses. What we mean is, if your air fryer has a temperature setting between 350 and 400 degrees, try it at 350 or even 300 degrees — just for a few times — to see if that fixes the problem. This certainly won’t hurt anything and could save you from having to buy a new air fryer altogether.

Step 9: Try a Lower Temperature

If you’ve already tried turning down your air fryer’s temperature and still have a problem, it might be worth experimenting with a lower setting. Lower settings might help keep your food healthier since it’s going to be cooked in a smaller amount of oil. It could also prevent an oily build-up in the machine if you turn it down too much. Just remember that the best case scenario is that if your air fryer is overheating, you’ll want to slow down the process even further to avoid any melting issues.

Step 10: Consider Your Cookware

If you’ve tried all of the steps above and you’re still having trouble with your air fryer, try switching out your cookware. If you’ve noticed weird behavior but haven’t thought about the frying basket, consider buying a new one for your air fryer. As we mentioned earlier, we recommend using metal baskets for air fryers — and avoiding plastic ones — because they tend to work better at distributing heat and preventing food from sticking.

Step 11: Try a New Air Fryer

If you’ve checked all the other possibilities and still aren’t sure why your air fryer is acting up, it’s time to look into getting a new one altogether. Some manufacturers offer an extended warranty on their products, so if your air fryer is within the warranty’s time frame, you might want to consider calling and asking for help. If you’re still outside of the warranty period and don’t want to pay for a brand new air fryer, there are some additional steps we’ll take you through.

Step 12: Take It Back!

If nothing we’ve mentioned works — and we mean literally nothing — then it might be time to head back to the store for a refund or exchange. It’s always better to try out an air fryer in person at a store before making a purchase online because some units may not work as advertised on sites like Amazon. That said, it wouldn’t hurt to try your air fryer at home for a while to see if it’s actually malfunctioning before you return it.

Step 13: Buy Another Air Fryer

Finally, if you’ve tried all of the above steps and still aren’t sure why your air fryer is giving you problems, it’s time to head back to the store for a replacement or buy one online. Just remember that you should never purchase an air fryer or any appliance without reading reviews on the seller’s website first. Not only will this ensure that you’re buying high-quality products, but it’ll help you find out if other people are having issues with their air fryers.

PRO TIP: If your air fryer is heating up too quickly, simply turn the temperature down until the heating element stops overheating. If the settings don’t help, consider investing in a cooling rack to keep items from sticking to the bottom of your air fryer.

How do I silence my vortex air fryer?

If you’re reading this section, you’ve probably heard the crazy-loud noise that your air fryer’s vortex makes. It’s the sound of the fan moving all of that hot air around inside the machine. This is one of those areas where it might be worth investing in an additional cooling fan to keep your food even fresher, crispy, and tastier.

How do I filter my air fryer’s air?

We’d like to take this opportunity to remind readers that if they’re buying or using an air fryer, they’ll want to make sure they’re living in an area with clean air. Filtering out the oil vapor that gets pulled in by your air fryer is key to ensuring that your machine doesn’t get damaged.

How do I clean my air fryer’s basket?

One of the most important aspects when buying an air fryer is to find one with a metal basket. Not only does a metal basket help distribute the heat more evenly, but it’s also easy to wash and makes cleaning up a breeze. If you’re having problems with your air fryer’s basket, check out these tips for how to clean it:

Step 1: Rinse off Basket after Use

You should never leave food inside an air fryer for long periods of time. It’s okay to leave it in there for the short term, but if you’re not going to use the food right away, it’s best to remove it. Turning on your air fryer or preheating it before cooking is enough to get the food ready. Therefore, after you’re done cooking with your air fryer, use a sponge or clean kitchen towel to wipe down the inside of the basket.

Step 2: Use Vinegar or Baking Soda

If your air fryer is messy, chances are that some of the food stuck to the bottom of the basket has left some residue behind. You can take care of this by using some vinegar or baking soda inside the bowl of your air fryer. Mix 1/4 cup of baking soda with 1/4 cup vinegar. Spray this mixture into the air fryer basket and wipe out any food that’s left behind on the bottom. Repeat again after every use to prevent food from becoming stuck to the bottom of your basket.

Step 3: Turn on Air Fryer Fan

Even if you’ve cleaned it, there may be some residue left on the bottom of your air fryer basket because you didn’t spray the cleaning solution all over there. No problem. Just turn on the air fryer fan, pour in some water, and let it sit inside the basket for several hours (overnight is fine). Once you’re done soaking it overnight, you can turn off the air fryer and pour out the water.

Step 4: Baking Soda Option

If you’d rather not spray vinegar into your air fryer, you could always mix 1/4 cup baking soda with 1/4 cup of water. These two ingredients should serve as a natural cleaning product that should serve as an effective alternative to vinegar.

Step 5: Vinegar Option

If you’re someone who doesn’t prefer baking soda, you could always use plain old vinegar. Mix 1/4 cup vinegar with 1/4 water and pour this into the air fryer basket. Leave the mixture to sit for several hours. Afterward, rinse out the basket with warm water to make sure all traces of food residue are gone.

For added protection against foul odors, consider spraying your air fryer basket down with some lemon or orange juice after cleaning it. The citrus acids are strong enough to kill any lingering bacteria that may have grown inside your air fryer over time.

How do I stop my air fryer from beeping?

If you own an air fryer, there’s a good chance that it beeps after your food is cooked. After all, there are several different features built into cooking appliances, so why wouldn’t an air fryer be one of them? But sometimes these beeping sounds can get annoying. To silencing these sounds, check out these tips for how to stop your air fryer from beeping:

Step 1: Pick Your Air Fryer

The first thing you should know about beeping sounds is that each manufacturer has a different name for them. For instance, the beeping sound on a Haier AIR-F10B is called a time-up alarm while the similar sound on a Graviti GRAVIT-AIR Graviti is called an auto-off timer. In addition, some manufacturers have more than one type of sounding alarm. In other words, it’s impossible to tell you which brand specifically will turn off its beep after you have used it for seven hours because each one works differently.

That said, you can always take a look at the instruction manual that comes with your appliance. The manual should really be the first place that you turn if you’re having problems with your air fryer. As mentioned before, it contains specific instructions for how to use your machine, including the steps for how to stop it from beeping. If you can’t find any information there, you should contact the manufacturer directly to ask them any questions that might still be lingering around in your head.

Step 2: Contact Manufacturer

If you’ve tried everything but nothing has worked so far, there’s nothing left to do but contact the manufacturer directly and ask them if their air fryer has a way of stopping its beeping sound. These manufacturers use different ways to handle beeping noises, so it might be a little difficult for you to find the exact solution. However, once you reach them, they’ll help you out and help ensure that your air fryer doesn’t continue to make its strange beeping noises.

Step 3: Close the Door

The most common way that most air fryers stop their sounds is by simply closing the door after everything is cooked and ready to eat. You can either shut off your machine and wait until it cools down and then open it again or just let it turn off on its own when all food inside has been fully cooked. After the cooking cycle is done, turn off your device and wait for it to cool down. Once everything is safe to touch, open up the basket and take out the food. Afterward, close the basket and wait for a few minutes before opening it again. Your air fryer should have stopped beeping by now.

Step 4: Turn Off All Buttons

If your air fryer doesn’t stop beeping after you’ve closed the door, try turning off all of its buttons first. This way you can avoid accidentally pressing any of them while you’re taking food out of the basket. This may seem like a simple step, but sometimes it’s the first thing that people forget and start pressing buttons on their air fryer.

Step 5: Change Basket Parts

Trying to think of other ways to stop air fryer beeping sounds is a good place to start, right? At this point, you’re probably wondering why you can’t just replace the basket as the first option on the list. It’s true that baskets are available for sale to help solve your problem. However, since there are so many different types of air fryers out there, it might take some time before you find one that isn’t making those annoying sounds.

How do I turn off the sound on my Gowise USA Airfryer?

The Gowise Airfryer is a product that comes with a lot of features. It’s also relatively easy to use for most people. However, if you want to turn off the sound on your unit, open up the basket and pull out all of the food inside. Next, close the lid fully before turning off the machine. Now you should be able to just hear the fans turn on again instead of hearing all those annoying beeping sounds that come along with it.

How do I get my instant vortex to stop beeping?

If you own an instant vortex, the first step is to clean your air fryer’s hot air chamber after every use. There are only a few parts to this device, so it should be pretty easy for you to figure out what needs to be cleaned out of your machine. However, if you want to know how exactly how dirty the air chamber is getting over time, check out our guide on how to clean an instant vortex. Once you’re finished with that process, make sure that everything has dried completely before using your appliance again.

Next, check for any mistakes that may have resulted in the unit turning itself on prematurely. A common problem with instant vortices is their timers breaking down over time.

How do I reset my instant vortex air fryer?

You can reset an instant vortex air fryer by removing all food from the basket and closing the lid. Afterward, turn off your machine and wait for it to cool down completely. Once everything has cooled down, open the basket again and check if the settings are still working as intended.

How do I stop my air fryer from beeping?

Beeping noises are a common problem that many people have with their appliances. They can seem annoying at first, but you have to remember that they’re only warning signals to let you know that something is wrong with your device. All these beeping noises are often functions of how certain foods cook in an oven or on a stovetop.

We hope that this article has helped you figure out the best way to stop the beeping sounds on your air fryer. The most important tip to remember is to use common sense when trying to stop the beeping. If you’ve tried everything but nothing has worked so far, there’s nothing left to do but contact the manufacturer directly and ask them if their air fryer has a way of stopping its beeping sound.

If all else fails, just give us a call because we have put together a list of customer service phone numbers for most major air fryer companies. Finally, if none of these steps have worked for you, it may be time for you to get rid of your air fryer altogether.