Welcome back to Air Fryer Bro and another air fryer related troubleshooting article! Having owned air fryers for longer than most people, I have picked up a tip or two 🙂 (that’s why I started this website!). I have already done articles about common issues with air fryers, with ‘what to do if scenarios‘ and even tips for when your air fryer won’t turn on! Today, however, is another annoying problem. What to do if your air fryer keeps turning itself off or powering down without your knowledge! If you need a solution, read on….
What Exactly is the Problem?
This air fryer problem is just as heartbreaking as all the other ones listed above. It’s when your air fryer keeps powering itself down without your knowledge. You have set your favorite chicken wing recipe off and got busy preparing your sides! Next thing you know, you realize that your beloved air fryer is quiet! No more whirring fan! What’s going on??
It’s the most disappointing thing EVER when you are hungry and expect awesome air fried food, only to come back to a cold and uncooked mess.
How To Fix this Problem?
As you may have seen from my air fryer research project, there are literally hundreds of models of air fryers these days. I can’t promise to offer a solution for every single one, but I can give you some general tips that should help pinpoint the problem.
1.Check Your Electrical Systems
Air fryers are on average around 1600 watts (again, as found out in my research project!), which might not be the most high-powered kitchen appliance around. However, it is enough to put a strain on your household electrical circuits if you are not careful.
I would try unplugging every other electrical item from your kitchen (apart from maybe your fridge!) and try to use your air fryer again. If it works fine under these conditions, it could mean your air fryer is putting undue stress on your electrical systems.
The best thing to do would be to call a qualified electrician if this is the case, as it is likely something to do with your circuit breaker and/or its associated fuses.
If there are any electricians ‘in the house’ I would love to hear your expert comments below 🙂
2. Reset the Power Cable
Try to take out and re-insert the power cable into your air fryer. There is a possibility it may have not been well seated inside your air fryer leading to an unstable connection. If you are in a country that has fuses inside sockets/plugs, you might want to replace this too.
3. Check the Power Cable
Before you go and do anything drastic, the best cause of action is to try to use a different power cable to power your air fryer. You don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a new air fryer, only to find out it was a minor problem with a cable.
Over time, these power cables might start to break down, especially if they have been twisted and contorted a lot in their lifetime!
Luckily, most air fryers use a standard power cable that you should be able to borrow from other similar household appliances.
However, if this turns out to be the issue, make sure to get a new power cable from the manufacturer just to be on the safe side.
4. Check the Air Fryer Draw or Lid
Most air fryers have some kind of automatic stop or kill switch sensor connected with the lid and/ or draw of your air fryer. This is to stop it working when the draw is out or the lid is open. Not only is this a waste of precious energy, the heat is somewhat dangerous!
The problem is, over time these sensors could become faulty. If you can locate these sensors, you could see if it is possible to clean them.
You may find that if you have an air fryer draw, something is causing friction on your draw (maybe some burned food waste or other debris). This may be changing the positioning of your draw and therefore triggering the sensor incorrectly. A quick clean should fix this!
If you have an air fryer lid, the hinge might have worn out and could be not fully holding your lid down when cooking. Again, this could incorrectly trigger the lid sensor and make the air fryer turn off. This is exactly what happened with my first ever air fryer, a generic Chinese branded affair. I tried placing heavy items on the lid for a while, but eventually just gave up and bought a new air fryer!!
The problem with sensor or hinge issues is that they are hard to fix. Contact your manufacturer immediately to see what solutions they can offer!!
5. Leave Unplugged Overnight
This is especially helpful for digital air fryers, but could also work for analogue ones too (depending on their design). You see, air fryers have more electrical circuits inside them than you might expect. This is something that is only going to increase over time too as air fryers become more ‘hi-tech’.
The problem is, sometimes these circuits have errors and bugs that will not clear themselves when continually powered. The best way to fix this would be to leave your air fryer unplugged over night. This will give the circuits in the unit enough time to fully power down and discharge. This may clear any errors or bugs found within them.
What to Do if All Else Fails??
Read the Manual
If you have tried the checks above and still no joy, start by reading your air fryer’s user manual! No, I am not joking! I know most people don’t look at these things, but you should check to see if the manufacturer has any words of wisdom. They usually have a troubleshooting guide specifically designed for your model of air fryer at least.
Use Your Warranty
This is why air fryer warranties should be a big factor in your purchase. If your air fryer comes with a decent warranty, you should be able to get a new unit or replacement part directly from the manufacturer. Be aware that quite a lot of manufacturers require you to register your unit to get use of a warranty, and some even extend it when you do this!
If your warranty is out, you are probably looking at buying a new air fryer unit. I personally wouldn’t trust a local repair guy with an air fryer unless they have a lot of experience fixing them. Air fryers are compact appliances with pretty fine and delicate electricals inside. They could be a potential fire risk (in my opinion) if repaired incorrectly or not to the manufacturer’s specifications.
If you do have some local repair guys, maybe try phoning them first and asking how much experience they have fixing air fryers. If they say ‘a lot’ don’t just assume they are telling the truth 🙂 Follow up with something like “What models have you fixed?” and if they start to stumble (or make up models that don’t exist even), go elsewhere.
Most repair guys would charge at least $100 to fix anyway, which means it often makes more economic sense just to buy a new air fryer. Although it would certainly be more environmentally friendly if you can afford to go with the fixing option.
Do you have any experiences of your own with an air fryer that randomly turns itself off? If so, we would love to hear all about it in the comments section below.
My Cosori airfryer, more often than not, keeps tripping the main electricity circuit breaker after about eight minuted cooking!? This happened after one year of happy air frying!
When taken to suppliers they said they checked and tried it for hours but never tripped!?
Weird! Do you have a sensitive trip on your home electrics? Maybe ask an electrician for help.