Why Does My Air Fryer Not Heat Up?
It’s pretty difficult walking away from an air fryer knowing that you’ve pressed the start button only to come back 30 minutes later to find out that your air fryer isn’t heating up your food.
The thing is, you’re not alone when it comes to this issue. Our community that had hundreds of people complain about this type of thing and the following considerations we’ve written are brought to you by our readers and our community members.
How to fix your air fryer that is not heating up
So when you’re trying to figure out what’s wrong with your air fryer, the bad news is that there can be so many different things that account for why it is not heating up your food. However, the good news is that there are a good amount of explanations that could very well solve your mystery.
A lot of the topics below are suggestions and recommendations on what to do if you find yourself left with something that is still cold from an air fryer.
Check your home’s outlet
When checking the outlet, one way to test if it’s working or not is to use the smartphone charging test. I call it this because all you have to do is put your smartphone charger into the outlet and see if you can charge your smartphone. If you can charge your smartphone, then almost immediately you’ll know that it is able to supply power through the outlet. Fortunately, you don’t have to just use a smartphone to do this. You could use any electronic device that gives you an indicator of whether it’s currently being powered or not. Just plug it in and test it out.
Another more technical method would be to use a voltage meter. Voltage meters provide you with detailed information on the amount of voltage and amperage that is running through that particular outlet. Most homes carry an amperage of around 100 to 200 amps. Some older homes can be as low as 30 amps while some of the larger homes requiring a lot of electricity can go as high as 400 amps.
A voltmeter can be used to measure the potential difference between two points through your outlet. There are some voltage meters that have female end of the outlet pins so that you can simply just plug it in and test.
Check the air fryer power cord
When you’re looking at the cord, take note of any damages or frailing of the plastic. For some reason, if you have animals in the house you’re probably more likely to see chewed-up electrical cords. An air fryer is no exception to this rule. If you happen to have animals that are climbing on your countertop when you’re not at home and chewing on your electronic devices, then you probably have to figure out a plan to separate your animals from your dangerous electronic devices in your kitchen.
Aside from the normal, using a damaged electrical cord is extremely dangerous. There have been countless fires that started only because someone was negligible and decided that using a damaged power cord was simply okay.
The truth of the matter is, faulty electrical outlets combined with damaged power cords are a recipe for sparks and fires.
If your air fryer seems to not heat up the food, it’s likely that there is a significant amount of damage to the power cord and that this will never be any electrical connections between the outlet to the device.
Check the air fryer timer
This may go without saying, but sometimes we’re in such a rush that we forget to press the timer. I know this can be very frustrating because I’ve done it myself. I’ve since then learned to wait a few seconds before I leave my air fryer alone.
Always check to make sure that you’ve put down their correct time on how long you want it to cook for. Many of the older air fryers don’t have the feature that automatically turns off your air fryer. Some of the more recent air fryers can now read the temperature of the food and automatically shut off once it reaches that internal temperature.
In most cases, the problem would be that you didn’t put enough time into the timer. Always make sure you double-check before leaving your air fryer alone to cook.
Check the air fryer basket
There is a sensor inside the majority of all Air fryers that recognizes when the basket is pushed into the air fryer. The sensor actually has the power to keep your air fryer running or shut it off completely.
If it can’t find your basket because somehow the basket wasn’t securely pushed into the air fryer, then it will automatically shut off the air fryer. This is a safety precaution just to make sure that if anyone intentionally removes the basket doing cooking, you don’t want the air fryer to continue heating.
Check if the air fryer basket is overfilled
Sometimes if you overfill food in your air fryer basket, it makes it more difficult for the hot air to circulate throughout all the corners of your food. Stuffing your basket full of food will actually block the hot air from moving across all of your food.
Instead, I recommend splitting up your cooking into more than one part. Don’t stack too much food on top of each other in an air fryer. What I normally do, is I would separate pieces of the food from each other so that they are at least half an inch apart from each other.
Check the temperature of your air fryer
This is another slightly embarrassing situation. Some people actually forget to set the temperature of their air fryer. Now, most of the time if you don’t set a temperature, it will default to whatever temperature it thinks most of its users want. But that’s just not the case. All foods are made differently and you have to cater to that difference when you’re cooking.
Sometimes you might even set the temperature to a little bit too low. And this is what can cause your food to run a little cold.
Check for signs of any damage on the heating element
If you happen to find yourself puzzled and completely confused as to how to solve this issue with the heating element itself. Inspection of your heating element may be the first step in all of this.
To assess the heating element you may even have to turn it on. And if you can look to see what color it makes you can kind of diagnose the issue. For example the color orange. If it does have this dull color, then your heating element may be at the end of its life.
A normal heating element usually turns bright orange when it’s on. This usually takes a few minutes. But if you see something like this then rest assured that there isn’t anything wrong with the heating element.
Another thing you should watch out for is any signs of damage from wear and tear. Heating elements have to survive through a lot of intense Heat. The chances for burns, blisters and even cracks are entirely possible when dealing with heating elements.
Do air fryers turn off automatically?
In almost all cases and all modern-day air fryers, you usually have to set a timer before that air fryer turns off on its own.
What to do if your air fryer still won’t heat up?
Sometimes we got to give it a rest. Not you, I meant the air fryer.
What I would recommend is that you unplug your air fryer and leave it unplugged for at least a day. What we want to do here is try to reset the settings by draining them of electricity.
How long do air fryer heating elements last?
While most people will declare that air fryers typically last anywhere between 2 to 4 years, what’s more, interesting is that the heating element itself can last between 8 to 18 years. In almost all cases, start by cleaning your air fryer element and then assessing how much more cleaning you need to get rid of the stains.
I know this sounds funny, but the more you clean and maintain your air fryer the better and longer it will stay functional.
How do you reset an air fryer?
In many devices, there are reset buttons. Sometimes these would require you to press and hold the power button to get access to more options. Most of the time there is going to be a reset button at the very back or bottom of your air fryer. This is more like donation money to me but I don’t mind providing it.
Make sure you take a look at your owner’s manual. The instructions on how to exactly reset your entire configuration are possible.
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