Air fryers are fantastic kitchen applies. However, they are not without their quirks.
I’ve had the pleasure of owning an air fryer for over a decade, and it’s safe to say I’ve experienced it all. However, one of the most common faults myself and others seem to encounter is an air fryer beeping.
An air fryer will beep to warn a couple of things, the most popular being the timer, the air fryer has heated up, or there is an error code. Some of the common fixes for a beeping air fryer are turning it off, unplugging it, checking the cable, and checking the interior for loose components.
Of course, finding the exact issue that’s causing the air fryer to beep and any subsequent fix can vary dramatically.
However, before you go ahead and find that issue, I’ve first found the best action is to unplug the appliance from the main outlet safely.
Before unplugging the air fryer, be sure to look at the plug and the power cable. You want to ensure there’s nothing loose around the appliances power source.
Once the appliance has been unplugged, repeat this check to be safe.
Unplugging the air fryer ensures it’s safe to look at closely, preventing it from being further overworked and potentially from developing a more severe problem.
However, unplugging your air fryer from the power outlet will also temporarily stop the appliance from beeping and allow you to concentrate on diagnosing and subsequently fixing the issue.
Once you’ve unplugged the air fryer, you can carry on finding the cause of the beeping.
1. Heating Element Not Working Correctly
One of the easiest things to check with your air fryer is that the external area heating element can draw and remove air correctly.
Sometimes you can find that grease, grime or food debris has got stuck to the back of the appliance, causing the appliance to struggle.
Before checking to see if this could be the issue with your air fryer, wait for the appliance to cool.
Then go ahead and pick the air fryer up and move it to a spot where you can see the whole appliance on every side.
Before checking the appliance, go back to where you were using the air fryer and look for any signs of food debris or any damage.
Then go ahead and go back to your appliance. Look around the front, back, sides and the bottom for any signs of damage, loose components or debris.
If you find that this might be the cause of your issue, you can go ahead and fix it by gently cleaning the exterior of your appliance. Be sure to double-check that the air fryer isn’t plugged into a power outlet before proceeding.
2. Stuck Buttons
Depending on the style of your air fryer, you might find that sometimes the appliance beeps because a button has been incorrectly pressed or is stuck.
A stuck air fryer button can result from food debris or being pressed multiple times.
To see if this might be the issue, you can line your eye up to the surface of your air fryer and look for any button that looks pressed in when compared to the others.
Alternatively, you can go ahead and check the air fryers display (where applicable) to see if the display is saying something different to the actions you’re trying to take with the appliance (i.e. timer constantly increasing by 5 minutes, indicating the up arrow might be pressed in).
If, as a result, you find that a stuck button may be the cause of your button you can go ahead and try and remove any food debris by gently cleaning the exterior of the appliance.
With certain types of buttons, you can sometimes use the likes of a toothpick to carefully get around the back of each of the controls.
Before cleaning your air fryer, be sure to check once again that the appliance isn’t plugged into the mains outlet before cleaning.
If you still find that the appliance button is stuck, you may have to speak to a repair person, the appliances manufacturer or purchase a replacement.
3. Idle Use Indicator
Sometimes you’ll find that your air fryer beeps as an indicator that you’ve plugged in the appliance and turned it on but failed to choose a cooking option or a timer.
This beeping is designed to prevent you from forgetting to set the appliance to cooking mode (which I’ve been known to do on more than one occasion) and usually only occurs after five minutes of being idle.
If you think that your air fryer might be beeping due to being idle, go ahead and select a cooking option and the cooking duration.
Once you’ve done this, the beeping should stop.
If the beeping doesn’t stop after roughly thirty seconds of the appliance being in use with a cooking mode and timer selected, the beeping is likely a result of another issue.
4. Timer Alert
One of the most common reasons you might find your air fryer beeping is that the timer has ended, and the cooking process has stopped.
The exact beep you hear as a result of this will vary between brands and doesn’t guarantee that your food is ready (remember, the beeping only tells you that the timer you set has ended and the cooking process has stopped).
You’ll know if your air fryer is beeping due to the timer being complete by looking at the timer or clock on the appliance.
If you think the air fryer is beeping as a result of the timer, then you can stop the beeping by resetting the appliance or turning it off.
Then you can go ahead and remove your food, check if it’s cooked and serve accordingly.
If you find that your air fryer is beeping as you try and set a cooking mode or the timer then the beep could be as a result of the settings not being within the appliances permissible range.
If the timer on your air fryer is the cause of the appliance beeping, then you shouldn’t need to fix the appliance in any way before using it again.
However, if you notice the air fryer continues to beep when using it in the future, then the beeping may not be the timer and instead maybe another fault listed below.
5. Tempreature Fault
Sometimes you might find that your air fryer is beeping due to the temperature of the appliance either being too low or too high.
In most cases, this will result in other issues within this post, including an error code or a faulty fan.
If you think that your air fryer is beeping as a result of the temperature of the appliance, then you must turn the device off at the power outlet and proceed with caution.
6. Faulty Fan
Sometimes you might find that your air fryer is beeping due to a faulty fan.
A faulty air fryer fan can cause the temperature of your appliance to increase or decrease dramatically (as highlighted above) and result in an error code (as highlighted below).
While the appliance is functioning, the fan inside can sound incredibly loud and might sometimes have a beeping noise associated with it. In this case, there may not be a fault with the air fryer, and instead, this is the normal noise of the appliance.
One way to determine this is to question whether you’ve previously heard the appliance make the noise.
If you are unsure, then it’s essential that you look for any error codes, turn the appliance off and proceed with caution.
If there are no associated error codes, and the appliance is at a reasonable temperature considering its actions then it can be hard to determine whether the fan is completely fine or faulty.
As such it’s always better to rule out all other issues in this list, and then come back to this one.
If you do think that your air fryer fan might be faulty then it’s best to contact the manufacturer of the appliance directly as attempting to fix it in any way could cause you harm, further damage the appliance or void the warranty.
7. An Error Code
Selecting the incorrect cooking programme, or an undiscovered fault within the appliance can cause an error code to appear on the appliance (where applicable) with an associated beeping.
If you notice that your air fryer is beeping with an error code then take a reference as to the code and refer to the manufacturer manual as to what the code means.
If you no longer have the manual for your appliance, then you can either try to find it online or Google the error code and the name of the manufacturer.
Once you have a reference for the error code, go ahead and turn the appliance off before you begin your research. Leaving the air fryer turned on and beeping with the error code could cause further damage to the appliance (and be very annoying).
If your air fryer doesn’t have a digital display, it may not show an error message with the beeping.
In which case it’s worth considering that the air fryer still is faulty, or this may be a beep signalling something completely normal.
In this case, you’re always best assuming that the appliance has a fault.
The best thing is to ensure that no other faults listed within this post are present with your air fryer, as the beeping could signal that the appliance hasn’t a cooking mode set or has a faulty heating element.
If you still can’t find why your air fryer is beeping, go ahead and reference the appliance’s manual. If you don’t have a copy to hand check for one online.
The manual provided by the appliances manufacturer should give specific reasons as to why the air fryer is beeping and how to fix it.
If you still find that the appliance is beeping after reading the manual (or if you don’t have access to the appliance’s manual), it’s best to continue assuming there is a fault and contact the manufacturer directly.
While you may be tempted to use the appliance it’s recommended you avoid doing so as you don’t know if the beep is to signal a faulty heating element which could have significant implications on the appliance, the food and your safety.
8. Loose / Stuck Internal Component
Much like external elements getting stuck to the air fryer can cause the appliance to fail, so too can internal components.
In this case, you might experience the air fryer making loud or strange noises without or in addition to the beeping.
If you believe that a loose component inside your air fryer is causing it to beep then check for an error code where applicable (if there is one write it down).
Once you’ve got any error codes safely turn off the appliance and disconnect it from the mains.
Loose components can be incredibly dangerous inside an air fryer, so it’s essential the appliance stops operating as quickly and safely as possible.
Once the appliance is safely secured, you can wait for it to cool down before opening the draw to look for loose components.
Do not touch anything inside the appliance.
If after looking at the appliance, you believe that a loose component is causing the beeping, then you’ll want to contact the manufacturer directly.
Avoid attempting to fix the appliance yourself as this could create further damage, void the warranty or cause harm to yourself or others.
Hi all! I’m Cora Benson, and I’ve been blogging about food, recipes and things that happen in my kitchen since 2019.