Dual-basket air fryer
Tower T17088 9L Dual Basket Vortx Air Fryer
Model T17088 — United Kingdom
Two 4.5-litre drawers with removable grill plates, 50–200°C, and a 3-minute preheat programme at 180°C.
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Where to get real advice for this machine
Almost everything that changes a cooking answer is a property of the architecture rather than the badge. This is a dual-basket air fryer, and the Dual-basket air fryer page carries the cooking guidance that actually applies to it.
Each drawer behaves as a single basket machine, so times and temperatures transfer across unchanged. What changes is the planning: two foods with different times must be started at different moments, and the synchronise function most of these machines offer does that by delaying the shorter cook rather than by speeding it up. Total capacity is genuinely double, but each individual drawer is often slightly smaller than a comparable single-basket machine.
Does it genuinely air-fry?
Genuine air frying
Assessed by architecture: two independent deep drawers with element and fan above the food, and grill plates that elevate it so air passes underneath. Fast air and air reaching all surfaces are met by construction. The published temperature ceiling of 200°C is at the lower end for the architecture and is recorded because it limits what the machine can be asked to do.
- Air moves fast, not just around
- Air reaches every surface of the food
- Recovers temperature quickly after loading
- Fat and moisture drain away
- Reaches genuine browning temperatures
What we know about this machine
Read from Tower T17088 9L Dual Basket Vortx Air Fryer — Safety and Instruction Manual (PDF), retrieved on 2026-08-13.
It has 2 independent drawers, so two foods can cook at different temperatures at once — which buys variety rather than volume. It runs from 50°C to 200°C, and the low end is genuinely useful: it is enough to dehydrate, prove dough or hold food warm. On preheating: has a preheat programme. It is sold as 9 litres, which measures the whole drawer including the space above the food that you must not fill.
The figures above are the manufacturer’s. What they mean for cooking is AirfryerHQ’s reading of them, not a measurement — nobody here has run this machine.
Size and capacity
- Advertised capacity
- 9 litresA volume, not a cooking area.
Power and heat
- Power range as published
- 0–2600 W
- Temperature range
- 50–200°C
Setup and cleaning
- Cooking zones
- 2
- Preheating
- Has a preheat programme
- Supplied with
- 2 x removable grill plates
In the manual’s own words: The appliance has a dedicated Pre-Heat button that runs the drawer at 180°C for 3 minutes. The manual separately instructs the cook to add 3 minutes to the cooking time if the appliance is cold, which is the same adjustment expressed the other way round.
Retrieved from Argos's manual library for Argos product 409/6137.
8 figures we could not establish
Each of these says WHY it is missing. “Not recorded by the sources consulted” means the manufacturer does not publish it in the document we read — not that nobody looked, and not that the figure does not exist.
- Usable cooking area
- Not recorded by the sources consulted — Not published.
- Chamber
- Not recorded by the sources consulted — Not published.
- On the worktop
- Not recorded by the sources consulted — Not published.
- Weight
- Not recorded by the sources consulted — Not published.
- Power
- Not recorded by the sources consulted — The manual publishes a range rather than a single figure — see the recorded range. Recording its upper bound as the rated power would be inventing a specification the manufacturer declined to state.
- Adjusts in
- Not recorded by the sources consulted — Not stated.
- Standby power
- Not recorded by the sources consulted — Not published by this manufacturer. Only one model in this catalogue publishes a standby figure at all.
- Dishwasher safe
- Not recorded by the sources consulted — Not stated in the copy read.
What each setting actually does
Read from the manual. The marketing name is what is printed on the panel; the canonical capability is what the mode is in generic terms, so a reader can find advice written for somebody else’s appliance.
| On the panel | Canonically | Starts at | Settable range | Preheat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| French Fries | Air fry | 200°C, 18 min | Adjustable, range not published | Not stated |
| Drumsticks | Roast | 200°C, 20 min | Adjustable, range not published | Not stated |
| Steak | Grill | 180°C, 12 min | Adjustable, range not published | Not stated |
| Cake | Bake | 160°C, 25 min | Adjustable, range not published | Not stated |
| Re-Heat | Reheat | 150°C, 15 min | Adjustable, range not published | Not stated |
| Dehydrate | Dehydrate | 60°C, 360 min | Adjustable, range not published | Not stated |
- French Fries: A preset rather than a mode: it sets a temperature and a time, both adjustable.
Error codes and display states
Only what this manufacturer publishes, and only for this manufacturer. A code means whatever the firmware author decided it means, and reading one across from another brand is the commonest way to misdiagnose a fault.
AirfryerHQ does not hold this code for this manufacturer. That is a statement about this catalogue and not about your appliance: most manufacturers publish no code table at all, and a code's meaning is specific to the firmware that produced it. Do not read a meaning across from another brand — check your own manual, and contact the manufacturer if it is not in there.
Cleaning this model
The parts this architecture has, what collects on each, and what its own manual permits. Full methods and prohibitions are on the cleaning pages.
| Part | What is on it | How often | Dishwasher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basket | Ordinary residue after cooking | After every use | Dishwasher safe on the models we hold |
| Basket | Burnt-on residue | When it needs it | Depends on your model — check the manual |
| Basket | Ordinary residue after cooking | After every use | Depends on your model — check the manual |
| Basket | Stuck food | When it needs it | Depends on your model — check the manual |
| Crisper plate | Looking after the coating | When it needs it | Depends on your model — check the manual |
| Drawer | Greasy film | After every use | Dishwasher safe on the models we hold |
| Interior of the chamber | Greasy film | After every use | Not removable, so the question does not arise |
| Interior of the chamber | Greasy film | About weekly | Not removable, so the question does not arise |
| Interior of the chamber | Lingering smell | When it needs it | Not removable, so the question does not arise |
| Heating element area | Carbonised deposit | About monthly | Not removable, so the question does not arise |
| Fan and air intake | Greasy film | About monthly | Not removable, so the question does not arise |
| Exterior and body | Greasy film | About weekly | Not removable, so the question does not arise |
| Controls and display | Greasy film | About weekly | Not removable, so the question does not arise |
Replaceable parts
Read from this machine’s own documentation. Fit is stated only for the models a manufacturer names — it is never inferred from advertised capacity.
Grill plate
Grill plate for a Tower dual-drawer air fryer
A removable grill plate supplied in each of the two 4.5-litre drawers. On this machine the grill plate is the standard cooking surface rather than an optional extra.
You can fit this yourself: Removable as part of normal use. Ask the manufacturer for the grill plate for this model number — the machine takes two, one per drawer.
The manual names the part but publishes no reference. Quote the model number from the rating label when you contact the manufacturer.
People replace it because: the non-stick coating has worn or is peeling; it is cracked, warped or broken; it is lost, or was missing from the box.
Tower's manual prohibits scouring pads, steel wool and any strong solvent or abrasive cleaning agent on the appliance or on its accessories, which includes this part.
The model identifier is on the rating label. This machine's drawers are 4.5 litres each; parts from other Tower models are not established as compatible.
Tower T17088 9L Dual Basket Vortx Air Fryer — Safety and Instruction Manual
Accessories with something documented for this model
Statements read from this machine’s own documentation. AirfryerHQ does not infer that an accessory fits an appliance from its advertised capacity, and no manufacturer here publishes the dimensions that would let anybody do so.
Useful for a specific job
Grill plate
Ridges give contact marks and a different surface. If your machine came with one, use it; buying one separately is a narrower call.
Recall and safety status
No recall known to us at the review date
Checked against OPSS product recall 2503-0094 on 13 August 2026. That alert names six Tower models and this is not one of them. This is a statement about one specific alert and is not a clearance: AirfryerHQ does not hold the UK register.
No verified recall or safety notice is currently recorded in AirfryerHQ for this appliance. That is a statement about this catalogue and not about the product: AirfryerHQ holds a small number of checked alerts and is not a copy of the UK register. Check the authority's own register before concluding that an appliance is unaffected.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards publishes the UK register of product safety alerts, reports and recalls on GOV.UK, and Electrical Safety First operates a recall checker for electrical appliances. Registering an appliance with its manufacturer is what makes a direct notification possible.
Finding the manual
The manual states plainly that its settings are indications and that the best settings cannot be guaranteed because ingredients differ in origin, size, shape and brand. One row, thick frozen fries, is printed as '20-20' minutes and is a misprint; AirfryerHQ records it as unusable rather than guessing what was meant.
About this model
A dual-basket machine with a twelve-preset menu and, unusually for the architecture, removable grill plates rather than plain crisper plates. It is not covered by the 2025 Tower recall, which names six other models — a distinction worth stating explicitly, because 'is my Tower affected?' is answered by the model number on the rating plate and by nothing else.
Owning this machine
The questions that come after the cooking.
- Looking after itFive minutes a week and one check a month, nearly all of it about grease.
- What to clean it withIncluding which tool every manufacturer in this catalogue prohibits.
- The coating, and when a basket is finishedThe part that decides how long this appliance lasts.
- Replacing a part, and what to ask forWhere the model and serial numbers are, and why no order code appears here.
- Accessories, and whether you need themWith the verdicts first and no affiliate links anywhere.
- Repair, replace, or stop using itThe symptoms that mean stop now, and the ones that mean a part.