Replacing a part, and what to ask for

Questions this answers

• Where do I buy a replacement air fryer basket?
• What is the part number for my air fryer basket?
• Which parts of an air fryer can I replace myself?
• Where is the model number on my air fryer?
• Will a basket from another air fryer fit mine?
• What is the crisper plate in an air fryer, and does it stay in?
• What are the rubber feet on my air fryer tray for?

What can be replaced, and what cannot

The parts an owner handles are the parts an owner can replace: the basket, the drawer, the crisper plate, a grill plate, a rack or tray, and on the one machine in this catalogue that has one, the cooking probe. Every one of those comes out as part of ordinary use, so fitting a replacement is not a repair — it is putting the new one in.

Everything else is not an owner's job. The element, the fan, the thermostat, the control board and the wiring are inside a sealed housing carrying mains voltage, and this product will never describe opening one. A fault in any of them is a manufacturer or qualified-engineer matter, and on an appliance still in warranty, opening it usually ends the warranty as well.

Naming the part first

Before a part can be replaced it has to be named, and the names are a mess. The perforated plate the food sits on is a crisper plate to Ninja and Cosori, a cooking tray to Instant, a removable grid to Tefal, a grill plate to Tower and a crisper rack to Cookworks. Basket is worse: on a Cosori or an Instant it is the whole container that slides out, on a Philips it is an inner part that lifts out of a pan, and a Ninja dual-zone machine has no basket at all, only drawers. The table further down this page gives each manufacturer's printed word against the models it was read for.

Does the plate stay in, and which way up?

For anything meant to crisp, yes, and the manuals that explain it give the same reason: it holds food clear of the floor so air passes underneath. But it is not always compulsory. Ninja's dual-zone manuals make installing the plate the first step for air frying and mark it optional for roasting, baking and reheating. Cosori says its plates may not be needed for some recipes and names muffins and breads. Instant says its tray should be used for most foods. None of them tells an owner to cook chips on a bare drawer floor.

Which way round it goes is answered by the plate itself where it is answered at all. Instant's tray carries indicator arrows that point to the back or the front of the basket. Tefal's grid pushes down to a stop at the bottom of the bowl. Cosori's goes in tilted, one side first, and the manual warns that forcing it damages it. Where a plate has no marking, the diagram in its own manual is the authority; no manufacturer here publishes a rule that holds across brands.

So there is no single right way up, and the way to find yours is to look at what the maker put on the part. Arrows are an instruction. A handle, a finger hole or a raised grip marks the side you lift it by. Silicone pads or stoppers are fitted where the part meets the drawer. A stop, a ledge or a pair of tabs shows how far down it is meant to go. Whichever way it sits, the test of having it right is the one the manuals give for having it at all: food is held clear of the floor with space for air underneath, and the part sits level and fully seated, as the diagram in its manual shows it.

An oven is stricter, and its manual says so in terms. Bosch's built-in oven wants every accessory turned so its notch is at the rear and facing down: the wire rack with its open side towards the door and its curved lip downwards, a tray with its sloping edge towards the door. A combination microwave has its own version: Russell Hobbs says never to place the glass tray upside down, and Panasonic stacks its air-fry parts in a fixed order, enamel tray on the turntable, wire rack on that, basket on top. Where a manual read for this site shows or states an orientation, it is on that model's page. Where it says nothing, the page says nothing.

A loose plate is the reason several manuals say to lift food out rather than tip it. Cosori, Tefal, Tower and Cookworks each warn that a hot plate can fall out, or shift, when the container is turned over or tilted, bringing the collected fat with it.

The rubber or silicone pieces on the plate

The small rubber or silicone pieces are parts, not packaging. Cosori's manuals describe four silicone stoppers on each plate and say they are what keeps the plate fitted to the bottom of the basket. Tefal lists, among the steps before first use, not removing the silicone pads from the grid. Philips tells owners to leave the rubber plug in the pan for cooking and for the dishwasher. Cookworks says not to remove the silicone rubber grips at the corners of its dual machine's crisper racks. No manual read here asks for any of them to be taken off. What they are for is stated by only one of those makers: Cosori says its stoppers hold the plate against the basket, while Tefal and Philips say to leave theirs in place and give no reason. They are not the same part doing the same job on every machine, and a plug in a pan is not a foot on a plate. They are washed with the part they are fitted to: Philips sends its pan through the dishwasher with the plug in, and Tefal calls its grids, pads and all, dishwasher safe on the models where it says so. If one is lost, it is a replaceable part on at least one range: Philips lists the rubber plug, and a rubber foot, by reference.

The part number problem

Dozens of manuals read, and no order codes in any of them. The manuals are not being unhelpful about it — they name the components clearly, several publish which are dishwasher safe, and one publishes a cleaning method specific to the coated parts. They simply do not treat the parts as separately orderable in the document that comes in the box. The references that do exist are published somewhere else: Ninja's and Philips's own parts listings give one for each drawer, plate, basket and pan of the models read here, and those are on the model pages.

So AirfryerHQ records what it can honestly record: what the part is, what it is called in that manufacturer's own words, why people replace it, which models the manual says it belongs to, and a reference where the manufacturer's own listing gives one. Where a machine's parts appear in this catalogue they are on that machine's page. What we will not do is invent a plausible-looking reference, and we will not tell you a part from one model fits another because both are advertised at the same number of litres.

Finding the numbers you will be asked for

A manufacturer's parts desk will ask for a model number, and often a serial number. Both are on the rating label — the printed or etched panel carrying the electrical ratings and the safety marks.

On a basket air fryer it is almost always on the underside or the rear of the body. On an oven-style or countertop machine, look on the rear, the underside, or occasionally inside the door frame. On a built-in oven it is usually on the frame revealed when the door is open. AirfryerHQ describes where rating labels generally are rather than asserting a location for a specific model, because label positions are not published and guessing one would send somebody looking in the wrong place.

Two things worth doing while you are there: photograph the label, because it is easier than repeating the exercise, and check the identifier against the manual. Model families differ in ways that matter — the 7.6-litre and 9.5-litre versions of the same dual-zone range do not share parts.

Will a third-party part fit?

AirfryerHQ cannot tell you, and neither can anybody selling one as universal. Fit is a dimensional question: the base area, the depth, the shape of the runners, where the release catch sits. No manufacturer in this catalogue publishes a usable cooking area, and most do not publish chamber dimensions either, so there is nothing to check a claimed fit against.

What a nearly-fitting part costs is not only inconvenience. A basket that sits loosely changes the airflow path the whole appliance depends on, and one that fouls the drawer mechanism stops the machine closing properly — which on several designs is what tells it that it is safe to heat.

The safe route is a part the manufacturer sells or specifies for your model. Where that is not available, the honest position is that the appliance has reached the end of its life rather than that a substitute will do.

Register it, and do it now rather than later

Registering an appliance with its manufacturer is what makes a direct safety notification possible, which is the reason Electrical Safety First advises it. It is also what makes a parts enquiry straightforward three years later, when the receipt has gone and you cannot remember which model you bought.

It takes a few minutes and the only thing you need is the rating label you have just photographed.

What AirfryerHQ has not established

Spare-part availability, pricing or lead times for any manufacturer in this catalogue. No manufacturer has been contacted, and parts listings have been read for two manufacturers only.

The rating-label positions above are general to the appliance types rather than confirmed per model. Where a manual states a location we record it on that model's page; otherwise this is a description of where to look, not an assertion about your machine.

Whether any third-party part fits anything. Not established, not inferable from the specifications manufacturers publish, and not something AirfryerHQ will guess at.

What each part is called, brand by brand

The words below are the ones printed in each manufacturer’s own manual, specification or parts listing for the models named. Use them when you search for a part or ask a manufacturer for one, and use the left-hand column to translate advice written for somebody else’s machine.

Evidence and confidence

Appliances

• Basket air fryer
• Dual-basket air fryer
• Oven-style air fryer

If it went wrong

• The basket coating is flaking or peeling
• The drawer will not close, or will not stay closed
• Food sticks to the basket