That $60 air fryer from a yard sale turned into a total loss for me

I bought this beat-up air fryer for $60 at a yard sale in Portland last spring, thinking I was scoring a deal on a name brand. Got it home, plugged it in, and it worked great for about three weeks. Then the heating element just died on me mid-cook, and when I looked up the model number, turns out the company had gone under two years ago. No replacement parts, no warranty, nothing. Has anyone else gotten burned on secondhand kitchen gadgets like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_robin9d ago

I saw a Consumer Reports article last year that said air fryers have one of the highest failure rates of any small kitchen appliance... something like 1 in 5 dies within the first year. Hard lesson for sure. I had a similar thing happen with a secondhand Instant Pot where the seal gave out and it just hissed steam everywhere. People online say the heating elements are the first thing to go on those older models.

viola_butler9d ago

...and that's the thing about secondhand appliances, you never really know what kind of life they've had before you. I had a similar blowout with a used toaster oven from a flea market in Eugene. Worked fine for two months, then one morning it just started smoking like crazy and the timer knob melted right off. Found out later the previous owner had been using it to dry out wet shoes. @the_robin made a good point about how these things just aren't built to last like they used to be. I always take a second to check if replacement parts are even available online before I hand over cash now, which would've saved me from that $30 paperweight.