How To Make a Toaster Oven Not Ding Anymore (4 Easy Methods)

All toaster ovens ding, and many models beep multiple times when the timer stops for certain modes. However, the ding, beep, or bell may be too loud for comfort, especially in offices and at home during odd hours. It’s understandable if you’re wondering how to make a toaster oven not ding anymore.

Here’s how you can make a toaster oven not ding anymore:

1. Turn off the indicator beep.
2. Remove the piezo buzzer.
3. Pad the circuit board beeper.
4. Disable the mechanical bell.

Despite many apparent similarities, a specific remedy may not work for everyone as toaster ovens do not contain identical features and parts. Read on to learn the appropriate method for you to ensure your toaster oven won’t ding anymore. 

1. Turn Off the Indicator Beep

Some toaster ovens have a feature enabling users to turn off the indicator beep or ding.

This is the simplest solution. However, many brands of toaster ovens, especially the older models, may not have this feature.

Check your oven’s instruction booklet or owner’s manual and look for anything related to the indicator beep. If there is an option to turn it off, do so, following the instructions in the manual. 

Consider the Cuisinart Digital Convection Toaster Oven CTO-1300 PCC. According to its instruction and recipe booklet, you can regulate the ding or beep by following these steps:

1. Plug the oven into the power outlet.
2. Press the Toast and Bagel keys simultaneously.
3. Keep both the keys pressed for around 5 seconds.
4. The indicator beep will be deactivated.
5. Repeat the same process to reactivate the ding.

This deactivation is not permanent. If you unplug the Cuisinart toaster oven, the default ding or indicator beep will be reset or restored. So, you do not need the fifth step above when restoring the ding; just unplug the toaster oven. 

Unfortunately, this turnkey solution does not apply to many toaster ovens, including Cuisinart.

For instance, Cuisinart does not mention any such feature in its manual for the Brick Oven Premier BRK-300, which is no longer in production. Similarly, Cuisinart Custom Classic TOB-40 manual does not have the indicator beep turn-off instruction. 

Therefore, you need to check the owner’s manual for the relevant setting and instructions. If you are lucky, your model may have a turnkey solution. Otherwise, consider the following options. 

2. Remove the Piezo Buzzer

Modern toaster ovens use a beeper or buzzer to produce the ding sound. Generally, this beeper is a piezo buzzer, but some models may have a magnetic one. Regardless of the type, you will find this buzzer mounted on the circuit board of your toaster oven.

Thus, you can access the circuit board and remove the magnetic or piezo buzzer. 

The specific steps for taking apart a toaster oven depend on the brand and model. But several fundamental parts are likely to be similar. Refer to the owner’s manual and rely on your visual inspection as you dismantle the unit. 

Here is the standard way of disassembling a toaster oven to access its circuit board:

1. Unplug the toaster oven and allow it to cool. The capacitors in a toaster oven usually do not hold much electric charge after you unplug the appliance. However, the wait time will also discharge the capacitors as a precautionary measure.
2. Use pliers to pull the control knobs on the front panel. If it is a digital panel with buttons, look for the screws for this section. Removing these parts first is typically necessary for most toaster oven brands and models. 
3. Check the screws on the main cowling covering the entire toaster oven on the sides, bottom, and rear. Get an appropriate screwdriver to remove all the screws on the feet, bottom panel, sides, and rear of the housing. 
4. After removing all the screws, you can slide the cowling towards the rear, allowing you to remove the door panel. The door panel is usually integrated with the front cowling. Look for the screws and remove them. You may need to uninstall a hinge or spring of the door.
5. Hold the front door and its panel as you unscrew this cowling. Else, the section may drop as you remove the last fastened screw, spring, or hinge. Remove the front cowling, and you will gain access to the control board.
6. The control board is behind the knobs or buttons you removed in the second step. If you need to pull out the control board from the chassis, disconnect the wire harnesses from the sockets. In some models, you can see the buzzer without removing the board.
7. The piezo buzzer is a plastic cylindrical component with a hole atop. The buzzer should be unmistakable due to its distinct shape compared to the control board’s capacitors, resistors, or other elements. Also, the plastic enclosure of the buzzer is usually black.
8. Use needle-nose pliers to remove the piezo buzzer. Some piezo and magnetic buzzers sport a cap at the top with a hole at the center. You can remove this cap, too. In such cases, you don’t have to remove the whole buzzer, just the element inside it.
9. The buzzer has a piezoelectric element, a thin silver or gold-colored disc. Remove this disc, and the buzzer won’t ding anymore. A magnetic buzzer has a disc, too. Instead of being piezoelectric, this disc is ferromagnetic. Remove this disc from the buzzer.
10. You can restore the cap on the magnetic or piezo buzzer after removing the disc. If the buzzer does not have a cap, use the pliers to remove the entire cylindrical fixture from the control board. Twist and wiggle the buzzer with the pliers until it comes off the solder.

You may need to tweak these steps depending on the toaster oven model and brand, be it Black and Decker, Breville, Cuisinart, Hamilton Beach, Panasonic, or Rival.

3. Pad the Circuit Board Beeper

Removing the magnetic or piezo buzzer from the control board is a permanent remedy unless you install another beeper in the future. If you want a temporary fix, you can pad or dampen the buzzer on the circuit board so that the beep or ding is not as loud.

You can apply duct tape to cover the hole on the buzzer’s cylindrical enclosure. However, covering the hole or using other materials to dampen the loudness may not be equally effective for everyone. Thus, you should weigh your options and test what works best for your toaster oven. 

4. Disable the Mechanical Bell

Some toaster ovens have a mechanical bell integrated into the timer switch. However, the bells do not have a ferromagnetic or piezoelectric disc inside. 

Instead, the timer switch has springs, gears, and levers. And the attached bell has a tiny metal strip inside it. As the timer stops after the preset duration, the switch opens the circuit, and the tiny metal strip strikes the bell, making the noise. 

The only way to make such a toaster oven not ding anymore is by disabling the bell. You need to take the timer switch off and manually separate the bell from the unit. 

Do not tamper with the switch or its gears, springs, and levers on the circuit. Work only on the tiny metal strip inside the bell casing. 

Here’s a video of a toaster oven timer switch with the tiny metal strip in the bell at ~3:20:

If you can break, deform, or disable the tiny metal strip, it will not strike the bell, and the toaster oven won’t ding. However, exercise caution so as not to damage the timer switch. If your toaster oven has a removable bell on the timer switch, simply remove the part from the unit. 

Key Takeaways

To make your toaster oven not drill, check your manual and try any of the following:

• Turn the indicator beep/ or ding off per the manual.
• Remove the piezo buzzer entirely or its disc (electrodes).
• Pad the circuit board beeper to dampen the loudness. 
• Disable the tiny metal strip in the bell casing of the timer switch. 

Avoid drilling holes on the chassis, panels, and cowlings or tampering with anything on the control board except the buzzer. If your toaster oven has a timer switch and bell, work only on the latter’s metal strip, not the former’s gears or springs.