GE microwave fails in 23 months, what's the likely problem? FAQ

Another guy with 25 years experience says about another model says "Try the fuse, there is more than a 80 percent chance that is the only problem." So definitely worth trying.

BTW, I know about the internal capacitance and the danger of shock inside the MW. I once had an Amana Radarrange Model 2, that looked just like the sketch you always see of a microwave. with two big timer knobs and no other controls. It broke 3 times. At one point, I tried to get a wiring diagram (which eventually I learned I didn't really need, because the circuit is so simple) and the woman at Amana wouldn't send me one. She's was afraid I'd hurt myself. I had to be get and convince her I knew what I was doing. She did send me one, no charge.

First repair, when I got it the spring that holds the door shut was broken. A simple mechanical repair. Second, years later, the insulationn on the diode leads had dried and fallen off. Covered them with black GE silicon sealant worked fine another 10 years. There might have beeen a 3rd one, but the last one was the power supply transformer failed. Amana wanted over $300 for it. He said they had a half dozen of them. i said no one but me woudl ever try to fix one. Just save one for their museum and another for the inventor's son or daughter's model and sell the rest for what you can get. I pointed out that I could get a whole microwave for 100. He said to write to Amana Iowa, so I did or I called them and they gave me an address in York Pa. I called it, and he wanted over 300 dollars too. So I threw it away.

It's worth checking out the fuse. If that is not it, taking it to a repair shop would probably cost as much as a new unit.

I assume you checked to see that the receptacle is live.

No other easy ideas. Okay.

Googling some more I found this line from an expreinence repair may in the url in one of my other posts, "Appliance Technician: Ezekiel. hi yes these microwaves have fuses its a 20 amp slow blow fuse when the door is slammed or it gets too hot in there it blows the fuse to avoid further damage"

When the door is slammed!!! If that's true, it's funny. And well worth replacing.

I think the whole url is about GE mw's.

Yes, line 2 above.

I guess they pay for this service and one of the customers is getting surly, LOL:

Contractor's Assistant chat Customer: GE Microwave JES1145SF1SS that had been working fine, decided today not to power up at all. Is there an internal fuse or circuit breaker that can be replaced? Contractor's Assistant: Can you guesstimate how old your GE is? And just to clarify, what's the exact model? Customer: Model is JES1145SF1SS and is approximately 2 years old Contractor's Assistant: Do you plan on doing the work yourself? Customer: Yes- I've already ansered these questions.... <====== Contractor's Assistant: Anything else we should know to help you best? Customer: Is there a technician that is supposed to help? Been there - done that. Is this the service?? <======

Home Depot has two fuses for sale Cooper Bussmann ABC Series 20 Amp Fast-Act Microwave Fuses (2-Pack) Contains 2 fuses $6.21

They should be about 30 cents a piece, right? These are 10x the proper price. And GE uses slo-blo fuses. Don't they all?

Amazon has 18 of them, slo-blo for $6.

I suspect that many of these online DIY sites are simply chat-bots that exist solely to gather your information - rather than an actual repair expert .. My low-end 2015 Panasonic Inverter microwave is working fine and gets used every day. I think it cost me about $ 120. brand new - perhaps in the $ 200. price range today ? - so any repairs that it might require in the future would need to be DIY and pretty quick & cheap & simple for me to consider them. John T.

Gotta love the reviews :-) :

there are 4 different sizes that have the same electrical values but have different Fiscal dimensions.

John T.

Yeah, LOL.

I was going to look for a blown fuse today (even though I've never slammed the door very hard), but I found the GE page for this. One guy said his lasted only 21 months and the reply from GE was: GE_Appliances We would like to help with your microwave. An agent will be reaching out to you via email, please respond at your earliest convenience. -- Doesn't say what they did, if anything, I guess I shouldn't open it up until I post a review and wait for a response.

You see encouraging replies like this a lot in reviews. I wonder how often the vendor really helps and how often they just want to make the negative review seem not so bad.

I found that it was listed at $156 but "on sale" for 99 when I bought it, free shipping. Now it's a 2-year older model and GE itself has it on clearance for 86, apparently free shipping. And the webpage also sends you to stores that are still charging ~130, I don't know about shipping.

I won't, but I'm tempted to buy the same model so I don't have to learn anything new. It gets 4.4 stars out of 5 on 7000 reviews, pretty good, but I suppose most people review before 2 years, so they still have time to break.

I had a microwave fail once, and the only thing I could fix on it was the fuse. That was it, and I've never had a problem since. That microwave is now about 40 years old.

BTW, Radio Shack was around then and they sold a microwave fuse for 69 cents.

Yep. Radio Shack was great for that sort of thing. The industrial supply places weren't too interested in selling to the homeowner, and often had a minimum order value and/or a re-stocking fee for any returns. John T.

So the thing lasted more than 10 years. Be happy, garbage it, buy another. You live in a capitalist country, anyway :-p

I had no idea that µW had fuses. Where do they typically put it? Next time my µW fails, I'll try to remember that. Although mine failed partially, so the problem was different.

I have repaired numerous Panasonic units where the door safety switches get out of sync so the light stays on withthe door closed and it won't start. The cheet metal that hold the latch and switches is a "poor grade of beer can" - I have designed a re-enforcement made of coat hangar wire and a crimp on wire connector that fixes them FAST

Hey John - have you been to Sayal out by Toyota Cambridge?

They have all kinds of useful suff!!!!

You forgot the R - Crapitalistic. If America didn't build/import CRAP the whole economy would fall apart. The American economy depends on everybody throwing everything away and replacing it with something worse every 6, 5, 4, 3, years. Remember Packhard / Studebaker?? They went under because people couldn't be convinced to get a new one every year.

USUALLY they are on the control circuit board

I have replaced fuses in microwaves a couple times. Both last years more. IIRC, I had to open up the side of the case to get to them.

Thanks Clare - I hadn't heard of it. I just bookmarked their web site and will check it out for things for my oldest grandson - now 13 and needing more challenging < and educational > hobby items. John T.

If you can find an appliance parts shop or electronic parts shop nearby, that would be worth contacting for such things. They are disappearing fast here though.