GE Spacemaker Xl 1400 Life

I think my sister in law had one and it just recently died. It was less than a year old. However she used it as a timer and ran it empty for 20 minutes. It died accompanied with a burning smell. Later she read the manual that told her not to do what she had just done. Unfortunately I put it in for her and her husband is not very handy so they're going with an identical unit so as to use the same mounting plate. I had an old Lytton that was over 20 years old and I replaced it 4 years ago with a Korean Whirpool. Been great. Donated the old one to a church. You could Freecycle it or Craig's as a "free needs repair". Richard

I replaced the magnetron in mine (not a spacemaker). Call AP Wagner and give them a model number (and part number if you have it.)

Prices have gone down. Consumer Reports suggests buying a new one at that age.

I was considering doing that, but read on one of the newsgroups that I shouldn't do it unless I know what I am up to, given the high voltage capacitor etc. I am reasonably handy, and not an expert. Should I try it?

If you're talking about changing the magnetron yourself, save yourself a lot of grief. I watched the tech change mine. It took him 2 hours (and he's done many before) and he broke his a-s.

It's been a long time since I did mine, and I don't remember any capacitor. Some capacitors need to be discharged, because they store voltage. There's probably something online that would tell you if you had to, and how to do it. I think the hardest part is the wiring, so make sure you have the new one first, then check to make sure it's the same, and write down the wiring order before you disconnect the old one.