microwave circuit problem

Jess · 2009-11-19T15:53:18+00:00

Why would the below be happening?1. 12 year old over the range microwave stopped working - no power.2. Microwave on its own dedicated 20 amp circuit.3. No other outlets or devices on this circuit.4. The circuit breaker was NOT tripped.5. Reset the breaker several times (off-on-off). Power restored to themicrowave (enough to display the clock), but as soon as you try tocook something the microwave looses power and the circuit panelbreaker is NOT tripped.6. Assumed the microwave was bad and bought a new one.7. Exact same problem with the new microwave.8. Recycled the breaker several times to get power to the microwaveagain (so the clock displays), but did not try to cook anything.Unplugged microwave and plugged in a hair dryer. Tryed to run the hairdryer - no power and circuit breaker NOT tripped.9. Microwave works perfectly when plugged into another circuit.10. Assumed the circuit breaker itself was defective.11. Replaced the circuit breaker with a new one and still have theexact same problem.So now logically, it seems that the only problem it could be issomething with the wiring itself. This circuit has worked withoutproblem for the last 12 years.Could someone provide some guesses as to what the problem might be?Thank you,Jess(search key word = JessJoeMama)

Nov 19, 2009 22 Replies

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Stormin Mormon 16 years ago

Said he tried a hair dryer. Those have a low failure rate. I'm thinking either bad connection on the socket, or loose neutral inside the panel.

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Van Chocstraw 16 years ago

Most of them have a buss fuse inside the cabinet. More than likely the thing is drawing more current in old age. Take it apart and put in a larger fuse as I did before. Then it worked fine.

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Jess 16 years ago

Found the problem. The neutral wire must have had a bad connection at the circuit breaker panel because the last 3 or so inches of the wire was fried. An electrician repaired it and everything is fine now. Thanks for everyone's help.

Jess

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