Microwave oven goes kaput

I think it is the result of a power surge we had during a storm the other night. My question is, would it be worth fixing or should we just buy a new one. It is about 7 years old, Panasonic from Sam's.

TIA

JC

Reply to
J.C.
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Microwave ovens are like toasters. Toss it and buy another and don't buy a warranty. Also, lots of luck with the power company. I lost my last one due to their fault - not trimming trees - and they said it was an act of God and would not pay anything. Make sure you put a surge protector on the new one.

Frank

Reply to
frank.logullo

Advice; unless you are an electronics technician with proper skills do not attempt to work on it yourself. A microwave is essentially a 500 to 1000 watt (fairly powerful*) radio transmitter in a metal box. It contains lethal voltage of several thousand volts and if not reassembled correctly can leak microwave radiation which may cause burns, or unknown health effects to humans. Microwaves are so cheap these days and while one hates to subscribe to the throwaway society it is probably not worth while to pay to get it repaired. The fault may be something very simple (maybe an internal fuse, or overheat switch) or something serious such as a magnetron (about $50) or power transformer ($50 or more); with at least an hours labour etc. to check out its safety /lack of radiations leakage etc. And correct replacement parts MUST be used. Over the past 15 or more years I have repaired probably about 9 MWs safely (my background is electronics) but I emphasize that while it MIGHT be a simple repair don't let anyone not sufficiently skilled work on it. Microwave ovens were once described as "As one of the most dangerous household appliances ever designed". I agree.

Reply to
terry

messagenews:BJ4vh.43163$ snipped-for-privacy@fe08.news.easynews.com...> I think it is the result of a power surge we had during a storm the other

toasters. Toss it and buy another and don't buy a

I would call a service center and ask how much for an estimate of repair . Then go buy a new one.

The last one I bought from Wal-mart was less than the cost of getting a repair estimate .

Reply to
marks542004

Thanks folks. That's pretty much what I figured. It's off to the appliance store.

JC

Reply to
J.C.

Buy a new one. If you shop around you'll likely pay less than you will for even the simplest repair job. At 7 years your old unit is well past its best.

Reply to
Malcolm Hoar

Many microwaves have a simple automotive looking fuse inside the case.

If you are reasonably handy, remove all the external screws and pull the top skin off the unit. Look for the fuse where the cord enters the unit. If fried, remove and replace. Realize this is NOT an automotive fuse. If it's fixed, keep it in the garage. If not, toss it.

Reply to
DanG

True. My brother put the wrong metal shelf in the microwave and it stopped working. The correct metal shelf looked almost the same as the wrong one, but of course the metal is different inside.

I took it apart and found the simple ceramic? (just like a cylindrical glass fuse but the glass part is white and not glass :) ) in a glass fuse holder on the circuit board, and fixed the thing for 1.50 for 5 fuses, or whatever they charge now.

This didn't stop my sister-in-law from buying a new one even though it didn't fit as well. It didnt' even stop her from throwing away the old one, but I got the cover out of the garbage outside and gave the whole thing to Goodwill Industries.

Got the fuse at Radio Shack. Although I think anything with the same amp rating, engraved on the end, would be ok, no?

Reply to
mm

I have a JC Penney microwave made around 1985 (before they stopped selling non-clothes stuff). 5 years later it stopped working. I removed the cover, knowing there was almost nothing I could do to fix it. I found a blown fuse and replaced it with one from Radio Shack. The microwave is still working today.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd

Hi, Ditto. I got a 1300 Watt Panasonic for less than 100.00.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

With each recommendation to replace the fuse should have been this warning. Lethal voltages can remain inside a microwave even when disconnected from AC mains. Technicians have been killed when they 'forgot' about that lethal voltage.

Second, fuse must have both same current rating AND same voltage rating. Reason why that fuse is not glass? Encased in opaque white: so that fuse does not explode when it blows.

If fuse voltage rat> I have a JC Penney microwave made around 1985 (before they stopped

Reply to
w_tom

I had a power surge about 25 years ago which damaged a new TV set I bought. Had it repaired for about $100. The regulator in the power supply blew. I tried to get redress from the power company and wrote to the public utilities commission; all to no avail with the best advice to see if your homeowners policy would take care of it. I decided that the only one who is going to protect me was myself and studied up on the surge protectors. If your mw is totally dead, it could be the regulator in the power supply. Also check any fuses as mentioned before. I have also heard of people who have opened the back of their mw after the surge and found a protective device called a metal oxide varistor had blown. They replaced it for a couple of dollars and got it to work. I bought a power strip, took it apart and put metal oxide varistors(MOVs)inside. To do it right, you have to protect against both common mode and odd mode surges which translates to putting a MOV across the power line terminals, from hot to ground and from neutral to ground. The MOV are very cheap. When they are activated by a surge, they do destroy themselves. They operate very fast; of the order of picoseconds, long before a fuse will go out which by then the damage will have been done to the circuitry. There are devices which also do not destroy when a surge not exceeding its rating occurs. These are called transorbs. All my high value electronic stuff is plugged into these protective strips I have modified.

Reply to
desperado

I had a microwave (one bought from J C Penney as they were getting rid of the non-clothes stuff) that went dead. I opened the case and looked inside, knowing that there was almost nothing I could do to fix it. However the problem was a blown fuse that could easily be replaced with one Radio Shack sold for less than $1.

That happened more than 15 years ago, and the microwave still works.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd

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