Microwave oven stopped

My almost 3 year old M O was baking a small red potato. I had set it for 6 minutes and while it was being cooked, I was doing other things in the kitc hen..so I was not really paying any attention to the oven...except i could hear the motor running like it usually does...so the point i am making, if it makes any difference is if it ran its course and just overlooked the sou nd of the beep when its done, or it just stopped. I opened the door and it was cooked just fine but the first thing I noticed that there was no light, then i looked at the control panel and no clock and etc. I thought i blew a fuse. I checked the outlet and it was fine. I read the manual and it sug gested to press the pause button for about 3 seconds..that didn't work eith er. I tried to open the back where the screws or what suppose to be a screw are and i do not have whatever tool it needs to unscrew. I tried my Allen wrench tools to no avail. The tool that i might have to buy just to even c heck what the problem is, plust the part or parts needed will turn this int o another 'buy and throw away' product.

Reply to
novel
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Red. That should have been a warning.

You might have just blown a fuse, so it's worth taking the cover off.

The last one like that used a plain glass fuse, available probably in an autoparts store and certainly from an electronics vendor.

Usually the parts you want to look at are on the side, behind the control panel. Maybe you can take off the side with the tools you have.

Sometimes the top and both sides come off at once.

If you don't have the right tip,unless you're very old and don't expect to be living much longer, it's worth buying a set of tips, and a handle that tips will fit into . Under 10 dollars and they're gong to be using weirdo tips more and more as time goes on.

This is the closest I could find like what you need, but I"m not at all sure it has the tip you need.

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What I was really looking for was a box of either just tips, or one handle and the rest tips, and more different tips. Someone else will probably tell you where you can get them, and you could deswcribe better the head of the screws you can't

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This does NOT have the tip you want but if you find a box of just tips, this will be a good handle for them. Often the box is made of red rubber/vinyl and about the size of two packs of cigarettes, face to face.

Reply to
micky

Bear in mind that there are some very dangerous voltages inside a microwave oven so don't go poking around if you aren't sure what you're doing. They use odd security bits now so that any old Joe can't open it up with a normal screwdriver.

Reply to
M.Joshi

m is, plust the part or parts needed will turn this into another 'buy and throw away' product.

Since you didn't ask any questions, all I can do is cheer you on. Go team!

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Perhaps I should have said that. OP don't run the thing with the cover off. Have it on and screwed together. Unless the fuse is blown, ;come back for more advice or throw it away, unless it's a really expensive model worth having repaired.

Well, B&Decker uses security bits on its coffee makers too, and iir its weekwackers too. They don't want peiple inside anything, not just the things that can hurt them.

Reply to
micky

Micky... The microwaves I have worked on have a stranded size cartage fuse BUT it is a special one that looks like ceramic covering and were 15 amp. They were available at Radio Shack. Unknown reason for fuse failure. New fuse brought them back to working. WW

Red. That should have been a warning.

You might have just blown a fuse, so it's worth taking the cover off.

The last one like that used a plain glass fuse, available probably in an autoparts store and certainly from an electronics vendor.

Usually the parts you want to look at are on the side, behind the control panel. Maybe you can take off the side with the tools you have.

Sometimes the top and both sides come off at once.

If you don't have the right tip,unless you're very old and don't expect to be living much longer, it's worth buying a set of tips, and a handle that tips will fit into . Under 10 dollars and they're gong to be using weirdo tips more and more as time goes on.

This is the closest I could find like what you need, but I"m not at all sure it has the tip you need.

formatting link
What I was really looking for was a box of either just tips, or one handle and the rest tips, and more different tips. Someone else will probably tell you where you can get them, and you could deswcribe better the head of the screws you can't

formatting link
This does NOT have the tip you want but if you find a box of just tips, this will be a good handle for them. Often the box is made of red rubber/vinyl and about the size of two packs of cigarettes, face to face.

Reply to
WW

A microwave differs from a Weedwacker or coffee maker in that it has a "capacitor". It's not just a matter of running it with the cover off. Even if the oven is unplugged, the capacitor still holds a charge and can jolt a person. One needs to know how to discharge the capacitor before attempting extensive troubleshooting.

Reply to
Meanie

Last one I worked on for a friend, had a shorted high voltage cap, which of course took out the fuse. New fuse didn't last long, and had to find what shorted.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

m is, plust the part or parts needed will turn this into another 'buy and throw away' product.

First of all, a 'small' potato for 6 minutes? Way, way too long. My guess is that the potato would be totally burned up. When there is too much heat in most ovens, there usually is a safety link that shuts down everything. It is a fusible link which actually melts, opening the circuit. They are usually located on the top of the oven, just above the interior wall.

Reply to
Art Todesco

I'm glad to have a new person posting. Welcome, even if I argue a bit.

Yes. My post made the point that disassembled microwave ovens can hurt people and disassembled weedwackers and coffeemakers are much less likely to. But still some companies use secruity screws*** on all of them. Because they don't want owners repairing their own appliances. ***not bits like I said.

Yes. And it's not just that. It's also that the microwave can be run with the cover off, exposing the repairer to high voltage and to microwaves. There used to be a cage, and I think there is still something** inside the case to keep microwaves from a repairer, but it might not be in perfect condiition, or the repairer might mess with it, and not put it back as it was, not realizing he is letting out the invisibile demons, the microwaves.

With TV's for many years there was a high vottage cage to keep people from touching the high voltage on the HV rectifier tube, (and there was a lot of insulation around the wire to the picture tube) but if the cage were removed, the repairman was safe, because the cage was a physical barrier. Even without the barrier, if he didn't get his hands or tools nearer the HV than the barrier would have alllowed, the high voltage wouldn't reach out and hurt him. Microwaves aren't like that. They do reach out. The cage or whatever in a MW oven** is a physical also an electro-radiation barrier, both when the outside cover is off and even when it is on. .

**This assumes there is still something that plays the role of a metal cage. I had a relatively new MW open just a few months ago and if I looked for it, I don't remember.
Reply to
micky

e problem is, plust the part or parts needed will turn this into another 'buy and throw away' product.

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Reply to
willshak

I would think that set would work.

My microwave is held together with what I call "tamper proof Torx," sort of a star shaped cavity with a pin in the center to keep you from using a sta ndard Torx. I have a set i bought at the local auto parts store. I assume the HF "star" is the same as what I've always called Torx, that may even b e the correct name.

Reply to
TimR

The first thing you MUST DO is to give a manufacturer, make, and model of t he Uwave. That way we might be able to give you a much more detailed sugge stion on how to proceed.

if the wall outlet into which you plugged the Uwave is definitely ok, then you have to get the cover off to proceed with trouble-shooting the problem. The fact that everything is dead surely points to a fuse in the primary c ircuit. So, spend the $ and get the correct screwdriver bit and screwdrive r bit holder to remove the cover. Then, post back here the info I suggeste d and we can proceed from there.

Reply to
hrhofmann

On Thursday, December 26, 2013 4:23:08 PM UTC-5, snipped-for-privacy@sbcglobal.net wrot e:

the Uwave. That way we might be able to give you a much more detailed sug gestion on how to proceed.

n you have to get the cover off to proceed with trouble-shooting the proble m. The fact that everything is dead surely points to a fuse in the primary circuit. So, spend the $ and get the correct screwdriver bit and screwdri ver bit holder to remove the cover. Then, post back here the info I sugges ted and we can proceed from there.

Thank you all...as the op, this happened on Christmas day so I got in touch with General electric troubleshooter part area today and they said that th ere is no line fuse shown in the diagram for this unit...so out to the curb it goes...Merry Christmas and to all a 'good night'..LOL

Reply to
novel

You give up too easily.. The fuse may be in the secondary side of a line transformer.

Reply to
hrhofmann

When a consumer help line says "no line fuse shown" they probably mean, "no user serviceable fuse." I would like to be at your curbside when you put is out : )

Reply to
Art Todesco

Some of those capacitors have high value resistors to drain the charge when the oven is not in operation. I have have a junk one out front and I could have sworn I saw a drain resistor across the capacitor in the last microwave oven I had apart. o_O

TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

Would this be what you're describing?

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I've replaced a lot of them in all sorts of appliances and these small ones are the type I see the most of. ^_^

TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

High voltage cap, and high voltage diode are common parts to go wrong, go wrong.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

But would they kill everything??? Since everything is gone, there must be some sort of fuse-type mechanism that responded to whatever the real problem is.

Reply to
hrhofmann

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