when a power surge or lightening strike somewhere along the line cooks a microwave oven? Is there some internal breaker that can be replaced? I'm gettin tired of buying new ones every four to six months.
JC
get a whole house surge supressor put on the main panel.......
A friend had this trouble and also put a hefty UPS on his microwave, it had $$ protection if anything got fried, he hasnt had a problem since
there are internal fuses in microwaves that you can check. however, the circuit board could also be fried and it will be cheaper to replace the unit rather than repair it in that case.
Thanks folks. I've had the surge protectors. For some reason they work everywhere else but on the dang microwaves. I even tried a couple of expensive ones. I just bought another microwave so I'm going to take the old out to the workshop and take the cover off and look around. I was kinda worried about radiation but I figure, heck in the military I worked for awhile in an Atlas F missle silo and I'm still here.
JC
Maybe look into that circuit - outlet for grounding, house - panel grounding and a surge protector on the panel, If its only the microwave its likely that circuit wired wrong.
"JC" wrote in news:pP1hk.64457$ snipped-for-privacy@fe03.news.easynews.com:
Un-plug appliances after each use. It's a pain, but you'll get used to it after a while. I do that with mine. I leave a small sticky note over the start button to remind me.
On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:20:53 GMT, "JC" wrote Re Re: What does it harm...:
If you are worried about radiation from an OFF microwave oven with the cover removed, you probably ought not to waste your time on it.
note that there is a large cap in there that will have enough stored power to give you a fatal zap. don't poke around too much.
Maybe look into that circuit - outlet for grounding, house - panel grounding and a surge protector on the panel, If its only the microwave its likely that circuit wired wrong.
Thanks, been there done that. With every circuit in the place.
JC
That's a good idea, but I doubt if me, nor my wife would ever remember that and the wife hates sticky notes.
JC
I'm just going to look for things that look like a fuse. I've gotten zapped by "dead" capacitors before. Thanks for the reminder.
JC
Put it on a power strip and turn it off after use, some microwaves consume maybe 1$ a month on standby.
About surge protectors, the price you pay has nothing to do with how good they are. The thing that matters most is how fast they can respond to a surge and then how much energy they can handle. You need to find surge protectors that respond in LESS than 5ns (nanoseconds) and then the higher the joules the better. I too had problems with surges, but now i have a decent protector between every electronic device (about 7$ each )and its outlet, plus i bought a "whole house" surge box ($75) thats wired into the main panel. I've not had any trouble since - none - and its been several years. I would recommend - read read read till you know what is what about surge protectors. Eric
Find one of the spring type timers (maybe 0 to 30 minutes) connect that into the line. Then just turn the knob to 5 minutes, put in the popcorn for
4 minutes, and enjoy. Here's an example of a 15 minute timer.
Do you have a surge protector on that circuit? Have you looked into Whole House protection? They go in at the breaker box.
It may have a fuse. Unplug it, wait a few days and carefully open it. Microwaves have big capacitors that deserve respect, and time to drain.
Have you had the main water pipe ground checked for a good connection? Do you have ground rods installed? Is all of your internal metal piping bonded? All of these will help with lightning protection and should be up to par before you install surge suppressors.
You could try calling the power company and explain the situation. Perhaps there is something that they could do for you. Maybe their ground rod at the transformer is defective.
But what if there is a crack in the lead lining holding the uranium?
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.