The light inside my microwave is developing a mind of its own, and when the thing is running will turn itself on and off at random (more on than off at the moment), and it doesn't always turn on when I open the door. The fan still works OK, and food is getting heated as usual, so whilst I can still cook with it, I'm a having a feeling that it may be destined for the great kitchen in the sky in the near future.
Adrian
You can buy a new bulb for a couple of quid online, that's what I did when mine started doing that and it's been fine since. It might even have just worked loose.
It was only after I changed the bulb that I wondered if I ever actually
*needed* a light inside the microwave. Not having one for a while didn't make any difference to anything.
Replacement bulbs are only 50p, calm down
NT
Shirley, if the 'bulb' were dead it would stay off & not flash on & off as described.
Poor contact most likely.
This is a common problem due to prolonged cooking of large meals. It is reversable however and does not involve bulb replacement.
HN
Its common with such bulbs for a broken filament section to flap about, making contact some of the time. If you're excessively mean you can often get the filament in the right place and refit it.
NT
In message , Adrian writes
Thanks for the comments. I'll have a look tomorrow and see if I can get the bulb out. As for prolonged cooking of large meals, it probably gets less than 20 minutes use a week.
Adrian
No, it just needs a new bulb dear.
there speaks a boy so young he has NO EXPERIENCE OF FILAMENT BULBS!
Wow.
it's not as if most food that goes in a microwave even has eyes to be bothered about the dark? unless your Jeffrey Dahmer and nuking a quick snack i guess.
I don't think I've ever looked through the glass of the microwave or oven. The oven is useless anyway, it's toughened glass with lines across it and a
0.00001 watt bulb inside, you'd have to put your eyeball on the hot glass to see anything. There's no harm in opening the door and having a look, I don't bake so my fairy cakes aren't going to collapse.
I'm not dear, I'm expensive :-)
I look through the microwave glass so I can stop the cooking before 'it' explodes all over the inside of the oven.
Owain
Very common with car bulbs with rigid filaments, especially the tail light filament of a 5/21W bulb.
Go over a bump and one end becomes detached. Give it a thump and it re-welds itself.
"Faulty tail light osiffer? What faulty tail light?
That happened to us when we took an old Bradford Van that we got FROM a scrap yard for its MOT. It passed, too, even though the kingpins had so much play you could hear them knocking. But the inspection guy was familiar with old vehicles, so knew what was really important. This test included the passenger seat folding up and throwing his Tapley Meter onto the floor when he tested the brakes, and also threw the un-fixed battery loose, so the acid spilt onto the garage forecourt. Ah, those were the (student) days....
I am sure you are both sweetie pie
Killjoy.
Err... How often does your Microwave oven go over sleeping policemen?
Sauce! I bet you say that to all the pensioners.
Coiled-coil filaments are usually under tension & tend not to reconcile once they have parted company.
Id say one in 20 in my tears of experience would flicker for a while before finally fusing,
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