It was working earlier today, but stopped heating up the soup inside. We noticed a "hot plastic" smell & the outside (case) seemed unusually warm. The display, internal light, & cooling fan are all running.
Any chance this is worth trying to repair or get repaired?
No.
Bill
What does the Ouija board say?
If you dont have one, you may find it fairly enlightening after removing the cover from the microwave.
At a rough guess, your options would be to "get repaired" or dumped. The trying to repair bit sounds a bit dubious judging by the request.
AB
Well maybe unit depends on how much it cost and how long ago really. If it was a budget one then not really as the labour involved in dismantling testing what has gone fitting a new one and reassembling is going to be probably in the region of90 quid assuming a simple blown rectifier. Brian
Agreed, but if you are reasonably practical:
Just a long shot, is it the type with vents on the top and could any have got covered by mistake? The one we had for maybe 35+ years that didn't and so things were left on top with no issues. The replacement machine did have vents in the top of the outer case towards the rear and shutdown once when they were (partially) covered by mistake. It recovered once it cooled down (luckily).
It would depend on what it was that went wrong. No harm taking the case off and having a look before recycling it.
Cheers, T i m
You could have given us a clue with a make/model.
The "conventional" microwave ovens with a big iron core transformer are very simple in design, and the parts are largely generic and easy to obtain.
The "inverter" types can be a different proposition and the smell of something overheating does suggest to me that you may be dealing with one of these.
When I was repairing microwaves for a living a replacement PCB meant the machine was B.E.R. and I found that a repair to component level was thwarted because at the time I couldn't source the IGBT transistors.
Both types can be lethal to anyone poking around inside when plugged in, and even when not, a lethal charge can remain in the large can-type capacitor of the voltage doubling circuit.
Adam Funk formulated on Sunday :
Always worth having a go your self, never worthwhile to pay someone else for these cheaper items to replace.
Repair yes, if it's done when it doesn't take your time away from something else. Get repaired no, unless it's a high ticket item.
There certainly is harm in it. A lot of harm. If you work on a nuke you must be aware of their ability to kill when unplugged. The OP's question suggests they probably don't know how to repair one safely.
FWIW you can make a welder from the transformer, a megger from the turntable motor, & mechanical rundown timers are sometimes useful. The ding is easily silenced. And from electronic ones you can use the VFD to make a valve radio or nightlight - though LEDs have rendered such lights obsolete.
NT
I said 'look' not 'touch'. ;-)
Yeah, I took the one out of my old microwave and have since removed the secondary with that in mind. ;-)
I lost that. I put the (near) empty chassis in the front garden for one night and it was gone by the morning. ;-(
It was electrical on this and one of the finer plastic gears had fallen in half (which is partly why we scrapped it).
Such is progress. ;-(
Cheers, T i m
They can kill you, be careful if you don?t know what you are doing.
Unlikely unless it?s a high end convection microwave oven and even if it is, only if you actually use those features.
They do have an internal fuse, but that shouldn?t produce the symptoms you saw if it just blew. Likely it has died and the fuse did stop it catching fire etc so replacing it will just blow it again.
I just found out it was £119 in 2008. So I'll try vacuuming out the vents on the back (suggested by someone else), then replace it if that doesn't make a difference.
I just don't have time to mess with it more than that at the moment (noting also that the safety issues would add extra time & care) & we are rather dependent on it.
No vents on the top, but I'll try vacuuming out the ones on the back.
I doubt that'll help. It's often nothing more than a bad diode or cap.
NT
When I took the cover off our old one it did have quite a bit of dust, fluff and cobwebs in it (but that didn't stop it working) and when vacuumed out, looked as good as new (and was 30+ years old).
I did also take bits out to clean them better (the fan and its motor) and I was impress how easy it was to do (again, possibly because of how things were made in 'those days').
We were without a microwave for a good few weeks and whilst we missed it, we coped.
When I finally got round to having a look why it had stopped working, it turned out to be just a fuse (which I replaced and it worked again), but we had been given another one by then and the timer had also stopped working a bit before so ... ;-(
If you do take the casing off (often a few screws round the edges), yes, as mentioned elsewhere, don't plunge your hand straight in there with it still plugged in, but if it's been unplugged for a while and if you don't (even) plug it back in with the case off, there aren't any gremlins in there that will attack you. ;-)
(The cap in mine had a fairly substantial resistor soldered across it)
Cheers, T i m
if the mains fuse blows you're fairly likely to have an o/c shorting resistor and sometimes a faulty interlock. It is definitely not safe to simply replace the fuse, ensure your resistor is ok otherwise you are liable to have a machine with a faulty interlock & no working protection circuit.
there usually aren't kilovolts in it when unplugged, but those resistors have a failure rate, and the penalty of sticking your hand in is then likely to be death. 240v it is definitely not.
NT
so you paid just £11.90 per year.
Does it really owe you that much?
A cheap microwave from Tescos or Argos will set you back <£50...
How much do you value your time?
But come on: a) this is political^W d-i-y group and b) isn't there enough junk in landfill already? If it's fixable for a little investment in time, why not?
I bought my current microwave oven second-hand in 1986 when Isle College in Wisbech closed down their hospitality and catering courses. I've fixed it twice. Once by changing an electrical part and once by dismantling it and putting all the parts in a bath of detergent and scrubbing grease out of all the places grease shouldn't have been. (And rinsing with clean water and drying very, very, very thoroughly afterwards, obvs.) It has three buttons and a dial so I don't need an MSc in Quantum Engineering to understand how to use the thing and it suits me very well.
Nick
Yerrs. I finally found my old microwave that X-Madam hadn't bothered to half inch. Probly cos it was covered in grease and she never cleaned anything in her life.
Its a Sanyo with a grill as well - three dials grill/micro/both, lo/ defrost/medium/simmer/high/full, and a timer dial
I spent an hour cleaning it with bleach and its looks old fashioned, but it's in perfect working order.
OTOH I found a manky olive oil dispenser...looked at it, went online - woerth < £10 and I didnt really want it anyway. In the Bin. Likewise half a dozen assorted grill and baking trays. These are <£15 so they went too. All good recylable metal.
My tescos cheapo microwave rusted in less than three years. This sanyo has to be 20 years old...
A decent nuke can often be fixed in under an hour & should keep going for decades. A cheap new one will waste far more of your time with repeat replacements.
And the funny thing is, decent ones show up free now & then.
NT
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