Microwaves

[bacon#1]

Anyone have experience with repairing them? Everything turns on but it won't heat anything. A few months back my son left a spoon in there for about 30 seconds before I caught it. It worked afterwards but obviously shortened it's life.

 

[deo62]

Give it a decent burial.

 

[churchmouse]

It is now a good target. They are so cheap that repairing is really not feasible.

 

[Vigilant]

Unless it’s a Hobart or Amana commercial microwave, the parts to repair it will cost more than going to buy a brand new one.

 

[PGRChaplain]

RIP Microwave.........

 

[bacon#1]

Bummer. It's a Samsung. I think we paid about $350 for it 6 years ago.

I was just messing around a few minutes ago and put a spoon in there and turned it on. No sparks. I figured broke is broke can't make it any worse.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

There's a 15A ¼x1¼ slow blow fuse that feeds the cavity magnetron. You can pick one of those up for a quarter or so at Ace or wherever. It shouldn't be too hard to find in the unit. If that doesn't fix it, yeah, it's pretty well shuffled off this mortal coil. I mean, I've resurrected a couple that way, and anything can be fixed, but just not worth it. I've done scary things with microwave ovens

 

[deo62]

Best thing to put in it now would be a couple of pounds of tannerite.

 

[Vigilant]

Samsung Magnetrons are anywhere from $90-$200.

 

[bacon#1]

Best thing to put in it now would be a couple of pounds of tannerite.

There is a strict one pound only rule at my house. Not enough land.

My kids play sports with the neighbors down the way. He says to me, who and the heck has the cannon around us. I laughed and explained tannerite to him. Gun shots are pretty normal, tannerite explosions not so much.

 

[deo62]

I suspect one pound will do it

 

[1911ly]

I have. There is a slow blow type fuse in the power supply. They go, and so does the high voltage rectifier. It the unit totally dead? There is high voltage in the unit. You can get DRT (dead right there) in a heart beat. There can be interlock switch issues too. If you aren't comfortable around high voltage just toss it.

 

[chezuki]

The capacitor in there can still mess you up for a long time after the microwave is unplugged.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

I used to pull corona off the cathode of the magnetron in one victim for fun with a screwdriver. I think it still has the burn. I irradiated myself a few times. You know it's time to back off when part of you seems to be getting warm. I closed off the waveguide and made a creditable coaxial transition, cheap RG8 notwithstanding. I'd set up an array of these cute little yagis and do stuff like lighting an incandescent bulb with no electrical connection.

I'm not a danger to myself or others. I just thought I should put that out there.

 

[actaeon277]

The capacitor in there can still mess you up for a long time after the microwave is unplugged.

I used to pull corona off the cathode of the magnetron in one victim for fun with a screwdriver. I think it still has the burn. I irradiated myself a few times. You know it's time to back off when part of you seems to be getting warm. I closed off the waveguide and made a creditable coaxial transition, cheap RG8 notwithstanding. I'd set up an array of these cute little yagis and do stuff like lighting an incandescent bulb with no electrical connection.

I'm not a danger to myself or others. I just thought I should put that out there.

Electricity is dangerous.
Throw in a magnetron, and it just got exponentially more dangerous.

 

[churchmouse]

The capacitor in there can still mess you up for a long time after the microwave is unplugged.

I learned this lesson in High school electric shop. We took in tube type TV's and attempted to repair them. Got set on my butt a few times as did others.

A couple of us got the grand idea to use the capacitors for make shift Tazers. We had adjustable power sources for testing. We had a stack of TV components.

Get an old history book. Hog it out to hold the Cap of your choice. Attach solid core wire to the cap and extend just past the book out the end. Charge up the cap.
Use the charge on the 1st Bully douche bag you encountered. Of the 3 of us that did this 2 were expelled. Staff had zero sense of humor in this matter.

 

[Colt]

Unless it’s a Hobart or Amana commercial microwave, the parts to repair it will cost more than going to buy a brand new one.

So when the GE microwave that I bought in the 1970's finally dies, I shouldn't try to get if fixed? It has one accessory that I have yet to try, a temperature probe.

 

[4651feeder]

Worked in an appliance store just after high school where it was tradition to initiate the new employee (usually a delivery guy cause they had the highest turnover rate) during a supposedly impromptu called meeting in front of the television repair bench. Amazingly all the chairs but one would be taken by the time the rookie was asked to attend.......

Yes this actually took place back in the seventies.

Back to the microwave, I had a Samsung that looked like the wires to the interlock switches had been dipped in seawater as much corrosion was present on the terminals.

 

[Bigtanker]

Have you tried putting it in uncoiled rice?

 

[IndyTom]

Have you tried putting it in uncoiled rice?

How much free time do you have? Uncoiling rice is hard. Getting enough to surround a microwave???