This morning my microwave didn't heat my coffee. I then tried other items at different times over a few hours (another coffee, milk, frozen vegetables,…). Nothing. So I bought a new one which was on sale and of course this evening the old microwave started working again.
Should I go ahead with my purchase or cancel it?
Returns are also accepted anyway, but what happened this morning was obviously not normal particularly considering I tried several items several times at different times.
Do you think something is failing inside the old one? I mean, it was not only once… It was all morning. The timer worked but the microwave just didn't heat at all.
Thanks for your advice.
Microwave Playing Up
Paul871 on 03/07/2017 - 18:25
Comments
It's probably dying, so I wouldn't go returning the new one just yet.
Thank you. I am glad I did the right thing. :)
yeah, the magnetron may be failing.
however, sometimes it just doesn't work for a while and then works perfectly .
my current microwave is a stainless steel 30litre LG which I bought for 99cents off ebay about 5 years ago. it was advertised as not working.
when I first brought it home and tested the microwave it did not heat. I let the microwave sit for 24 hours and then took the cover off (microwaves can hold hold current. however the high voltage capacitors used are self discharging - BUT ALWAYS USE CAUTION WHEN WORKING WITH ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT). disconnected everything that could be disconnected and then reconnected it all. it worked.
5 years later it is still working perfectly
disconnected everything that could be disconnected and then reconnected it all. it worked.
Did you find a loose connection or was it just a co-incidence that it started working?
I didn't find a loose connection. maybe there was one and I fixed it - can't definitely say.
maybe co-incidence.
however I went through a phase of collecting road side microwaves. out of the 5 that didn't heat - 2 did work after taking the cover off and disconnecting and then reconnecting internal wiring. so not sure why disconnecting and reconnecting works with any scientific reason.
It's the universal fix for anything!
Magnetrons really only have two states - working fine or a melted lump of metal.
Intermittent faults are usually wiring (the mains wiring in microwaves are done with locking tabs that rarely work loose (could corrode)), or a faulty controller board (bad solder joint etc).
The keypad connector could be loose, that's just a crappy ribbon cable.
Keypads can also have water get in behind them and that'll cause weird behavior. Too expensive to replace (it does pay not to obsessively wipe stuff down).
Temperature changes or a bit of percussive maintenance often gets things working again.
what happened this morning was obviously not normal
I'm assuming you mean heating your coffee in a microwave…
Check the high voltage fuse if it is blown. In my case it looks like a inline fuse holder. Had a similar issue of timer work but no heat.
I am not very technical, so I'd rather not open it myself considering it is dangerous. :( It was a very cheap one and having it opened by a technician is not worth it as it would cost more than the microwave itself. I just checked and I had only paid 97 bucks for it in 2012 so I don't think that these cheap microwave ovens really last long. I could wait and see what happens in the 30 days during which I can return the new one and PayPal would pay for postage if I want to return it I think. But it was a good price, almost 40% off + 10% off with an eBay coupon so I think I should keep it. :) The old one is not very good anyway and looking at reviews now they are bad (it was pretty new back then when I bought it so there were no reviews), while the new one has very good reviews.
I wouldn't keep a dodgy microwave oven. Junk it and enjoy the new one, hopefully it has more functions.