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Posted: 7/3/2002 8:52:23 AM EDT
A few days ago my microwave stopped working.
I put in a hot dog, punched in the time, and hit start. The 'wave came on momentarily (less than a second) then shut down. No beeps, any time, no light anything. It seems to me that there must be a fuse/fuseable link somewhere inside the case that has gone bad since there is NO power whatsoever to the device.
The Q is, if I take the case off to look for a
fuse/fuseable link, do I need to watch out for a capacitor?
Should I just go buy a new 'wave?
Don’t want a capacitor to knock me on my asp,
echo6
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 8:59:00 AM EDT
[#1]
get a new microwave and take this one to a  range and blow it to bits!
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 9:00:16 AM EDT
[#2]
Quoted:
get a new microwave and take this one to a  range and blow it to bits!
View Quote


I'll second this!
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 9:01:00 AM EDT
[#3]
When you can go to WalMart and get a new one for $50 or less, that would be the route I would go.

However, if you just want to tear into it I wouldn't be too worried about the caps. There shouldn't be one big enough in there to do more than give you a little tingle, if that, after all, it ain't a TV. [:)]

As always when dealing with electronics, if you're not sure what you're doing it would probably be best not to mess with it, since it's easy to do more harm than good.

Have fun.
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 9:02:08 AM EDT
[#4]
If it were mine, I would take it apart and just be careful. I can't see any reason why there would be any type of high energy capacitator in a microwave vs what is needed in a television.  

Still, microwaves are pretty much disposible nowadays, so why bother?

legrue
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 9:02:38 AM EDT
[#5]
Quoted:
Quoted:
get a new microwave and take this one to a  range and blow it to bits!
View Quote


I'll second this!
View Quote


I will third that!
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 9:02:59 AM EDT
[#6]
Call the mfgr and ask them to see if there are any user replaceable fuses, or circuit breakers. I have an ancient Amana(made in USA) that went south after a power surge/outage. They said that there is a user replaceable fuse, but I can't find it; but they wanted $10 for a user manual. F'em, need a bigger oven anyways.
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 9:09:49 AM EDT
[#7]
I would recommend against taking apart a microwave unless you know exactly what you are doing. There are potentially lethal voltages stored in microwaves, even when the microwave has been unplugged for a long time (months or even years). Microwaves contain high-voltage capacitors and transformers, similar to those found inside a TV. If you touch the wrong wire, you're in for quite a shock (pun intended).

Link Posted: 7/3/2002 9:14:42 AM EDT
[#8]
Quoted:
Call the mfgr and ask them to see if there are any user replaceable fuses, or circuit breakers. I have an ancient Amana(made in USA) that went south after a power surge/outage. They said that there is a user replaceable fuse, but I can't find it; but they wanted $10 for a user manual. F'em, need a bigger oven anyways.
View Quote



If its one of the old stainless ones they are worth some money.


If you put it back together wrong and stand to close to it when its on.You'll piss yopur pants and forget who you are for a half hour.
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 9:15:06 AM EDT
[#9]
Shoot it!!  Or, send it to me and I'll shoot it!  

Link Posted: 7/3/2002 9:21:05 AM EDT
[#10]
Not only that but if the Fuse is blown then there is a problem elsewhere.. So replacing the fuse won't fix the problem.

Ben
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 9:29:50 AM EDT
[#11]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Call the mfgr and ask them to see if there are any user replaceable fuses, or circuit breakers. I have an ancient Amana(made in USA) that went south after a power surge/outage. They said that there is a user replaceable fuse, but I can't find it; but they wanted $10 for a user manual. F'em, need a bigger oven anyways.
View Quote



If its one of the old stainless ones they are worth some money.


If you put it back together wrong and stand to close to it when its on.You'll piss yopur pants and forget who you are for a half hour.
View Quote

Yep, still got it. I'm not about taking one of those things apart. I know zero about them
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 9:33:50 AM EDT
[#12]
Quoted:
If you put it back together wrong and stand to close to it when its on.You'll piss yopur pants and forget who you are for a half hour.
View Quote


Words of experience?
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 9:40:03 AM EDT
[#13]
Quoted:
Quoted:
If you put it back together wrong and stand to close to it when its on.You'll piss yopur pants and forget who you are for a half hour.
View Quote


Words of experience?
View Quote


No, Jetlag sometimes goes by his other name, Cousin Eddie. His microwave problem got fixed when the VA swapped out the metal plate in his head for a plastic one. [:)]
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 10:07:44 AM EDT
[#14]
Quoted:
A few days ago my microwave stopped working.
I put in a hot dog, punched in the time, and hit start. The 'wave came on momentarily (less than a second) then shut down. No beeps, any time, no light anything. It seems to me that there must be a fuse/fuseable link somewhere inside the case that has gone bad since there is NO power whatsoever to the device.
The Q is, if I take the case off to look for a
fuse/fuseable link, do I need to watch out for a capacitor?
Should I just go buy a new 'wave?
Don’t want a capacitor to knock me on my asp,
echo6
View Quote


The same thing happened to me.  I replaced the fuse several times.  I finally just got a new microwave.  

Use it for target practice.
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 10:13:18 AM EDT
[#15]
The magnetron (I believe that is what it is called) needs to be replaced.  Relatively simple to do, but then again my brother-in-law works in electronics and knows how to do that sort of thing.
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 10:26:12 AM EDT
[#16]
Our old mw used to do that occasionally. I took it apart (and yes, there is a cap. An electrician buddy of mine told me to be sure to ground it first). What the problem was with ours was the microswitches for the door interlock would go out occasionally. Cheap and simple to replace.

But then that was a "few" years ago when they were more expensive. Probably is cheaper to use the throw & replace method now. Kind of like an old guy I used to work with and used pickups; he always said the cheapest way to fix some of them was to lift up the radiator cap and drive another used one in under it.

NMSight
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 10:34:19 AM EDT
[#17]
Quoted:
Not only that but if the Fuse is blown then there is a problem elsewhere.. So replacing the fuse won't fix the problem.

Ben
View Quote


I'd normally agree with that statement except I changed a fuse in my Litton about 8 years ago and it's still going strong. It probably takes a special fast-acting ceramic fuse. Get em at Radio Shack.
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 11:08:55 AM EDT
[#18]
But for the love of pete don't ask the sales droids at Radio Shack any tech questions. In the immortal words of Sgt Schultz "I know nothing. Nothing!"

"Fuses? Buy this 2.21 Jigga Watt Flux Capacitor instead!"
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 11:19:25 AM EDT
[#19]
The first thing I do is disable that stupid feature that prevents oven from cooking when the door is open. It is just like the stupid uneeded magazine safety that S&W puts in their semi-autos. Makes it a whole lot easier to see when the food is done cooking rather than having to squint through that screened glass panel.
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 11:27:17 AM EDT
[#20]
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 11:34:53 AM EDT
[#21]
All this and no one mentioned that the better new electro-nuke ovens have a single button marked "POPCORN".  Stick the bag in, push the button and WALK AWAY!. No more stinking cloud of smoke, no standing about absorbing radiation, just PUSH the button. ==Ding!== and your popcorn is DONE.  WooHoooo! How cool can it get?

Throw away the oldtimer.
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 11:44:30 AM EDT
[#22]
There are card totin' service people that get killed every year foolin with microwaves.

Thats why they are now only 50 bucks.  Stores would rather chunk them and sell you one for 50 dollars than risk fixing a microwave for 60 dollars.

Besides the caps, which hold a large amount of juice there are all sorts of things in there.  Glow in the dark people make welders out of microwave transformers, serious voltages here.

Buy another microwave.
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 12:42:04 PM EDT
[#23]
A few years back when they were more expensive, I repaired mine myselft. Once the magnetron went out, and I replaced that for $60.  The keypad also broke, and that was only $10.  I also took it apart to clean that stupid idiot switch.  Call me a cheapskate, but that thing is still going.  

If it breaks again, I'll just go out and buy another one.  The parts would probably be more expensive than a new unit.  echo6, it is probably just a 50 cent fuse.  I say go for it.  Use the $59.50 you save to buy ammo.
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 1:40:44 PM EDT
[#24]
Microwaves do not use "radiation" in the usual sense of the word - they use high-energy/high-frequency radio energy.  The effect from a microwave is the same as standing too close to a high-powered transmission antenna - the molecules in your tissues (especially water!) are excited and vibrate faster to heat up.  This heat WILL cook you from the inside out - there are rarely first- and second-degree RF burns.  First- and second-degree burns are primarily surface involved, and by the time it looks like you have one it is already too late - underlying tissue has been destroyed.  However, it is useful to know that once the Magnetron has been disconnected, you are essentially safe from RF energy.

There are also high-power caps in the box, DO NOT TOUCH THEM!  Simply grounding them to discharge them is likely to result in destruction of SOMETHING, as you have just effectively shorted the cap to ground.  You will need something similar to a radioman's "dummy load" to discharge a cap safely.

Put simply, it is possible to service a microwave, but it is also cost prohibitive to do so.  The amount of equipment you will need to ensure your safety will cost about three times what a new nuker will go for, and it just ain't worth it for someone who won't have other uses for the equipment.  Private individuals who service microwaves are usually radiomen - who have a full understaning of the risks and principles involved...

FFZ
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 1:46:24 PM EDT
[#25]
Quoted:
The first thing I do is disable that stupid feature that prevents oven from cooking when the door is open. It is just like the stupid uneeded magazine safety that S&W puts in their semi-autos. Makes it a whole lot easier to see when the food is done cooking rather than having to squint through that screened glass panel.
View Quote


I just laughed so hard I practically split my side and started crying.  ROTFLMFAO!!! [:D][:D][:D][:D]
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 1:51:47 PM EDT
[#26]
I know this may sound stupid but,have you checked the outlet the microwave is plugged into?
Have you checked the fuse in the panel or circiut breaker?
Link Posted: 7/3/2002 4:11:00 PM EDT
[#27]
Whatever you do, don't break open the radiation source.  The cesium inside one of those things can sterilize a small city.
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