Microwave went south for the winter (probably much longer)

[Brian Brown]

So I thought I would try to tap into the vast knowledge of the creek. *My space saver microwave quit working. *It won't heat anything. *I assumed that the magnatron went bad, but I have talked to a few people that said that they go out slowly over time, not all at once. *The microwave was working fine the day before, and took the usual time to heat things up. *Then one morning, nothing. *The first sign that something was wrong was that it made a buzzing sound, louder than usual, as if something were rubbing against the fan. *Then it made some arcing sounds, about a minute into the cooking time. It is a hotpoint, so it is exactly the same thing as a GE. * Any ideas what the problem might be, or where to start looking? *Is it worth it to tear into it looking for some simple problem, or do I just bite the bullet and get a new one. *Any help would be appreciated. *

[Curt Harms]

My only thought would be to take the cover off and see if there's anything obviously amiss. If not and you're not electronically savvy, time for a memorial service IMO. The arcing sounds do not sound promising.

[Ted Calver]

Our original microwave was a really expensive $600 plus model purchased when the technology was really new. It malfunctioned once and quit running so we paid for a service call to replace a small electronic part. The technician said the only other thing that could go wrong was the magnetron and if that happened it was trash. I moved it to the garage because it took up so much space and today it dries wood and makes coffee. It's gotta be 20 years old. The model we now have in our kitchen only cost a little over one-hundred dollars and would not be worth the cost of a service call to repair if it broke. Maybe its time for a new one??

[Jim Koepke]

My vote is with Ted.

My life before retirement was fixing electronic and mechanical things. One criteria is that they have to be worth fixing.

The cost of a new microwave compared to the problems of repair and those that could be caused by a faulty repair are not worth it.

jtk

[Wayne Hendrix]

My father-in-law has twice replaced the magnetron in his space saving microwave because my mom goes to use it as a timer and hits the wrong button and runs the microwave with nothing in it. He is a very patient man. The point however is that the magnetron was easy to replace and costs far less online than a new microwave.

[Steve Griffin]

Our new house is going to have no micro. Hope we survive ;)