The magic smoke does not smell good

[red-beard]

4 year old Microwave burned up today. I am sure it is either a capacitor or the magnetron. GE Profile. Not a 'cheap" Microwave.

Looked around for another today. The "trim kit" is as or more expensive than the microwave. It is forcing me to buy another GE Profile...

[masraum]

mmm, burned electrics, yum.

Not sure which is worse, electrics or clutch/brakes.

Yeah, microwaves seem like the kind of thing that it's cheaper to replace, but then I don't normally spend that much, and even the cheap ones usually last a long time.

There must be a Brit in the GE factory, maybe someone last name Lucas.

[drkshdw]

Our GE had the control panel go bad. It would turn itself on in the middle of the night with nothing in it. This was after the first GE wouldn't turn off when the time was up. It would keep running until you opened the door.

It didn't force us to replace it with another GE. It tempted us to try out being a microwave free house. We're now 3 years in and don't miss it at all.

[red-beard]

My cheap one in the office is 13 years old. Walmart, $69

[Bill Douglas]

Umm, I know that magnetron smell

[Baz]

My Kenmore is going on 28 years now....knock on wood.....

[fanaudical]

My GE microwave, only 3 years old, did the same damn thing 2 weeks ago - Major smoke/spark release in the cooking chamber, burnt panel on the interior. Appliance shop that sold it to me gave me the "it's only got a 1 year warranty, what do you expect?" response. I told them I expected a $400+ built-in microwave to be considered a major appliance and to have the lift-span of one. They wouldn't even offer a discount toward purchase of another unit.

Maybe this partially explains why GE stock has lost so much value this year...

[Por_sha911]

An appliance repair tech told me that built-in microwave ovens are good for about 3 years regardless of the brand or price. Counter top units are 10+ years. If you've got an older unit hang on to it.
I had a GE do the keep running until the door was open routine. I replace it with a Samsung and it had control panel issues that did the same thing. The panel is fairly cheap online and easy to replace. Make notes-you'll be doing it again in a couple years. Extended warranties are OK but expect to wait several weeks for a tech to come out and then a few more weeks for them to come back to install the part.

BTW, I thought this was a thread about British automobile electronics and wiring. Maybe built in microwaves are all built by Lucas?

[MBAtarga]

My buddy of 40+ years gives me his employee pricing on appliance parts. I pay about $30 for microwave magnetron replacements. I've replaced ours twice over the years.

[porsche930dude]

Ours just went out yesterday. When the door is closed it makes the shorting out noise. We keep a stash of 4 or 5 handy so I just swapped it out. I do alot of scrapping and find good ones all the time. It just sucks because that one matched our other appliances better. My brother is good with fixing them but this one seemed to be the magnetron who knows. That one had a bad connection on the magnetron when we got it was only one year old it lasted 5 for us after we fixed it.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Lol! Mine is I think 20 years old and works great. I use it daily too!

[red-beard]

Our first one lasted 10 years.

[herr_oberst]

I thought this was a thread about Jazz Tobacco.

[porsche4life]

Stop cooking turkeys in the microwave....

[red-beard]

[john walker's workshop]

My $20 unit just got all zappy after about 10 years. Time for another garage sale special for the shop.

[Les Paul]

Our Sharp came with the house in 1988. Still works like a champ and used daily.

[wdfifteen]

I know what you mean about the trim kit. The kit (piece of stainless steel and some attaching hardware) for our Sharp literally cost more than the microwave.

[petrolhead611]

Stop going on about British workmanship. At the period of Lucas unreliability , your US cars were absolutely us( eless). Wouldn't go round corners, wouldn't stop, rusted out in no time. At least British cars handled well( they rusted, just a bit slower than American cars did) and we knew how to maintain our cars so the odd electrical fault was often fixed by the owner. Italian auto electrics were far worse than British electrics in our damp climate, why no remarks about Princess Marelli of No Start ?

[beepbeep]

Lucas CU14: best frigging stock EFI I ever worked with. Low ohm injectors, MAF that did not bottom out (compared to Bosch LH), never ever a signle issue.