When we last left our intrepid cheapskate DIY home owner ( Microwave Suddenly Died - Fix or Replace? she had replaced a fuse on the microwave that immediately killed the new fuse meaning something else was wrong. But she was fed up by then and had to go out of town for a week so the episode ended with To Be Continued...

Upon returning to town Cheapskate sat down again and did another deep dive into YouTube microwave repair college. She decided to attempt further troubleshooting that entailed ordering a voltmeter. With the voltmeter in hand, and a few youtubes on how to use the voltmeter, Cheap determined that one of the three door switches was malfunctioning. New switches were ordered. Turned out she wasn't paying attention and had ordered the wrong switches. More switches were ordered. The replacement switch was installed, all the wires were reattached, and all the screws reset.

BEHOLD - THE MICROWAVE WORKS!

The natural order of the kitchen has been restored. The reserve countertop microwave has been returned to storage waiting for that fateful day when her manchild moves out and needs a microwave for his own damn place. The incorrect switches are being returned to Amazon. The voltmeter will live in the toolbox though Cheap doesn't really understand what its use is beyond what she used it for but what the hell. The Black Friday microwave purchased from Lowe's just in case this was all futile will be returned ASAP.

Cheap is very proud of herself and is now contently munching on a Costco poppyseed muffin very pleased that she spent $40 and a good portion of her remaining life energy on repairing the microwave instead of about $350 replacing it.

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"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2021 01:59PM by graylocks.

Doorswitch Leader! Give Cheapskate my regards.

I too have done this repair. I think that the microswitches on these ovens are the weak link.

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"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion." (1987) -- Carl Sagan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2021 11:57AM by davester.

Congrats! Mine was a fuse. It’s good to prevail.

Lady Wave Repair Leader to you.

One less electronic device in a landfill is yet another BIG plus!

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

Congrats! Love to hear DIY repair successes. After ten years our microwave wouldn't go on. Inside light worked. Against all the warnings, I took off the cover and started probing with my voltmeter and found the over-temp switch had given up. It has a bimetal spring that prevents contact when it gets too hot; it had stopped making contact. $10 and about an hour of work, and we were back in bidness.

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Quote
graylocks
...Cheap determined that one of the three door switches was malfunctioning.

You're welcome.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/2021 10:34AM by pdq.

Quote
pdq

Quote
graylocks
...Cheap determined that one of the three door switches was malfunctioning.

You're welcome.

i appreciated all the assistance i received. thank you. your suggestion lead me to reconsidering the switches. in your example tightening the mounting did the trick. in this case that didn't help; one needed to be completely replaced.

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"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2021 01:36PM by graylocks.

Not cheap, frugal. Congrats.

"... entailed ordering a voltmeter."

this always stops me cold...

"Cheap is very proud of herself..."

hell yeah! As she should be!!

fricken WELL DONE! Fixing something you don't fully understand is one of the great pleasures in life - enjoy that muffin. You earned it!

gl, you rock!

Well done, especially with ordering a DMM and getting a handle on it.

Well done (bears repeating!).

---

I am that Masked Man.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

If “Doorswitch Leader” is a legit thing, Cheapskate gets one from me too.
Good one!

Now imagine how many appliances as thrown away because nobody attempts the simple fix

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Yeah! I love a happy story!

congrats! not cheapskate or frugal but keeping yet another chunk of metal, glass, plastic and who knows what off the trash heap.

as mattkime said ...

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!#$@@$#!

Quote
mattkime
Now imagine how many appliances as thrown away because nobody attempts the simple fix

Exactly... I've sometimes fixed stuff just by replacing a fuse or a single switch.

And to graylocks, a well-earned MICROWAVE LEADER !!!

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)

Microwave Leader!

This is an excellent story on what to do and how far to go. If the switch did not fix it, run away.
Now back to switches. Even a switch that is never moved......can go bad, OXIDIze.

My on demand water heater decided to to cease to heat and just blink. After checking this and that I decide the cover must come off. I cycled each and ever dip switch and it sprung to life. 2 days later I had to do it a gain. Maybe a week later I did it again, just the first two of each. Been good for months now.

About that meter, if you keep it accessible you will use it for many things.

Congrats!

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Staunton, Virginia

Quote
Bernie
This is an excellent story on what to do and how far to go. If the switch did not fix it, run away.

yes, from what i saw on youtube further troubleshooting would have been far beyond my paygrade.

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"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

Quote
mattkime
Now imagine how many appliances as thrown away because nobody attempts the simple fix

I think the biggest impediment is fear of electrical appliances and lack of patience. I do have a healthy respect and fear of electrical appliances but I did major in theater lighting design in college so i have a small history in working with wires and rigging plus a lifetime of dealing with audio cables and equipment. The average person has rarely had to disassemble anything.

As for patience, I can muster enough to pay attention to a certain amount of tedious detail if doing so will save me a significant amount of money. OTOH, i also considered installing the replacement over the range microwave myself if my repair efforts failed and after about 5 minutes of THAT youtube vid i realized i did not have the patience to deal with that and would have called an installer.

Still, I must say YouTube is a tremendous resource and I think people under appreciate the wealth of information there. The vids posted are not all correct, complete, or useful. It helps to view more than one on any given subject and read the comments where others viewers call out errors but it's a great use of our modern capabilities.

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"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

Can someone enlighten me? How does a bad door switch cause a fuse to blow? Seems like it would just stop working without a fuse blowing. Thanks.

Quote
graylocks
Still, I must say YouTube is a tremendous resource and I think people under appreciate the wealth of information there.

I agree!

Learning guitar? Planning a really hard hike over passes with no trails? Trying to fix... anything! Youtube has got to be the best resource on the planet. I remember when google bought youtube for $1.65B and everyone thought they were crazy. What do you suppose it's worth now? The cat videos alone are worth that much!

Quote
hal

Quote
graylocks
Still, I must say YouTube is a tremendous resource and I think people under appreciate the wealth of information there.

I agree!

Learning guitar? Planning a really hard hike over passes with no trails? Trying to fix... anything! Youtube has got to be the best resource on the planet. I remember when google bought youtube for $1.65B and everyone thought they were crazy. What do you suppose it's worth now? The cat videos alone are worth that much!

The've been get $10 bucks out of me for many years now to eliminate the commercials and they THROW IN a full music service comparable to Spotify/Apple Music to boot.

That's a great job of sleuthing out what you needed to know in order to achieve a "Cheapskate's" victory.

We fixed our microwave a few years ago with the help of a friend who used to repair appliances. It was a failed magnetron. It is still going strong!

Quote
vision63
The've been get $10 bucks out of me for many years now to eliminate the commercials and they THROW IN a full music service comparable to Spotify/Apple Music to boot.
[/img]

funny, Ad block on chrome must be awesome because I never see youtube commericials on my desktop when using chrome. I do see them in Safari or the youtube app on my phone.

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"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

Quote
graylocks

Quote
vision63
The've been get $10 bucks out of me for many years now to eliminate the commercials and they THROW IN a full music service comparable to Spotify/Apple Music to boot.
[/img]

funny, Ad block on chrome must be awesome because I never see youtube commericials on my desktop when using chrome. I do see them in Safari or the youtube app on my phone.

I've tried Ad block and I do use Chrome, but I develop sites that actually implement the dreaded ads. I'm one of the problems. Now many of the YouTube channels are placing the ads (sponsors) in their videos to avoid being blocked. One day people will learn that Wordpress is nearly as simple as Squarespace.

way to go!!!!!

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********************************************
The police have no duty to respond. See Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748 (2005) or Warren v. District of Columbia[1] (444 A.2d. 1, D.C. Ct. of Ap. 1981)

[www.youtube.com]

Ms. Skate: I'm all ears! I've posted about my microwave that trips the 20a breaker about every 5 days. But, like Gilbert, I suspect the magnetron.

Quote
mrbigstuff
Ms. Skate: I'm all ears! I've posted about my microwave that trips the 20a breaker about every 5 days. But, like Gilbert, I suspect the magnetron.

I saw a number of youtube vids titles about microwaves that trip the breaker. do a search on those words and enter the rabbit hole.

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"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

I feel like we all live in such a disposable society, any relatively easy repair that keeps things out of the landfills is a win. Not to compare, but I think someone here posted awhile back a news article that pointed out that the Japanese recycle a vast majority of their appliances, in fact they've made a huge industry of it.

That being said, I find it laughable that I picked up off of Craigslist, a used microwave from 2005 that has worked better and lasted longer than the one it replaced, which was a 2012 model that died within five years. Clearly the companies aren't putting effort into producing quality products that will last.

And yeah, YouTube is a great resource ... I found it incredibly handy for the small car repairs I've had to do recently.

---

Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)

When my 'they don't make them like that any more' Litton microwave went, it went with a bang, not a whimper.

I was watching TV when there was a loud buzzzz and a thunk, as though somebody dropped a bowling ball, small and from a short distance, onto the dining room table, set for dinner.

When smoke and flame belched outta that oven, everybody knew it was the end of the line, for Big L.

I had to shut it down as it still kept buzzing.

The air was filled with the smell of burning insulation, but apperently there was no short because the breaker didn't trip.

I didn't have the energy to attempt a repair, so I sadly bid adieu.

It got a lot of use, and it wasn't so long ago that I found out it was only 600W.

Home micros weren't very powerful in 1974, and I did get my money's worth.

---

I am that Masked Man.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

About two years ago the plastic door hook assembly on our then-fifteen-year-old Samsung microwave threw the spring that made it work. Of course, the whole microwave was worthless because of a lousy five cent spring with noting to hook it too. I took off the inside cover of the door and found a new spot to anchor the spring. Darn thing worked for two years before the plastic hook assembly broke completely. Found a KitchenAid microwave at Lowes on sale for $300 and it had *metal* door hooks, which the Samsung should have had in the first place. Damn Samsung and their crappy designers. It would have maybe added another two dollars, if that much, to design it with metal door hooks.

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richorlin

Quote
RAMd®d
When my 'they don't make them like that any more' Litton microwave went, it went with a bang, not a whimper.

I was watching TV when there was a loud buzzzz and a thunk, as though somebody dropped a bowling ball, small and from a short distance, onto the dining room table, set for dinner.

When smoke and flame belched outta that oven, everybody knew it was the end of the line, for Big L.

I had to shut it down as it still kept buzzing.

The air was filled with the smell of burning insulation, but apperently there was no short because the breaker didn't trip.

I didn't have the energy to attempt a repair, so I sadly bid adieu.

It got a lot of use, and it wasn't so long ago that I found out it was only 600W.

Home micros weren't very powerful in 1974, and I did get my money's worth.

Our old Amana RadarRange RR7 was 700 watts. It took a LOT of adjustment when I got a new 1300 watt one. I was burning everything.

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********************************************
The police have no duty to respond. See Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748 (2005) or Warren v. District of Columbia[1] (444 A.2d. 1, D.C. Ct. of Ap. 1981)

[www.youtube.com]

Congratulations! Our Frigidaire unit had exactly the same issue … door switch. Fixed it after lots of cussing to take it down, and it lasted another four years until we decided to replace it.

All hail graylocks, reanimater of recalcitrant appliances!

Do you do house calls? My washing machine needs a new seal at the bottom of the tub…

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=wr=

Well, what do you know...

When you first posted I noted that ours stopped working and I was able to move the door around to get it to start working again.

Today, the same thing. It's working now after pulling the door down as I was closing it, but I think I'll dive into the Youtube vids and go ahead and order the door switches since they are clearly on the way out.

Thanks for your post about how it worked out; it certainly gives me a good direction to go in.

Quote
Michael
Well, what do you know...

When you first posted I noted that ours stopped working and I was able to move the door around to get it to start working again.

Today, the same thing. It's working now after pulling the door down as I was closing it, but I think I'll dive into the Youtube vids and go ahead and order the door switches since they are clearly on the way out.

Thanks for your post about how it worked out; it certainly gives me a good direction to go in.

Thought I'd save you some time. Good explanation of how to check the switches.

btw, the meter i bought only cost about $13.

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"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/2021 07:26PM by graylocks.

We had that same/similar issue a few years back, and I apologize for not chiming in to the earlier thread w/ the door switch suggestion (we were on family road trip, and computer time was at a minimum). Door switch issue lesson learned at that time. Got another couple of years out of the old beast before donating more of the retirement funds to Costco for a replacement. Congrats on your DIY.
==

Multi-meter master - god on you!