6 yr old GE Profile Spacemaker microwave oven, no microwaves

[[email protected]]

Hi...

We have a 6 year-old GE Spacemaker microwave that has stopped microwaving. The fan, lights, turntable, etc all still work - just no microwaves.

a) Is this worth repairing or is replacing the only good option?

b) What would the cost of the tube be, and is this a repair that can be done DIY? I know there's a big capacitor in there I have to watch out for, but other than that?

Thanks
Mark

 

[Cydrome Leader]

Hi...

We have a 6 year-old GE Spacemaker microwave that has stopped microwaving. The fan, lights, turntable, etc all still work - just no microwaves.

a) Is this worth repairing or is replacing the only good option?

b) What would the cost of the tube be, and is this a repair that can be done DIY? I know there's a big capacitor in there I have to watch out for, but other than that?

Thanks
Mark

it's probably quite fixable if you just want the satisfaction of fixing it
yourself.

Not that they're a replacement for what you need, but I recently saw $39
microwave ovens at Menards. I'm not sure how anybody makes money off
something like that.

 

[Michael Black]

Hi...

We have a 6 year-old GE Spacemaker microwave that has stopped microwaving. The fan, lights, turntable, etc all still work - just no microwaves.

a) Is this worth repairing or is replacing the only good option?

b) What would the cost of the tube be, and is this a repair that can be done DIY? I know there's a big capacitor in there I have to watch out for, but other than that?

No picture, no sound? Check the faq,
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/micfaq.htm

Michael

 

[Phil Allison]

Hi...

We have a 6 year-old GE Spacemaker microwave that has stopped microwaving.
The fan, lights, turntable, etc all still work - just no microwaves.

a) Is this worth repairing or is replacing the only good option?

b) What would the cost of the tube be, and is this a repair that can be
done DIY? I know there's a big capacitor in there I have to watch out
for, but other than that?

** Hi Mark,

do you look like Alfred E. Neuman - by any chance ??



..... Phil

 

[cLx]

Hi...

We have a 6 year-old GE Spacemaker microwave that has stopped microwaving. The fan, lights, turntable, etc all still work - just no microwaves.

a) Is this worth repairing or is replacing the only good option?

b) What would the cost of the tube be, and is this a repair that can be done DIY? I know there's a big capacitor in there I have to watch out for, but other than that?

Thanks
Mark

Check the high voltage fuse ? Mine got that problem, replaced it with
the same fuse from eBay, and now it's working.

(Be sure to discharge the capacitor is discharged ?)

 

[Cydrome Leader]

Check the high voltage fuse ? Mine got that problem, replaced it with
the same fuse from eBay, and now it's working.

(Be sure to discharge the capacitor is discharged ?)

fuse?

do you mean high voltage rectifier- the black thing with two leads?

 

[[email protected]]

Imagine a typical 500 watt oven pumping 2400MHZ CW into a directional antenna and aiming it at your food, or your neighbor for that matter. Lenny

 

[Michael Black]

Imagine a typical 500 watt oven pumping 2400MHZ CW into a directional
antenna and aiming it at your food, or your neighbor for that matter.
Lenny

Legend has it the concept of cooking with microwaves came when someone was
working on a microwave dish with power going to it, and the chocolate bar
iin his pocket melted, showing the value of microwave for heating things.

The legend never says how much power was going into that dish.

Remember though that power drops off significantly with distance. You
need high power to bounce a signal off the moon because by the time it
hits the moon, the power is miniscule, and made even tinier by the return
trip. Benig right next to a high power transmitter can be a bother,
ifnothing else it may overload your receivers and audio amplifiers may
start rectifying the signal so they act as "crystal" radios, but not that
far away, the signal has diminished by quite a bit. The fuss over
cellphones is because the power is really clsoe to your brain, even if it
was kept on the belt and operated remotely, the power would be
significantly less.

Michael

 

[Leif Neland]

Michael Black forklarede:

The fuss over cellphones is because the power is
really clsoe to your brain, even if it was kept on the belt and operated
remotely, the power would be significantly less.

Instead of having a cellphone tower near the school, people want it far
away. Therefore the phones of 1000 kids have to "shout louder" to reach
the tower.

Is that the right choice?

Leif

 

[cLx]

fuse?

do you mean high voltage rectifier- the black thing with two leads?

No. I mean fuse. Like this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/High-volt-fuse-5KV-750mA-for-Microwave-oven-1pcs-/321215356808

(the current depending of the microwave oven's power)

- c.

 

[Cydrome Leader]

No. I mean fuse. Like this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/High-volt-fuse-5KV-750mA-for-Microwave-oven-1pcs-/321215356808

Never seen those before. Is this a new thing they add to make appliances
fail more often?

 

[Michael Black]

Someone actually had a design for a microwave oven magnetron transmitter
published on their website.

Last time I looked, it had been taken down.

At least one of the ham magazines had an article like that, maybe as much
as 20 years ago. Of course, they locked it to a frequency standard
thtough some method.

Michael

 

[Cydrome Leader]

Nothing new at all - the spring pulls the gap open, and hopefully - quenches
the arc.

but what for?

If anything goes horribly wrong in a microwave oven, those slow acting
fuses on the mains sure do seem to work ok.

 

[T. Keating]

Hi...

We have a 6 year-old GE Spacemaker microwave that has stopped microwaving. The fan, lights, turntable, etc all still work - just no microwaves.

a) Is this worth repairing or is replacing the only good option?

b) What would the cost of the tube be, and is this a repair that can be done DIY? I know there's a big capacitor in there I have to watch out for, but other than that?

Thanks
Mark

Check the safety interlock (door) switches.. You'll probably find one that's partially
melted.. (Which is typical time/use failure, since many uWave designs often run >10+ AC
amps thru these little micro switches).

When these safety switches fail it often produces symptoms exactly like what you are
describing.