Microwave left on without anything in it except plastic spash cover
My daughter was asked to set the timer for the lazagna for 85 minutes. She pushed the wrong buttons and it melted the plastic splash lid to the glass tray. The microwave shut itself off and it doesn't work at all anymore. Is this a blown fuse or something beyond my ability to repair myself. The small fuse behind the keypad shows continuity. Could it be a fuse cartridge??? Do I need an expert to repair it?? I appreciate any good knowledgable advice.
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9,179 Answers
Re:
It's probable that since it was running empty, the magnetron overheated and a thermal cutout or thermostat located on the magnetron opened.
Magnetrons may be protected by a therostat, which will reset when it cools, or a thermal fuse, which is a one-time use device. It is also possible that in some cases, a thermostat will fail when opened.
Please refer to the drawing.
In my professional opinion, people should not work on a microwave unless they are fully informed and aware of the deadly hazards and necessary precautions. One can find such information in our safety and disassermbly text files at _.
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If you have the kitchen timer set for instance for 10 minutes and it is counting down, and then you want to reheat you coffee for 2 minutes. You would hit either time cook or reheat button and enter 2 minutes ten hit start. The microwave will heat your coffee and show the 2 minute countdown for that. When done it will revert back to what is left on the 10 minute kitchen timer without missing a beat on most microwaves.
I had picked up a very nice stainless steel covered microwave at a yard sale for 5 bucks. They had told me it worked fine but they neglected to tell me it only worked fine for 4 minutes and then it would shut its self down and then you had to wait 3 minutes for the reset to take effect and then you had another 4 minutes of cooking.
Let me tell you this got old in a hurry. I looked on the internet for expertise advice by stating my case in the google search bar. There were 20 different relays and fix this and fix and replace thats on there.
I decided to just take the back cover off and have a look for my self.
once I was inside i was touching this and poking that and noticed it was really dusty inside with plenty of left over spider homes so i used my computer air can spray and clean it all out.
I thought maybe it just might have been the problem as bad as it was in there so I plugged it in with the back still off and it shut down in 4 minutes just like before.
Something was wrong and I couldn't quit place it so I tried it again after the relay clicked back on. Then I saw it. The cooling fan was not turning.
I unplugged it and tried to turn it by hand after squirting some WD 40 on it and the plastic blade would turn but not the shaft the blade was attached to. So I got a pair of pliers and worked the shaft until it broke free. Squirted a little more oil on it and it became nice and smoooooth oh boy!!!
I then plugged it back in and set the timer to 5 minutes. By the way never touch anything inside one of these while it is plugged in.
The microwave approached the 4 minute mark and I stood there with my fingers crossed watching the fan run as smoooooth as can be.
Wallah!! it passed the 4 minute shut off mark and made it to the 5 minute mark until it quit because the timer ran out.
I did this again at 10 minutes and it made it all the way through without shutting down.
I now have a great working $5.00 microwave and it didn't cost me anything more but a little time and couple squirts of oil.
So if you experience the same early shut down time then now you can maybe good lucky like me and repair it your self by a flick of the fan blade.
I hope this will help you same some money. The Raz Shack
You probably fried the magnetron(it actually makes the microwaves that do the cooking). I bet you will find the magnet is broken(from excessive heat). There should be a diagnostic guide sheet somewhere inside the housing(due to running production changes,this is a guide for the pros to test the power supply,magnetron,etc with an ohmmeter to determine which is defective.
Suggest you pull the plug out, remove outer cover and place a cup of water into the micro. Set power to minimum then switch on and take note if the fan works or not. If not, switch off immediately and have it replaced(magnatron will burn out if left to run without fan.)
There are two thermal protectors which may be blown. If so, it will measure open (infinity) instead of closed (zero ohms).
One is located on the magnetron and one is on top of the oven cavity.
(There is also one located on the floor / base of the microwave but that one's not at issue.)
The magnetron thermal protector *may* be accessible by removing the control panel, but to access the oven cavity thermal protector, you will have to remove the oven from the wall.
If
so, the installation instructions here are very handy, and it's best to have
two people since the microwave can be heavy and awkward.
At
our Web site, we have a video
available showing how to remove a typical
over the range control panel assembly in under 5 minutes.
You can order parts from Encompass here or you can call them toll-free at 866-779-5835.
We're
happy to help you with free advice and we'd appreciate your
thoughtful rating of our answer.
The plastic cover on the inside of the door is purely push fit.
To force it off I used 2 strong stainless steel dinner knives.
By easing one knife between the internal glass and the plastic cover I managed to spring one corner by using the other knife on the external bottom edge of the plastic cover.
Try concentrating on one end and once this springs out it is easy to free the rest without having to take it off completely.
The hook is simple to do but be careful with the spring.
All in all it took 3 minutes!
You need to trace the power feeding the high voltage transfomer.
Because the table doesn't turn, it implies that a door switch or safety
interlock is the problem.
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