Of course it had to be one of the range hood combo units. Was practically new when I got house. All of the sudden it just stopped cooking. Lights up, runs, I can hear the buzz when the magnetron turns on, but won't cook anything. Thankfully still had my old microwave that still works fine after 20+ years to finish making dinner. Lowe's was having Black Friday sales, so I picked up one that fits perfectly and didn't involve making any new holes.
5 year old microwave died
- Thread starter Dave Sherman
- Start date
Seems like the range hood units don't last as long as the counter top units, and they are much more expensive. At least that's my experience.
Years ago, you could buy a new magnetron from places like MCM Electronics (back when they were still in business) and your fix costs much less than a new unit. Now everything is a throw-a-way. Glad you got a new one in place with little renovations.
Years ago, you could buy a new magnetron from places like MCM Electronics (back when they were still in business) and your fix costs much less than a new unit. Now everything is a throw-a-way. Glad you got a new one in place with little renovations.
Ours never last more than 5 years.
Except for our original large clunky one. We used it for years and gave it to our daughter who used it at university. She abandoned it when she moved across country. It's probably still warming and cooking stuff for university students somewhere in Edmonton.
We bought a Panasonic microwave at Sears. Knowing they never last 5 years we bought the warranty extension. Right on cue it quit 2 weeks before the warranty was up and it was replaced. We upgraded slightly and the clerk asked if we'd like another warranty extension. Nope we said - "the microwave won't last 5 years and neither will Sears". And it didn't and they didn't.
Except for our original large clunky one. We used it for years and gave it to our daughter who used it at university. She abandoned it when she moved across country. It's probably still warming and cooking stuff for university students somewhere in Edmonton.
We bought a Panasonic microwave at Sears. Knowing they never last 5 years we bought the warranty extension. Right on cue it quit 2 weeks before the warranty was up and it was replaced. We upgraded slightly and the clerk asked if we'd like another warranty extension. Nope we said - "the microwave won't last 5 years and neither will Sears". And it didn't and they didn't.
Same here - I bought a Panasonic from Sears around six years ago, and declined the extended warranty. Glad I did! It seemed to me the writing was on the wall when they quit replenishing their Craftsman tools around then.
Canadian Tire used to sell house-brand (Motomaster) auto parts that were precisely engineered to fail just outside the 90-day warranty period - I had a couple of alternators fail before they were four months old. Later they started carrying Bosch alternators with a 5-year guarantee. I had one fail at 3-1/2 years, and they replaced it. Shortly after they dropped the warranty to 3 years. Hmm, guess I wasn't alone.
All the microwaves I have had fail
Failed by turning on when you opened the door , usually when they were 10+
My nutty mother didn’t want to immediately throw the **** thing out
Failed by turning on when you opened the door , usually when they were 10+
My nutty mother didn’t want to immediately throw the **** thing out
I bought a Samsung compact microwave back in 1992. It was still working in 2017 and as far as I know it is still running. In our current house our 3 year old Panasonic seems to be doing just fine.
I agree on the over the range setups. I prefer to keep the range hood and microwave separate.
I agree on the over the range setups. I prefer to keep the range hood and microwave separate.
That is true, unfortunately. When I was co-oping in college, one of my classmates was co-oping with a well-known maker of vacuum cleaners, and he was involved with testing the life expectancy. Not to make sure they lasted a long time, but to make sure they didn't last too long. We thought he was joking, but he asked us quite frankly, "how often do you buy a new vacuum cleaner?". It's true, they do find ways of making sure they don't last too long. Use cheaper bearings, use plastic parts instead of metal parts, put smaller brushes in the motor so they burn up faster....
If the over the range would be
1. 220vac
2. Convection Microwave Combo with a higher output
It might actually be worth the hassle but most over the range units seem to be neither and quite slow, add to that the proprietary nature, poorly laid out controls and features and likelyhood to break
My current Panasonic microwave oven must be at least 8 years old. I replace the wave guide cover every few years.
Current ge microwave and range hood is 25 years old this year, still works great. Replaced the door handle once, but thats been it...
The original Whirlpool micro-hood came with the house in 94 and it lasted till about 2010 when some sort of fuse blew. The replacement GE lasted till now still except their touch pad decided to delaminate (I think they used a 2 layer design of some flex ribbons) and lost a lot of important keys. They decided to integrate a $5 part into some custom metal frame and charge $180. I argued with the parts department and finally got them to lower them to $90. It is fine so far but I think I won't get another GE because of this. The touch pad thing lasted about 3 years back then. We don't cook much (only boil and saute, never grill or deep fry) so maybe that's why it is still around.
The microhood seems to have a lot of grease that short things inside. I do take the lid off and clean off those grease once in a while. I also use Clorox wipes to de-grease pretty often (my mom would only use the "design for greasy kitchen hood fan" from Asia and Europe, with steam clean and drip cup strategically located, and low rpm large diameter fans. No micro hood for her kitchen.
The microhood seems to have a lot of grease that short things inside. I do take the lid off and clean off those grease once in a while. I also use Clorox wipes to de-grease pretty often (my mom would only use the "design for greasy kitchen hood fan" from Asia and Europe, with steam clean and drip cup strategically located, and low rpm large diameter fans. No micro hood for her kitchen.
This is why if given the choice, I will always look for commercial grade stuff. They are truly field tested and commercial users always find what works and what doesn't.
What was interesting about that was Sears sent out a repair guy to look at our failed microwave. He seemed to be a new immigrant, probably from east Asia. He tore our non functioning microwave apart a bit and called "the office" for instructions. He was about to replace a few parts and get the old one working (which would have been fine with us) and seemed quite surprised when he was told to put it back together instead, to be replaced.
So it seems that in other parts of the world microwave ovens are repaired and their lives extended.
We use our microwave a lot and we think that's why they fail so early. They sometimes fail in spectacular ways, in one case with sparks flying and smoke billowing out the top. I took that one outside in case it was about to go up in flames.
My parents had the microwave they bought before I was born in 83 up until a couple years ago. It was the last remaining original appliance and still worked fine. All the originals lasted 15-20 years and the newer stuff fails 2-5 years. Gotta budget a lot more for replacement appliances these days if you don't want to live with the old stuff anymore.
Unless people stop buying new stuff they will keep making crap.
The last few I've bought, I've been smart enough to buy a 3-5 year warranty. I had good luck with both Lowes & BestBuy honoring warranties NQA. I pay money up front for the first unit, then buy the warranty, and then the warranty covers me when it conks out. I take that money & buy the next one, so I basically go from microwave to microwave paying for only the cost of the warranty. After having the cooking functions continue to work, but cheap plastic gunk break within 2 years, this is going to be my strategy from here on out. The first one I bought when I bought my first house lasted 10-15 years, but I dont think I'll ever see that again.
Been in our house for 31 years and we're on our fourth one, fist GE lasted 15 years but it started taking for ever to heat anything up so we bought a Kenmore that only lasted 4/5 years so we went back to GE and that lasted about 8 years now we have another Kenmore I got on close out for $99 but I'm guessing it won't even last 5 years, oh well at least my 35+ year old Gibson refrigerator is still keeping my beer cold.
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