Microwave ovens never last more than 6 years?

[supton]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
I bought a daewoo on Black Friday 2000 for $29 and it's still working perfectly.

It comes with the "just start cooking now" one-button mode they all should have.


I like the sound of that feature, but mine has a "add a minute" which works well enough. Now if I use any microwave without that button I am annoyed.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
Every appliance these days are engineered to last under 10 years it seems. Before i was born my parents bought a refrigerator that worked great when we sold the house when i was 30, it was in the basement used as a second refrigerator and it was always ice cold. It was built like a tank. It was a philco and according to my old neighbor it was still there in 2007


In the case of refrigerators, having it last a long time is a false economy. They've gotten more energy efficient every few years such that if it had been replaced, it probably would have saved multiple times what the refrigerator cost in electricity. For instance, a refrigerator from the 80's would probably use about 5 times more electricity than a new one. A new one would pay for itself in just 2 or 3 years just from the electricity savings.


I have heard if that, but then I read about many appliances simply not lasting. Thus negating savings. Probably internet amplification, but still: my fridge is from 1987 I think, and I am letting it run until the end.

Microwave says 1999 on it. Over the stove, which is nice. I did have to replace the mag in it when I bought the house ten years ago.

 

[moklock]

We have one of those commercial Amanas at work. One thing cool is even tho the micro is probably made overseas they still have an Iowa phone number to call for help right on the door.

 

[Shannow]

My Mrs was given an NEC microwave for her 21st birthday..22 years ago (I doubt any parent would get away with doing that these days).

It's still going strong, in spite of my "unwise microwave oven" experiments (google it), and her propensity to light poppadoms on fire leaving them in too long.

When the yellow flame and smoke turn to plasma, you can hear the magnatron making a "whrong whrong' noise, and almost see the UFO hovering in the adjacent room due to the massive light show.

It's going strong, in spite of this.

To the point that I'm going to have to buy my own for the shed (I've been banished from the inside microwave) to melt glass and metals...and she still whrongs it up with poppadoms.

When they fail, pull them apart and do important work with the remnants like

 

[Olas]

My microwave, toaster and kettle are all Dualit. All 15+ years old and still faultless in operation.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Our Maytag was new when we built the house in 1995. It's never had any problems, but we only use it to reheat an occasional leftover. For real cooking I'll stick to a gas cooktop or stove.

 

[Al]

We are on our second amana. First one lasted like around 20 years./ The second is at least that old. You get what you pay for (usually)

 

[Hokiefyd]

Our house was built in 1993. We replaced the original GE over-the-range microwave in about 2005 or so, with a Whirlpool Gold. That Whirlpool is still crankin' out the waves, though not in our house. We upgraded our range to a Whirlpool in the White Ice color (rare combo), and, of course, the microwave just had to match the range. So I donated our old one to a friend who installed it in his condo in Myrtle Beach.

In our experience, microwaves last a good long time, but the ones we buy are $400 models.

 

[Vikas]

thirty year old microwave had wind up controls! those were impossible to control

 

[totegoat]

Our GE Spacesaver was built in 2002 from Korea.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
Every appliance these days are engineered to last under 10 years it seems. Before i was born my parents bought a refrigerator that worked great when we sold the house when i was 30, it was in the basement used as a second refrigerator and it was always ice cold. It was built like a tank. It was a philco and according to my old neighbor it was still there in 2007


In the case of refrigerators, having it last a long time is a false economy. They've gotten more energy efficient every few years such that if it had been replaced, it probably would have saved multiple times what the refrigerator cost in electricity. For instance, a refrigerator from the 80's would probably use about 5 times more electricity than a new one. A new one would pay for itself in just 2 or 3 years just from the electricity savings.


I have heard if that, but then I read about many appliances simply not lasting. Thus negating savings. Probably internet amplification, but still: my fridge is from 1987 I think, and I am letting it run until the end.

Microwave says 1999 on it. Over the stove, which is nice. I did have to replace the mag in it when I bought the house ten years ago.


The problem is that you're only hearing from people who had their appliance fail. There's always a certain failure rate with anything so if there's enough of them out there, you hear about it. On car forums, there's a certain number of items that seem to be pretty normal for most cars of a particular make, but then maybe about 3/4 to a 1/2 you never have happen on your car. I buy lots of refrigerators and stoves as a landlord and have been at it for over 10 years. Most of my basic refrigerators have lasted, I've had one or two in that time period only last 3-4 years, most of my other ones have lasted longer. If you do the math, the payback period is just 2-3 years, if you're really worried, they always sell 5 years extended warranties, I think I'm still ahead by declining it every time. Your thinking is similar to those that don't wear seat belts because they think they'll be trapped in a car and be killed, but 99%+ of the time it will save your life, but you're betting on the less than 1% chance that you'll be thrown clear and be safe and the car will be destroyed.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
What is the deal?

My folks have gone through three overhead microwaves 17 years!

They are very good about not using it empty, putting metal
or metal plated objects into it. They also tried using a
line protector on the previous one, it appeared to have no positive effect.


Tell your folks to purchase a Sharp Carousel. Mine is 12 years-old and gets used a minimum of several times per day. Never even heard a hiccup from it yet.

 

[Win]

Our RadarRange is at least thirty years old and still works as new. I believe it is the classic RR-9T. It's the one with the glass touchpad and seven segment Red LED display.

I ran a dedicated AC line just for it. I've seen commercial RadarRanges even older, with the mechanical controls, that still work fine.

If you want the best ever made, I'd look for an old RadarRange, if you can find anyone willing to sell one.

 

[Quest]

I have 2 Panasonic Genius Inverter microwaves; the one @ my parent's house is now 7yrs old; mine comes close to 5.

Both are made in Shanghai, Cn by Panasonic and never miss a single beat so far.

I've seen/read/heard all kinds of postings on the inta-net RE: turntable motor gone bad, etc. have not happen to either one of them yet...

My parent's previous unit was a Toshiba (can't recall where it was made), but lasted way over 14 yrs + before it was replaced.

One thing I hated the most RE: buying new microwave replacement is that there are some super cheep units/brands out there lurking around: Sunbeam, cheep Danby, etc. (Danby used to be fairly decent), etc. but they don't heat properly (I consider that a fundamental design flaw, which, the microwave designer should be taken out to the townsquare and whipped publically). Case to the point: my dad has always been the cheapest skate in town; insisted in buying the cheepest microwave he can find on flyers, etc.

So he bought home one day, a Sunbeam microwave (guess where it's made...; tried heating some pies, but didn't go very well....after a bit of investigation, the magnetron was aimed too high, (about 1" above the turntable), where the bottom part was completely missed). Heating food was frustrating....he insisted in flipping a saucer up-side down to raise the height (so that food can be aimed a bit higher), and I told him that's utter bull-pucky.

Forced him to wrap it up (and return it for full-refund), and I bought a Pana for him. Never did he ever come back and bitxh about microwave heating issues again from that day onwards.

Q.

 

[Win]

Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
Originally Posted By: LoneRanger
The heart of a microwave is a component called the magnetron that produces the microwave radiation. The chinese made mags last about 5 yrs tops. Our Whirlpool Estate (contractor grade) is on its 2nd mag, which was installed 3 yrs ago on parts only warranty-- we had to pay labor which came to $90.



Any major brands using US made units for home appliances?


I doubt any cooking type magnetrons are still made here.

For complete ovens, there may still be some commercial lines made here - go by a restaurant supply house and take a look at them. Dacor consumer microwaves are probably still made here.