Curious about this. Our house has a Whirlpool Gold OTS Microwave, build date March of 1997. I'm curious about what the service life of the average microwave is? It gets used quite a bit. Not anywhere near commercial use, but it gets used several times a day, on average for heating up leftovers or water or whatever.
Microwave Service Life
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Originally Posted By: Nick R
Curious about this. Our house has a Whirlpool Gold OTS Microwave, build date March of 1997. I'm curious about what the service life of the average microwave is? It gets used quite a bit. Not anywhere near commercial use, but it gets used several times a day, on average for heating up leftovers or water or whatever.
I have heard that as the oven wears out, the cooking power will decrease. If you notice the same foods taking longer and longer to cook, it's probably pointing to a dying oven.
Curious about this. Our house has a Whirlpool Gold OTS Microwave, build date March of 1997. I'm curious about what the service life of the average microwave is? It gets used quite a bit. Not anywhere near commercial use, but it gets used several times a day, on average for heating up leftovers or water or whatever.
I have heard that as the oven wears out, the cooking power will decrease. If you notice the same foods taking longer and longer to cook, it's probably pointing to a dying oven.
Nope. In fact, it cooks better than it's 1,000w output power would suggest. It usually cooks food faster than they say it should with a 1,200w or higher MW.
Remember that the capacity (cubic feet) of the microwave impacts cooking times -- a 1200W 1.2 cu ft oven cooks much faster than a 1200W 2.0 cu ft oven.
I have one of these that still works:
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/domestic_appliances/1995-163.aspx
Go figure.
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/domestic_appliances/1995-163.aspx
Go figure.
The only one that died on me is the 14 year old Micro-hood that act as a hood vent. One day it just exploded and never show a sign of life again (probably the grease build up shorted something).
I've never seen a non hood vent microwave died.
I've never seen a non hood vent microwave died.
My 10 year old Panasonic died 3-4 years ago.
ls1mike
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I just replaced a 15 year old sharp last night.
Set in the center of the chamber, boil 1.5 cups of water. With a sharpie, write how long it takes to boil from room temp on the back of the microwave. When that changes enough to notice, buy a new microwave.(It takes mine 2.5 minutes to boil a cup & a half of water for tea).
Unless something else fails, the magnetron tube in you microwave will slowly degrade over time. Most people get fed up with it when it takes over 2 minutes just to warm a cup of liquid.
Unless something else fails, the magnetron tube in you microwave will slowly degrade over time. Most people get fed up with it when it takes over 2 minutes just to warm a cup of liquid.
A pretty long time! In our current home, we have 2 - a GE over the stove that is 16 years old and a Kenmore that is 17 years old. Parents have an over the stove unit that is over 25 years old and it had never needed any service.
My amana is about 24 yrs old. And if my mom never touches it it'll live forever probably. My mom has so much static electricity that she kills microwaves one or two a year Atleast. Usually they just shut off when she touches them and never turns back on but the last one an old that my great gma had she took after she killed her nice expensive kenmore. The old Sharp was around 20yrs and lived for two years until one day it went up in flames literally she touched it and it fried it and it caught fire. My child hood was exciting to say the least.
I had a GE spacemaker microwave with a rotary knob in my old apartment 3 years ago that had an early 1984 manufacturing date on it. Worked just fine when I moved out.
JHZR2
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Originally Posted By: Popinski
Microwaves in the 1980's: Forever
Microwaves built in this decade: probably 5 years.
This.
They arent made by the same companies of old, despite the logos.
I have a radarrange, but the parent company sure isnt Raytheon anymore...
Microwaves in the 1980's: Forever
Microwaves built in this decade: probably 5 years.
This.
They arent made by the same companies of old, despite the logos.
I have a radarrange, but the parent company sure isnt Raytheon anymore...
Originally Posted By: jaj
I have one of these that still works:
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/domestic_appliances/1995-163.aspx
Go figure.
We have one of those as well, maybe a bit later as our LED display looks larger, and it still works perfectly. It's a heavy duty device - weighs as much as my Collins 30L-1 it seems like.
I ran a separate circuit just for that Amana.
I have one of these that still works:
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/domestic_appliances/1995-163.aspx
Go figure.
We have one of those as well, maybe a bit later as our LED display looks larger, and it still works perfectly. It's a heavy duty device - weighs as much as my Collins 30L-1 it seems like.
I ran a separate circuit just for that Amana.
My house was built in 1999 and came with a "contractor special" GE microwave, which is dead. Everything turns on and seems to work, it just can't heat food anymore.
Right now we are using a Samsung countertop microwave that's probably about five years old and seems to work okay.
Right now we are using a Samsung countertop microwave that's probably about five years old and seems to work okay.
Originally Posted By: Popinski
Microwaves in the 1980's: Forever
Microwaves built in this decade: probably 5 years.
This.
We got our first "RadarRange" (Amana) in the late 70's. We replaced it with a new one (Amana) in the early 90's.
So the earlier "Good" high end ones should last at least 20 years.
Microwaves in the 1980's: Forever
Microwaves built in this decade: probably 5 years.
This.
We got our first "RadarRange" (Amana) in the late 70's. We replaced it with a new one (Amana) in the early 90's.
So the earlier "Good" high end ones should last at least 20 years.
We have a Tappan over the range vent hood model from 1987.
It doesn't cook as fast as the newer microwave, but the only thing wrong with it is that I can't find the replacement bulb for the underside/stovetop.
The much newer Panasonic and Samsung countertop models died on us. We currently have a cheap Emerson that we inherited that is holding up, but I doubt it will outlive that 25 year old Tappan.
It doesn't cook as fast as the newer microwave, but the only thing wrong with it is that I can't find the replacement bulb for the underside/stovetop.
The much newer Panasonic and Samsung countertop models died on us. We currently have a cheap Emerson that we inherited that is holding up, but I doubt it will outlive that 25 year old Tappan.
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