Our Microwave is Dead
Apr 9th, 2008 by Bethany
I think our microwave is dead. That song from Oklahoma, “Poor Jud is Dead,” keeps playing in my head, which may or may not be an indicator of deadness. The occasional arc has bothered us on and off for about a year now, but this week it decided not to work for more than a second or two without a scary electrical sound and visual fireworks, and I think it’s simply unsafe to use any more. It was a wedding present and has served our growing family for nearly six years. I don’t know how long microwaves are supposed to last, but I feel nothing but gratitude that it has lasted this long and fed us so well.
I’m cooking sans microwave for now, obviously. I don’t know about you, but we use our microwave quite often. I suppose I could go find the box in our storage room that holds our toaster oven and use that to decrease the awkwardness of heating up the entire oven for every little reheating activity. It’s a convection oven, too, so it would make things heat up faster than our big oven. Hmmm…I hadn’t thought of that until just now.
We’d never purchased nor priced a microwave before since we’d gotten one for our wedding, so the other night when we decided our microwave was unusable Colin and I were relieved to find out that there are many acceptable models under $100. After reading through reviews and “most popular” lists on Amazon and Walmart and Sears and Target and Sam’s Club sites, Colin determined that if and when we buy another microwave, we should probably go for either a Sharp or a Panasonic 1100W 1 cubic footer. So, when we get our tax return back (maybe this weekend!) we may take a little chunk of it and get a microwave. Then again, I may see how we do with just the toaster oven and watch yard sales for a good microwave…
Yeah. There are certain things in life that I’ll never do. Number 1 is hire a lawyer with a jingle. Number 2 (recently created and promoted) is buy a microwave from a yard sale. Microwaves are used quite a bit in scientific research to heat up nasty bits for microscopy and the like so I just couldn’t trust anything I didn’t take out of a sealed box…
You are a better woman than I if you can go without a micro! WOW! NOT ME…and really, micros are so cheap anymore that you might as well just buy a new one and have it last several years instead of buying a used one and hoping it makes it a few months, and then have to do that process all over again.
Ours broke a few months ago and it wasn’t even a year old–SO disappointing! But we sprang for a new one and it wasn’t more than $115…WORTH EVERY PENNY!
Sometimes there is a very inexpensive fix for when a microwave arcs, assuming it isn’t being caused by whatever you put in it. There is frequently a small diffuser plate made out of mica on the inside of the microwave that needs to be kept clean (simply by wiping off any splatters that happen). If it gets grease or food on it, it can cause arcing and also might put a burn mark on the plate surface. I found a replacement diffuser plate at a local electrical supply store for under $3 and fixed the microwave myself. Before that, I thought I had to get a new one. Thank goodness for the internet and Google!
Thanks for the tip Karen! There’s a little metal plate in our microwave that apparently has a hole burned into it. I’ll bet that’s the diffuser plate you’re talking about. We haven’t gotten a new microwave yet, and if it’s as easy as replacing a plate for $3 I’m on my way to the electrical supply store.