I have a 14 year old built in GE microwave that died a month ago. It's hardwired into the house, so I checked the breakers and couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. We assumed it just died of old age and started budgeting for a replacement. Since it's a built-in, we were limited to a small number of models that would fit the exact box in our cabinets. All of the replacements were close to or over $2,000.
This weekend, I said screw it and pulled it out of the box and started taking it apart. Turns out the ceramic fuse had blown, as evidenced by the melted plastic around the fuse. A quick trip to the hardware store and it's now working fine. I also got some metal polish at the hardware store and now the microwave is looking and running as good as new.
Just because something looks dead doesn't mean that it's going to be overly difficult to fix. Never be afraid to take something apart, but do be cognizant of safety and unplug everything before starting.
April 02, 2018 at 11:01AM
