[HN Gopher] Microwave Oven Failure: Spontaneously turned on by i...
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Microwave Oven Failure: Spontaneously turned on by its LED display
Author : forgotthepasswd
Score : 50 points
Date : 2024-09-08 12:37 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (blog.stuffedcow.net)
(TXT) w3m dump (blog.stuffedcow.net)
| ThePowerOfFuet wrote:
| Unreadable on mobile. :(
| hulitu wrote:
| > Microwave Oven Failure: Spontaneously turned on by its LED
| display
|
| It is an engineering failure. The oven is not to blame. /s
| hex4def6 wrote:
| Link seems dead. wayback version:
| https://web.archive.org/web/20240910031602/https://blog.stuf...
| MisterTea wrote:
| Notice that door switch middle is a crowbar[1] which is there to
| prevent the magnetron from powering on when all else fails (and
| there is a lot of interlocking). My friends parents had a
| microwave that kept dying so I opened it up and realized one of
| the three switches was a crowbar and it blew the fuse. I changed
| the fuse and it powered on again and ran for a few more days
| until it blew again. They decided it was unsafe and canned it.
|
| 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowbar_(circuit)
| arghandugh wrote:
| We recently got rid of a four year old microwave where the
| magnetron turned on spontaneously and silently when the door was
| closed, runaway heating the box. Control panel, lights,
| turntable, fan, everything is idle.
|
| Manufacturer didn't consider this an interesting defect and
| refused to swap out-of-warranty. The lack of give-a-shit in
| appliances is becoming apparent.
| quesera wrote:
| That sounds dangerous, and deserving of a name & shame.
|
| Or a YouTube video with a pack of microwave popcorn that
| spontaneously pops and burns and smokes.
| ak217 wrote:
| What was the model? I recently encountered something similar
| with a GE over-the-counter microwave. One day it stayed on
| after opening the door. I replaced the control module and the
| board in it looks exactly like the one in the OP photo (Midea
| with all of the same components), which leads me to think the
| fault is the same as the one described in the post.
| arghandugh wrote:
| Yep, the GE over-the-range model PNM9196SF3SS. GE is just a
| Haier badge since 2016. I'm not surprised by a Chinese
| company not giving a shit, but for a microwave magnetron to
| fire on its own feels like a sign of deep engineering rot.
|
| The only fix was to unplug it then swap the logic board. Once
| it happened again with the new board we threw it out.
| xattt wrote:
| I had non-stop issues with GE OTR microwaves for 2 years. I
| started with a PVM2188SLJC that I ended up getting replaced
| three times by GE over a year for separate issues (buzzing
| turntable, cracked casing). I ended spamming the executive
| team and got an upgraded model with convect for free.
|
| Fast forward two years later, and the fuse tripped inside
| the microwave after I forget a bottle sterilizer overnight,
| on Christmas Day.
|
| I said fuck this, and went and got a Panasonic. The twist
| was that it looked like it was a different version of the
| first GE microwave we had from the same OEM, but a little
| reworked.
| ak217 wrote:
| Mine was a PEM31DF2WW. The control panel layout looks
| slightly different but the segment display looks identical
| to yours.
|
| The board that I replaced is a Midea MD1001LSE EMLAA5G-S3-K
| VER17. Not an exact match to the OP but in the same family.
| lozenge wrote:
| The CPSC would be interested.
| Prickle wrote:
| A defect like that would make it illegal to sell in my country.
| One big splash on a major network and they will probably go
| scrambling.
|
| Have you contacted anyone other than the manufacturer?
| treve wrote:
| If your country has decent consumer rights there's probably
| another way to follow-up!
| r00fus wrote:
| I migrated our house to a "commercial" variant of the microwave
| oven [1] as I was tired of all the over-engineering and annoying
| patterns in modern microwaves.
|
| This microwave has exactly UI element other than the door - a
| digital dial that goes from 10s-6m. No start/cancel, no power
| level, no defrost, no program mode. I don't "cook" using the
| oven, only reheat or very rarely heat/boil small quantities of
| water.
|
| The microwave beeps only once after complete and it's not
| incredibly loud.
|
| Despite my kids literally abusing this device, it's been rock
| solid for 7+ years. Amusingly my company started putting these
| same exact models in our office break/kitchen areas a couple
| years after I bought mine.
|
| [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BDF5ZNS
| sonofhans wrote:
| Great minds think alike. That is exactly the microwave I have,
| and for the same reasons. Such a brilliant tool.
| goda90 wrote:
| The thing is, the superior way to reheat something would
| usually be a lower power level. But not the standard "turn on -
| turn off" cycle that most microwaves do. Actual lower intensity
| microwaves. You need an inverter for that. The food would heat
| more evenly, which is especially useful for things like butter
| that are prone to splattering.
| apricot wrote:
| The commercial microwaves we have at work have both a large
| dial to set the time, and four large buttons under it for
| 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% power. No other controls. They are
| great.
| extraduder_ire wrote:
| I bought a microwave a couple of months ago, and found it
| impossible to determine which if any of the cheaper ones were
| inverter microwaves, or if they just used duty cycle power
| control. I assume that distinction is only made with higher-
| end microwaves.
|
| In the end I went with the model that looked to have the
| simplest design and least things to break.
| barbegal wrote:
| Pulse width modulation works just as well if the pulse width
| is short compared to the overall cooking time. And not having
| an inverter makes it more efficient. Unfortunately lots of
| cheap microwaves have a pulse width which is more than 10
| seconds, presumably to help lifetime reliability, but means
| that for cooking times less than a couple of minutes it
| doesn't work well.
| sonofhans wrote:
| Partially off-topic, but I've seen complaints in the thread about
| microwaves in general. Here's the trick -- buy a commercial
| microwave. They're reliable, powerful, and have only a few
| features. They come in all sizes.
|
| You'll put less duty on one in a month than a commercial kitchen
| does in one day, so it will last forever. Time is money in a
| kitchen so they're powerful and fast. They tend to have very
| simple, direct controls, rather than a myriad of
| popcorn/pizza/whatever buttons. Commercial microwaves often have
| an integrated diffuser, so they don't need the stupid rotating
| glass plate in the bottom.
| ToucanLoucan wrote:
| Can confirm. We got a commercial-grade Panasonic microwave I
| believe, that survived near daily use for almost 9 years before
| the magnetron finally gave out. We replaced it with an
| identical model, and it must be a pretty good one since a
| cursory comparison inside between the old and new revealed
| virtually no changes since our old one was made. If it ain't
| broke...
| yborg wrote:
| My microwave is a 1993 Panasonic. It sat in a basement for about
| 10 of the intervening years, but has been a daily driver for the
| last 6-7. Comparing it to current retail units, it's remarkable
| how little has changed in that time.
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(page generated 2024-09-10 23:01 UTC)