Rubbish microwave oven.

[whiskywill]

My trusty Panasonic microwave oven has given up the ghost after only 27 years of regular use, or maybe not completely. The magnetron is sparking. They just don't make things to last these days. :mrgreen:

 

[Scottdimelow]

I bet it's just out of warranty too, oh well.

I recently bought a new microwave, it lasted about 3 weeks. They had to call out and replace the control board. Apparently they'd rather repair than replace these days, even on my £80 machine. It took them 2 visits, it would've been cheaper to send a new one.

 

[graduate_owner]

I was amazed at the number of poor reviews (amazon) for electric kettles. I mean, they have been around for about 100 years so you'd think by now they would be developed to a stage where they are rock solid. Not so. Ours failed just outside guarantee (of course). And a 1 year guarantee is pretty mean these days. I would expect about 8 or so years before having to replace.

K

 

[richarnold]

my mom's first fridge is still going strong after about 45 years. The door still closes like a rolls Royce, and it has never broken down.
It's an Electrolux, and bares the proud badge on the door, Made in England.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I was amazed at the number of poor reviews (amazon) for electric kettles. I mean, they have been around for about 100 years so you'd think by now they would be developed to a stage where they are rock solid.

I've learned from experience that no matter how bad it looks, don't descale the kettle. It almost always starts leaking after - the scale is all that is keeping the water in !

My microwave is 28 years old - I hope that doesn't mean its time is nearly up.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

my mom's first fridge is still going strong after about 45 years. The door still closes like a rolls Royce, and it has never broken down.
It's an Electrolux, and bares the proud badge on the door, Made in England.

I bet the power it uses would frighten you, though.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Kettles - buy Tesco or whatever own brand for a fiver, and throw away every two or three years. The last one we paid good money for packed up just out of guarantee.

 

[whiskywill]

Does a dying kitchen appliance send out a signal? Our built in double oven died about 3 weeks ago after 24 years of regular trouble free use. Three days later the time switch on our washing machine died. Now the microwave oven has died in sympathy.

 

[mind_the_goat]

just dumped our Samsung combi oven after only 15 years use. Gutted really as it was my 'go to' oven for cooking just for me. It was still working but the door had cracked and the turntable took a lot of persuasion to move (only a problem for microwave cooking). The combi had superfast heatup and a timer, and should also have been efficient as it was small. Now I use the smaller bit of our proper oven, takes ages to heat up, has no timer so my food gets dried out when I forget about it, which is often.
Just replaced our kettle too, no idea how old that was, but older than the oven. It was the plastic that gave out on the transparent level indicator.

"it would've been cheaper to send a new one." Yes, but surely better to fix something then to throw it away. All we need now is for manufacturers to make the price of spares lower then the price of a new unit.

 

[mind_the_goat]

My trusty Panasonic microwave oven has given up the ghost after only 27 years of regular use, or maybe not completely. The magnetron is sparking. They just don't make things to last these days. :mrgreen:

These can be replaced, although finding one from a 27 year old oven may be tricky.

 

[whiskywill]

These can be replaced, although finding one from a 27 year old oven may be tricky.

I have thought about trying to save it but the turntable has been inactive for years because the corners on the square on the turntable driver have become rounded and it slips in the female square on the glass turntable. My current thoughts are to upgrade to an all singing and dancing combination microwave/fan/convection oven for not a lot more than this one might cost to be repaired.

 

[artie]

Unfortunately modern appliances are designed and built to fail.

Just after we were wed and living in a mobile home around 1980/81 we bought a electric frying pan with 1 year guarantee for £9.99 at the local discount store. Just over a year later it went **** up.

Not having an abundance of cash I had a look at it with a view to repair. It was all sealed up no screws. I tested the lead and found that power was not getting to the pan. But there was no way to open up the connector which slotted into the pan.

So with nothing to lose I drilled out the rivet and did some testing inside. There was a small resistor type thing which was not passing current, so I bypassed it with a piece of fuse wire. Put a small bolt where the rivet had been and fired her up.

It is still in use today.

 

[graduate_owner]

We had a Hotpoint Iced Diamond fridge when I was about 13. After getting married in my early 20's my mam gave me the fridge. About 9 years later we sold it on, still working.
We bought a Bosch fridge freezer about 4 years ago. It broke down after 2 - 3 years. I think that is really poor.

I'm going to take advice from Phil.p - buy a cheapie and replace it when it fails. But I don't follow that advice when it comes to buying tools.

K

 

[whiskywill]

My trusty microwave might not have died yet. My wife used it yesterday for 15 minutes to cook a large jacket potato without a single spark. Could this be another (nearly) Easter miracle?

 

[wellywood]

Does a dying kitchen appliance send out a signal? Our built in double oven died about 3 weeks ago after 24 years of regular trouble free use. Three days later the time switch on our washing machine died. Now the microwave oven has died in sympathy.

Sounds like you have a nasty virus floating around your home. Kind of a Black Death of domestic appliances. :lol:

 

[Billy Flitch]

I was amazed at the number of poor reviews (amazon) for electric kettles. I mean, they have been around for about 100 years so you'd think by now they would be developed to a stage where they are rock solid. Not so. Ours failed just outside guarantee (of course). And a 1 year guarantee is pretty mean these days. I would expect about 8 or so years before having to replace.

K

If you check I think you will find that EEC laws give you a min of two years guarantee.

 

[Jonzjob]

The Electrolux wet/dry/shampoo vac that I use in my workshop is the same in that it's failed me. It's only about 18 years old too. The on/off switch has failed and there isn't a model number on it so I can see fun trying to get a replacement for it?

You just can't trust any make these daze can you?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I bought a vacuum 27yrs ago second hand, taking a chance that the lead was broken as I bought it as not working for £10. It burned out last year (because swmbo couldn't be bothered to empty it during cleaning up fine plaster).

 

[whiskywill]

If you check I think you will find that EEC laws give you a min of two years guarantee.

About 5 years ago I bought a Morphy Richards polished stainless steel electric kettle. After 11 months the plastic level window started leaking and it was replaced without question. The replacement started leaking about 10 months later. This was also replaced because it was still within the 2 years of the guarantee. The third kettle lasted 7 months before it also started leaking.

They haven't learnt a lesson because they are still selling exactly the same kettle.