My convection/microwave went out. I've learned to love the all around ability of this unit. Bake a cake, or heat some water for tea, it does it all. It also breaks. Twice now, but the fixes were all MUCH cheaper than buying a new one. They all have a label that says, "No user serviceable parts," and then attempt to make sure you don't try, by either riveting the until closed, or in the case of my Kenmoore, all the screws were Phillips, except for one Torx type screw. We can't make anything easy.
The first time it went on the blink was one lousy month after the warranty expired. Naturally, the cover came off. Inside I found a 20 amp Buss fuse, but didn't get lucky with the ohm meter, as the fuse was good. Research and manuals are your friends. Use both. I found that the thermister (a transistor that acts like a thermostat) will show a specific fault, and sure enough it was bad. I trip to the computer and i had a new one on the way from the online sears parts store. About $24 with shipping. One screw held it in place and the wires snapped in place on the circuit board. All told, about five minutes to replace, and putting the cover back on took less than ten minutes. Amount saved, about $280 for a new one.
The second time it broke was a few days ago. The cover popped off much easier this time as the Torx anti tamper screw got thrown away.... Fixing it was easier too. That 20 amp fuse had blown. New fuse, and cover back on, and I'm nuking frozen food, and baking pizza once again.
I'm not a rocket scientist. My fixes were simple and easy to accomplish. Both times I was recommended to buy a new one. Some of the low reviews for this Kenmore had the complaint, "Just stopped working." I wonder how many might have been fixed with just a fuse or $20 part. I dunno, when something costs $300 or so, I for sure want to see if I can fix t before I toss it.
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I'm a fixer. I used to fix more when I was younger and had eyes.
Most manufacturers don't want their products fixed - they want you to buy replacements.
I know a guy who started out in the TV repair business. He said the mass production of many devices often made it cheaper to buy a new one than to repair the old one.
You're way ahead of the game if you can do your own repairs.
P.S. My mini-rant: almost everything on the market is garbage that won't last half as long as whatever it replaces. No one gives a shit on the job so it's made like crap, or it's imported from a third world country and made like crap.
I bought something from RepairClinic.com, http://www.repairclinic.com/, a long time ago. Ever since, I've received their email newsletters on how to fix and maintain appliances.
And they intentionally make it harder to fix things!
When I moved out of my parents house, they gave me their old microwave. I have it and it still works. When my father was cleaning out some stuff a couple of years ago, he ran across the receipt for it. It was bought December 20th, 1978 at a cost of $650. I just found the receipt while cleaning last weekend and instantly thought I should post a picture of the receipt and the microwave. I haven't taken the pics yet, but maybe this weekend.
I bought a fax machine back in the early 80's...it cost $1000 and was really loud... and it was on these rolls of paper...really bad quality...now you can get a copier & fax for 200 bucks.
I knew a TV repair guy on Hwy K by the Pilot. I brought a TV in to get repaired and the place was floor - to - ceiling full of TV's. He said people brought TV's in for repair estimates and after they found out the cost of repair, left the TV with him and bought a new one...hence all of the TV's in his place he can't get rid of.
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