My 43 yr old microwave died today.

Lol I was actually thinking of jury-rigging something together to trigger the dead buttons. I can still set the timer for anything under 9 minutes and 99 seconds, but the "ten minute" button and the "Engage" buttons are stone dead, even when checking the continuity with the tester. I've already got the panel out and will probably fiddle with it this weekend if I got time and see what I can do. I'm not letting my baby go without a fight...partially because I don't want a new microwave, partially because I'm sentimental, and partially maybe I'm just a little bit mental.

OMG OP!!! YOU GOTTA DO IT!!!

O7

F

Really? In my experience Electrolux devices are really easy to repair and they supply parts for a very long time, was it you or a company that would carry out the repair?

I recently repaired an oven from Electeolux that was 20+ years.

But sorry to hear it had to go! 

Expensive appliances just cost more.

We mistakenly thought that brand was supposed to be higher quality :(

What you can tell from a single instance of failure: Absolutely nothing.

It requires statistics to figure out if that's a trend or a single instance.

Did you take her to the recycling center?

I had an ex-gf that liked to make things disappear that she didn't like. Lost a few good shirts and a mannequin head because of her. (And a little bit of sanity, but that's another story entirely.)

May 83 here, I was in the comments to say the same^^

I would like to cook my lasagna for 7355608

Lol that must be a sibling! Mine was the 8050c but it looks exactly the same. The last pic isn't the same one tho

Built the same month too.. that ones serial # is 5697, mine is 4495 so It's like the younger brother to mine.

Edit: Now I'm wondering what the "C" is for... is there a difference or maybe the C is because mine was for Canada??

My microwave has the schematics included too, it's printed inside underneath the cover after you take it off. Handy to have.

So it's a mechanical failure, the pads literally wore out.. What you'll be looking for is a membrane switch.. That model part number for your unit was ANE6479L80AP - you might be able to find a newer model that can be swapped in.

Can start by looking at current Panasonic models and see if there's one with a keypad layout that looks like yours, and try and go from there.. https://help.na.panasonic.com/microwave-multi-ovens/microwave-ovens/

incomparable to today's planned obsolescence junk that goes out after 2 yrs max

I got a several hundred dollar safe for $35 because the keypad didn't work. The membrane had died and because of that someone cut out the battery pack.

$10 in repair paint and a new AA battery housing and she works perfectly.

Thanks for the advice, I may try that yet I've got nothing to lose if I can't find the parts and I really don't want to see this thing go lol!

It seems to be the membrane switch (keypad). Still a perfectly good microwave if I can end up finding the right parts. I'm going to try and fix the membrane and see what happens from there, maybe I'll get lucky and be able to salvage it.

Ouch, that sounds a little pricey.

Ah yes, the classic love story of Romeo, and his daughter Juliet.

Lol ya I'm Canadian, everything here has french and english written on it.

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What died? Dm me if you want to try fixing it. Super simple circuit usually, timer switch+element, thermostat if it's fancy. Guarantee we can keep it around sub-$20

Lol sorry, I guess technically it still had 4 months go go for its birthday.

You're an enlightened individual?

You work in shed 4 hours a night.

Survivorship bias, although there's a flood of cheaper products in the market, certainly. :)

A microwave isn't a person, so here I am more with OP in rounding instead of cutting decimals.

New microwaves fucking suck. I recently moved and bought a new one and this thing insists on beeping every time it does anything. Every button press, when turning on, when opening the door, closing the door... even 10mins after closing the door because that is when the display turns off. And it takes like 30 button presses and three menus to do something like adjust the wattage. AND you can't turn down the volume on any of the beeps. It's driving me absolutely crazy. My husband promised to open it up and solder out the beeping part, but he's got a busy schedule so idk when he'll get to it 🥲

I just want something simple that will last practically forever.

That doesn't sound very profitable, economical even.
You are not again being a naughty uncapitalist hippy, are you?
Won't you think of the poor elites??
Just destroy the planet a little, it will be worth it for the profits (of others)!

I'm keeping it in storage just in case it magically fixes itself when the new one fails.

It sounds like you might have an unhealthy relationship with change and time. The problems will only pile up until you address that. Introspection on such things takes a lot of hard work and difficult feelings.

Actually yes lol! You haven't ever honestly tried to fix something until you give it a little percussive maintenance.

we had one from the early 90s or 80s also panasonic, it last 30+years, then we bought a newish one few years ago, and it died in 2 years. it was the famous overheating one, that looks likes it catching onfire it was 100$, and then it suddenly stopped working lol. the current one we spent a little more and it was working fine.

My mom still uses the Panasonic microwave that she bought in the '80s.

Meanwhile, I've been through four microwaves since 2000.

mechanical keyboard switches on a microwave would be wild

Except this thing was actually useful and did some good for all those years lol!

I'm going to try, nothing to lose at this point.

I have a national as well roughly the same specs and date of manufacture. I’m really scared it’ll go one day, can’t imagine my kitchen without it.

Boiling water in a microwave is such a US thing. Must really suck to not have 230V lines, cos with an electric kettle you can boil water pretty quickly.

I got a fancy one from a client worried about the RF waves it was giving off and it still takes 2 minutes to heat up a cup of coffee.

This one wasn't the most powerful, but it didn't ever take nearly that long to heat a cup of water. Reheating coffee I usually only had to stick it in there for a minute or up to two if I wanted it scalding hot from stone cold.

My Mom refused to have a microwave until the stove broke one Thanksgiving.

So my dad brought over the turkey in the morning, and I put it in my oven to cook. They had made most of the sides the day before, and they just needed heating up, so I sent him home with the microwave. The stove top still worked, so my Mom could make anything that required that, like the gravy.

I showed up with the turkey, and everything heated up easily in the microwave, and my mom was hooked. She had a microwave within a few days.

Then we went through that period where she cooked EVERYTHING in the microwave, even though the stove got repaired. I'd go over there for Sunday dinner, and literally everything was cooked in the microwave, including whatever meat there was.

"I cooked EVERYTHING in the microwave!"

"Yeah, Mom, I can tell. You know, your stove still works, you don't have to cook EVERYTHING in the microwave, right?"

May yours live longer than mine did. I love old stuff that just keeps going, it's so satisfying to have things you can rely on without having to buy new every few years.

This one was fancy for its time. Even came with a little temperature sensor thing you could stick in your food but I lost that in a move years back.

Gas furnaces from 1987 when new could convert 75-80% of the chemical energy in gas into heat within your house. They lose some efficiency over time, but not that much - I would expect it's still getting 70-75% of the chemical energy converted into heat within your house.

The maximum efficiency available today is around 96% on the same metric. If you need 100 units of heat today, you are burning 133-143 units of gas. With the best possible furnace efficiency today, you would only need to burn 104 units of gas, which is 22-28% less - certainly not "about half".

There are multiple special requirements for the best possible efficiency, and they are more expensive, both to purchase and to install. You might be able to save money on bills, depending on gas rates in your area, and the total cost to purchase and install a high efficiency furnace. I can't really answer that without a lot more information.

As for parts availability, there should be a model number and a manufacturer indicated on it somewhere. These days, most things service professionals have access to are also listed on the internet for sale. That one is easier to convincingly check.

Newer ones can be a lot more efficient, but the high efficiency ones aren't just drop-in replacements either because they require additional piping to the outdoors which can be a big issue depending on where in your house the furnace is located.

Is the heat exchanger still intact? No cracks? If it's cracked get rid of it before the carbon monoxide gets you. We went with a heat pump and will not return to a gas furnace.

Ask another HVAC company about your options and benefits... See if they say similar things... Most likely given that it's almost 40 years old vs The efficiency improvements are probably across the board on new models... And see if the numbers match

Ya I'd hate to drop this thing on my foot. It probably would have been fine but my foot would have shattered like a plate glass window.

Refrigerators that old are one of the few appliances that pay for themselves when you replace them because of the efficiency gains.

This one had a turntable so it did a pretty good job, even though it wasn't the most powerful thing out there. I'm really hoping I can find the part I need so it doesn't end up in a landfill, it deserves better than that.

It seems to be the keypad, or more importantly the membrane switch behind the keys that makes it work.

You probably could hack in a different one but that would be a pretty messy job, and wouldn't fit well.

I did try percussive maintenance before I started taking it apart. Didn't work on the microwave but I might have done something to my hand.

Ya, that was one of the first things I tried... I was hoping it would reset and start going again to no avail.

I've got it apart now, but this weekend if I have time to mess with it I'm going to plug everything back in and try it again. Maybe it just needs a little vacation lol!

looks to be the membrane switch. One person commented that I 'MIGHT' be able to fix it with some conductive paint so I will probably end up giving that a try if I can't find a replacement. Nothing to lose trying at this point.