Hi all,
I recently replaced the magnetron on a microwave. It was a Panasonic inverter type. Some suggest it could be the inverter or the magnetron. I decided to go buy a new magnetron from Prime Electronics and replaced it. It worked. The old magnetron have some grease (cooking) on it cooling fins(??) but apart from that I couldn't see any problems on the outside. I am just curious what could break in a magnetron. The microwave was about 4-5 years old.
Thank you Anthony
**A magnetron is a vacuum tube. As such, it wears out. Sometimes, it can fail.
On Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:07:33 GMT, The Doctor put finger to keyboard and composed:
Notes on the Troubleshooting and Repair of Microwave Ovens
7.12) Comprehensive list of magnetron failure modes:- Franc Zabkar
The heater/cathode ?
Graham
"The Doctor"
** Its just gotta be possible that the magnet died.When magnets get hot and reach their "Curie Point" temp, all magnetism is lost - maybe permanently.
...... Phil
A magnetron is basicaly a vacuum tube. As it is used, the cathold wears down. As the cathold is emitting electrons it wears down. Eventualy it becomes so degraded that it cannot emit any more electrons, therefore the emission is degraded too low for proper functioning.
On rare occasions the heater can fail. If this happens the cathold can no longer heat up to the proper temperature for the cathold to be able to emit electrons.
Jerry G.
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