Why can't electronics on new washers & dryers be tougher?

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Exactly. I just tossed away a 23 year old Jenn Air microwave that had electronics and it was still working fine. I'm not convinced the premise that washers and dryers with electronics are inherently more prone to failure than other units is valid. I see most people in this group with actual problems that are in the area of switches, motors, water level sensors, solenoid water valves, etc.

Also, if you want to go a long way to protecting ALL your appliances and electronics, you should install a whole house surge protector.

d

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Looking at the size of traces or components on an electronic circuit board is just about meaningless. Almost all of these today are digital, which work on signals of micro amps. The only areas carrying any current of substance, typically are driving a relay, solenoid, etc. or part of the power supply, if that happens to be on the board. That area of the board does need to have the proper size trace.

cs

Dammit. Now you've gone and poked Tom, so he'll get up from his nap, and he'll go and poke Bud, and we'll have another 75 posts on *that* topic.

When I moved into my new old house, a supressor was installed on the electric meter. I did not want to pay for the service and didn't. I wonder if they took it off ?

I work on stuff all the time where spills will take out the ecectronics. They build it that way. Centrifuges and shaker tables in mind.

greg

Really! I`m amazed, I`ve repaired or replaced dozens if not hundreds. Some are an easy fix, usually a duff capacitor or switch membrane, One very common model of oven regularly suffered from a o/c resistor in the supply to the display, others can be sent away for refurbishment at a reasonable price in comparsison to a new board.

Ron

I once replaced a dead panel with a mechanical timer. They are really nice though for quick opperation and simplicity. All the orginals had them. My father loved it, allthough it was the same as our Heathkit Microwave.

greg

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loved it, allthough

Well, mechanical timers fail also, usually the coil fails in 'Crouzet type' motor driven ones. or the microswitches go intermittent. They can often be ressurected.

Ron(UK)

And another piece of Chinese crap, a year later? I see a pile of dead microwaves every time I haul my recyclables to the landfill. I have a brand new Westinghouse microwave, still in the carton, but I prefer the 20 year old one, because it is higher power, and cooks better.

i repaired some microwaves, 20+ years ago, because they were worth repairing. They used stainless steel for the interior, so you didn't get peeling paint, and rust inside. The only bad thing was they had no turntable, ut you could buy an all plastic windup turntable for about $4.

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You can\'t have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!

Bullshit. low currents, yes, but you need to read some datasheets. I worked at a manufacturer of top of the line telemetry equipment. Traces that are very thin are prone to stress cracks. My specialty was the embedded controller computer board we built in house, and they had to be reliable. They controlled the equipment NASA uses to track their launches, and all their satellites.

I'm happy that I never had to work with you. A washer or dryer is a damp environment, with continuous vibration, while in use. Potting will keep most of the moisture away, but that can cause SMD components to be pulled off the board. A sealed container is better, but can add to the vibration problems, due to the extra weight.

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You can\'t have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!

My microwave is 23 years old, and everything still works. Would a new one last that long?

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent
force for atheism ever conceived." -- Isaac Asimov

I have found turntables to be ineffective if there is no RF stirrer overhead; the turntable simply moves food in and out of a stationary beam instead of distributing the beam around the cavity.

It's too bad that newer ovens eschew the stirrer in favor of the cheap turntable alternative.

Michael

What do you expect from China? Quality, good design, or a low price? You can't have all three.

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You can\'t have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!

controls.

You would be lucky if it lasted 23 weeks.

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You can\'t have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!

Ah, interesting. How can I tell whether or not I have an RF stirrer?

Look at the top of the oven cavity. If you see a "fan" in the hole, that's the stirrer.

Some ovens have the output on the bottom, but that's uncommon, as far as I know.

Hi!

My mother bought the world's cheapest GE microwave and it lasted for a few months past the warranty before dying in an interesting way. The magnetron was the only thing that would start. Light, turntable and fan remained dark. This is a good way to cook more than the food in the oven.

I had a look and found a relay had desoldered itself from the board. Put it back, oven springs back to life and things are good. For about a month or two it worked. The relay was having none of that and decided that if it would not get out of work by leaving the board, it would turn to coal inside instead.

I was astounded that the GE oven had a service literature packet inside it. Not a really good one, but enough to figure it out without excessive exploration.

I got mad and drug a 60+ pound Litton oven out of storage only to find that it worked *perfectly*. 30 years old and it works great. Used that for a while until I found that getting a new compatible relay for the GE was impossible. I turned the whole mess over to Best Buy, who took the dead oven back and let me pick another.

I chose a Panasonic Inverter based oven as a replacement. (My mother did not like the appearance of the Litton monster. Never mind that

*she* bought it.) Despite having heard the odd bad thing here on the group, I know people who have had these for many years. And it is a *great* oven.

William

The GE microwave that came with my condo has been running daily (though not heavily) for at least 10 years, with no problems.

It makes no sense to buy something cheap, then complain when it fails. It's not true that "you get what you pay for" (expensive items can be unreliable, cheap items good values), but if people stopped buying cheap merchandise, companies would likely stop manufacturing it.

Safety interlock switches & catches go bad all the time. My own high-end National switch-mode uwave oven snapped a door catch while it was still under warranty, but it was just before xmas, so I repaired it myself. (Diassembled the door, glued the broken catch back together, cut up a steel plate the same shape as the catch as a strengthener, & glued it to the catch. It's been working perfectly ever since.) The uwave at my office stops cooking every now & then. It fires back up again if you push on the handle, so one of the uswitches is obviously a little out of position. I haven't bothered fixing that one.

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    W
  . | ,. w ,   "Some people are alive only because
   \\|/  \\|/     it is illegal to kill them."    Perna condita delenda est
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Just as well. But doesn't your jurisdiction require manufacturers to support their products. Here in Australia if I found that a manufacturer couldn't or wouldn't supply a replacement part for an appliance that is only just out of warranty, I could, if I were so minded, sue them for my loss.

Sylvia.