UMC5200BAS Maytag Microwave completely dead-Burned connector inside

[WShawn]

Model Number

UMC5200BAS

Brand

Maytag

Age

1-5 years

Our $300 built-in Maytag microwave, less than two years old, simply died last Friday, June 15th. It was working fine earlier in the evening, but when I went to heat up some water later the display was totally dark. The circuit breaker and outlet are fine, and it doesn't work when I plug it into a different outlet.

Neither BASCO, the "high-end" appliance showroom in Portland from which we bought over $7000 worth of appliances in 2010, nor Maytag seem too interested in helping us since the unit is past its whopping one year warranty. Well, BASCO offered to sell us a new microwave at cost. Generous.

So I took it upon myself to open up the unit. I used vice-grips to get around the security screws. I checked the fuse with an ohmmeter, and, unfortunately, it's fine. Then I noticed that the connector to one of the thermostats on the top left side looked pretty burnt up. Here's a picture:



Any guesses as to what would cause something like that? We haven't ever had any fires in this microwave. I did a continuity check on both this thermostat and the other one on the top (disconnecting the leads first, of course), and they're both closed. So it seems like something else caused this connector to burn up.

I'm not as comfortable servicing this as I am our refrigerator, so unless I'm 100% sure what the problem is we'll either take it to a repair place or buy a new one. If I decide not to try to fix it myself would the repairs likely run higher than just replacing it?

Thanks.

Shawn Marshall
Portland, OR

 

[rickgburton]

Hi Shawn, if you replace that thermostat and the wire end that will probably fix your microwave. Sometimes a lose connection will cause that.
Thermoprotector DE47-20030A

 

[WShawn]

Thanks for the reply.

As I wrote, as far as I could tell both thermostats were closed, and the burnt connector appeared to be in contact with that thermostat, yet the unit won't power on.

I'm not comfortable guessing about something that emits radiation, so I've dropped it off at an appliance repair shop. I'll let you know what they find.

Shawn

 

[rickgburton]

and the burnt connector appeared to be in contact with that thermostat, yet the unit won't power on.I'm not comfortable guessing about something that emits radiation,

That's too bad Shawn, it'll turn out to be that wire end and thermostat and microwaves don't emit radiation, just microwaves. You could have saved yourself a few bucks.

 

[Stu7]

I have the same issue at present and I have ordered the thermostat and a new fuse. Does anyone know where I can locate a new connector to replace the damaged one?

Thanks,

 

[rickgburton]

Any of the home centers or Radio Shack will have them.

 

[WShawn]

Hi:

Here's how this resolved. I took our microwave to an appliance repair shop and told them about the burned wire next to the thermostat. A few days later they emailed me to confirm it was a bad thermostat. It ended up costing around $160 to fix the thing. Not ideal, but it is what it is.

Even though microwaves don't produce ionizing radiation, the do generate enough electromagnetic radiation to boil water, and I just wasn't comfortable screwing around in there without knowing exactly what had gone wrong and why. The why part is important to me. When I see a wire as badly burned as what we had I want to know exactly what caused that wire to heat up that much. As far as I could tell from my preliminary testing the thermostat was still closed; that circuit was still complete. That made me wonder whether there was some other underlying problem causing the burned wire. The repair place (and Rick) didn't seem to think so, so there we are. Their work is guaranteed for another year, so if something goes wrong again I'll just take it back.

At least I was able to fix this problem with our fridge a few months ago without paying the repair place:

FIXED - JFC2290VEP3 Jenn-Air Refrigerator Jackhammer-type noise

We're now experiencing our third problem with this $2500 Jenn-Air refrigerator we purchased in September of 2010. It's started producing a very loud jackhammer-type sound in the upper refrigerator cabinet; you can hear it two rooms over even with the door closed. The sound switches on...

www.applianceblog.com

Thanks.

Shawn

 

[deewu]

That's too bad Shawn, it'll turn out to be that wire end and thermostat and microwaves don't emit radiation, just microwaves. You could have saved yourself a few bucks.

I had the same problem


I had some issues (see picture and click on it to blow it up). when the sensor is off the 'base' of the metal it works (passes current and turns on

However, if I mount it to the base, it does not turn on)? Do you have any recommendations on that?
When its on the

 

[rickgburton]

That sounds like a wire connection problem and fooling you into thinking it makes a difference on or off the metal surface. Reconnect the wire end to the wire that looks like it's been replaced already. On a microwave no AC voltage goes to ground

 

[jbusma]

Hey Rick, sorry to ressurect this thread, but I was wondering if you would still suggest replacing the thermostats in this condition, even if my multimeter says the connection the circuit is complete?

 

[rickgburton]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.