Saturday night I put a bag of popcorn into the microwave. Hit start.
Nothing happens. Well, something happens -- the time clock goes blank, and the microwave is unresponsive.
It's dead, Jim. Emerson "Professional Series" with the brushed aluminum sides, 2001-2005.
After some poking and prodding and Googling, I track the probable cause of death to either the resistor or the capacitor. A microwave works by running a lot of energy through something called a magnetron. In turn, the magnetron turns the current into radio frequency radiation that excites the water molecules in Healthy Cardboard meals, causing them to produce heat. In order to keep things orderly in the box, you need a capacitor and a resistor to store incoming AC current and mete it out to the magnetron in such a way that it won't short out. If either one of these were to fail, you would get all sorts of oddities with electricity in the oven, including a complete frying of the electrical system. One would think that there would be a fuse or a breaker that could stop this from happening, but apparently, this particular model doesn't have one.
Here's the kicker: The magnetron has a seven year warranty; everything else, one year. If the magnetron had failed, we'd get the machine fixed without a charge. But since it's not, we were looking at $75 to get it fixed. A similar model (in cubic size and wattage) costs $60 new. So, guess what I did today.
We live in a disposable society here in the US, and it's annoying. Electronics and appliances are getting cheaper thanks for free trade, but the price point competition has led companies to trade quality for quantity. No one makes appliances that last because it's unprofitable for them to do so. Instead, they can whip out $50 microwaves that will last five years because people are willing to take the immediate, tangible savings and ignore the problems of repair and disposal later.
Remember Curtis Mathes? You youngins out there probably won't, but they used to be one of the biggest brands of higher-end console televisions in the US (If you don't know what a console TV looked like, here's a classic mid-70s Magnavox.) Their big selling point: A four year warranty. Their tagline: "The most expensive television in America, and darn well worth it." Then came the rise of Asian manufacturing and falling TV prices in the 80s and 90s. Suddenly, paying $1000 for a Curtis Mathes and its four year warranty seemed stupid when you could get an identical feature set from a Sharp for less than half that. So what if the Sharp or Toshiba crapped out after three years? Two Sharps were still cheaper than one Curtis Mathes over four years. Curtis Mathes went bankrupt; its name was bought by a Korean firm that sells its cut-rate Curtis Mathes branded sets through KMart. Their warranties are now all 90 day.
Toshiba and Sharp, though, got better over time. Toshiba, long known for TVs that gave up 91 days after the warranty, now makes much-sought-after DVD players. Sharp, always the "Japanese TV you bought if you didn't want a Toshiba but didn't have the money for a Panasonic," found its niche in the mid-range camcorder market. So, in the end, they accumulated the capital to become companies that produced quality consumer goods, while other firms (like Tatung and Goldstar) have taken over the cheap craptacular end of the market.
I'm not sure what to take from this whole rant. On the one hand, the disposability of electronics and appliances has given companies the room and capital to innovate. Our new microwave, despite being the same wattage and capacity of the old one, has more features and costs $40 less. On the other hand, I spent my afternoon replacing what should have been a perfectly working microwave with a new model that cost me $60 I won't be able to save or dispose of in another way. I may accept the advantages and benefits of a disposable global economy, but it doesn't mean I accept disposability as a good thing.
Comments
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D - I should point out that playing with capacitors is REALLY dangerous, even when unplugged a capacitor (which just stores massive amounts of electricity) can and will fry your ass ... so, just give it the heave-ho and go buy another $20 microwave. They're not even worth cleaning - just use until dirty and replace. :)
Posted by: ben | February 21, 2005 07:13 AM
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It's inconvenient. It's also an environmental problem. But there are companies that buck the trend. If you look at Microsoft, they guarantee their mice for five years. A lot of mice last longer than that, but if they don't, they replace it product-for-product at most retailers.
Because of that, I buy Microsoft accessories almost exclusively. It's worth the extra $5-10 for a better product that won't cost me anything if it does decide to die.
Posted by: Dave | February 21, 2005 03:01 PM
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I've replaced the fuse in my old one twice. DOes yours have a replaceable fuse?
Posted by: Harry | February 23, 2005 03:19 PM
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No replaceable fuse, sadly. If there was, neither the instruction book nor anything I've read online hints at it.
Posted by: dw | February 23, 2005 04:18 PM
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double http on the console tv link
Posted by: jeff | February 28, 2005 11:01 PM
