A few nights ago, I woke up to find that my microwave’s display was blank. I tried transferring the plug to the other outlet behind it. Nothing. So my microwave conked out, fine. I use it quite frequently, so went out to Best Buy and bought another on sale, then brought it home.
Now, an important piece of info: a few months ago (and I’ve lived here for years), my apartment complex installed a circuit breaker style outlet in my kitchen. You can probably guess now what happened.
Somehow, the breaker became tripped, and I didn’t realize it until I tried plugging in my new microwave. So I tried plugging my old one into one of my working power strips, and lo and behold, the display lights up.
So now I have two working microwaves (as far as I can tell; I haven’t tested my old one), one of which is right out of the box and never used. I’m tempted to take it back, but my old one is relatively old (11 years since it was manufactured, with Consumer Reports saying the average age is 7), so maybe replacing it now is the right time, especially since I suspect its operation has started to interfere with my WiFi connection.
Best Buy return policy should cover you pretty well, at least if you have the receipt. I think it’s 90 days or something so no sweat and they shouldn’t bat an eyelid even if it’s open. As far as if you should replace it, it is up to you and might depend on how expensive/fancy it is. Of course if you think it is leaking radiation, it might be time! Or if it is underpowered. Personally, I’d return it, and don’t need most of the fancy popcorn functions. I just replaced one (friend gave me his spare) but only because it was arcing inside.
About $100. I’d prefer not to spend money, obviously, but I got about $30 off in various promotions, so if I do replace, now is a pretty good time. I’m not so much concerned about my ability to return it as much as whether it’s time to replace the thing anyway.
I’m going to test my old one as soon as I can as the first step anyway, to make sure it’s still functioning.
Try a test, double blind (single blind might be more feasible) with friends if you can. Nuke a few things in both, maybe popcorn, some kind of meat, etc. and see if there is a difference in cooking time/taste/quality. Otherwise, I doubt that investing in microwave futures is a good idea as I think the price will be similar when the original finally dies.
We recently looked into buying something at Best Buy and were told we had just 2 weeks to return it. I don’t know if it was that store’s policy or if the sales person was jerking our chain, but if you’re going to return it, you might not have much time to do so.
Beyond that, I have nothing to offer. I’d probably return the new one myself.
At eleven years old, your old one could go at any time. Or could last another eleven, who knows? But you’ve gone through the trouble to research, shop for, and buy a new one, might as well hang on to it.
I’d probably keep the new one. But would have a hard time throwing out a working one. Do you know anyone that might need one?
Oddly, we have two microwaves. When we remodeled our kitchen, we turned our utility room into a temp kitchen. When all was said and done, we ended up buying a new microwave for the new kitchen, and left the old one in the utility room. I use it every morning to heat my tea while I feed the dogs.
If the old one is older than ten years, then keep the new one and donate the old one.
I found some notes on Consumer Reports once, and ten years is about the time to replace rather than repair if something goes bad. So , making a guess here, you’re due for a breakdown.
I’d keep the new one and pass the old one along to somebody who needs it. A couple of years ago, our old one conked out and we couldn’t afford to replace it. Husband’s work buddy gave us his extra, which lasted a year and then died, by which time we could afford a replacement.
I’d keep the old one. Appliances are always on sale. I don’t even care about buying an item then and there because it’s on sale, as someplace somewhere is selling a similar item also at sale price at any given time. Replace it when it breaks. But then again, that’s my philosophy on everything, with which many seem to disagree. Some people are happy to upgrade, whereas my thinking is “If it works well, keep it.”
No idea whether your point still stands, though. 