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Fuse blows when opened during heating

My son asked me to come look at his microwave, saying that it had started out tripping the circuit breaker, but now was completely without power. He could live without the microwave function, but it also houses the exhaust fan and light for the stove, so he'd like those functions working, at least.

This is a Frigidaire Microwave Oven mounted above the stove and providing the vent fan and light for the range, model number FFMV162LMA.

Of course my first thought was door switches, so I bought some and brought them with me, but it doesn't look like that's the problem. Here's the door switch chart from the information sheet packed away inside the microwave.

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As verified with a ohmmeter, all functions check out in open and closed positions, and seem to transition correctly when opened and closed.

I found that the 20A AGC fuse was not only blown, but blown to smithereens. I mean, the glass envelope of the fuse had literally exploded; there were pieces of glass spread over the circuit board holding the fuse.

Unfortunately I didn't have any 20A fuses with me; just a few 10A ones, so I had to make do with those until I can pick up the correct replacement. With that in mind, here's what I found.

  • All functions seem to operate correctly with a fuse in place.
  • Two thermal switches are accessible after opening up the display panel (which also allows access to the door switches as well). Both switches seem to be working; one marked "Bottom Thermal Cut-Out" reads closed and the other, labelled "Hood Thermal Cut-Out" reads open. Checking the data sheet, the hood one closes at high temperature and automatically activates the hood fan. I verified that the circuit works by bypassing the thermal switch and seeing that the fan did indeed come on when the switch is activated.
  • Under component tests, the fan motor's normal resistance is supposed to be 97.4 ohms; I got 111 ohms on my measurement. Off by a bit, but I'm assuming that's not enough to be of any concern given the fan is operating correctly.

Here are the two full pages from the Microwave Oven Tech Sheet included inside the microwave.

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I explained the situation to my son, that it seemed to be working correctly with the exception that if you opened the door when it is running, it would blow the fuse and that otherwise I thought he could use it until I get it figured out.

However, before I left he went to heat up his lunch and when he did the fuse blew. I don't know if it was because of whatever problem is going on with the microwave or the fact that it was a 10A fuse instead of the 20A that it should have been. For now I'm tempted to discount that as an issue but will verify once I get hold of some 20A fuses and get one installed.

So, after this long-winded diatribe, what do you guys think? Where do I look next to fix the problem?

Update (07/23/23)

Finally got back to my son's house today to continue working on the microwave. I feel like I made some progress, but it's still not working.

I decided to concentrate on the switches first, since the symptoms really seem to be pointing to them not opening/closing in the proper sequence. I pulled the plastic mount that holds the switches and found that one of the switches, the one labelled the monitor switch on the diagram, was coated in gunk and the button was intermittent in operation. Pressing it down, it didn't always spring back up readily and remained in the down position.

Since I already had them, I just went ahead and replaced all three switches with brand new ones. Once I mounted them all, reinstalled the switch holder mechanism and tested them, I'm confident the switches are now fully operational.

After reassembling and testing, I find that everything works fine, including the clock, oven fan and oven lights, right up until I try to turn on the microwave. At that point it either blows the circuit breaker, the fuse, or both.

So I figured it was time to listen to @mayer's advice and check the magnetron. It's a two-person job to dismount it from the wall, so I got my son to help me take it down.

Once I got it on the kitchen table and opened up, I started checking everything I could.

  • Magnetron:
    The two terminals have continuity between them but none between either one and the case or any other ground.
  • Transformer:
    Primary winding measured .4 Ohm
    Secondary winding 117 Ohms
    Filament winding: 0 Ohms
    According to the troubleshooting sheet, that all checks out as correct.
  • Capacitor:
    Open circuit between either terminal and chassis ground.
    Open circuit between terminals. The troubleshooting sheet indicates there should be an initial momentary ohm reading that then goes to an open circuit, but I couldn't get one no matter what range or polarity I tried. Now, it's a very old Radio Shack digital multimeter so it could conceivably be the fault of the meter, but I don't know at this point.
  • Diode:
    Basically got the same results as the capacitor. It measured as an open circuit either way no matter the range or even if I specifically set the meter on diode mode.

So at this point it appears the diode may have failed. Would that account for the fuse blowing? Are my capacitor measurements anything to be concerned about, or should I just go ahead and replace both parts?

Thanks for your help; it is very much appreciated.

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Armed with a replacement Capacitor/Diode combination, I headed over to my son's house this morning to finally have it out with that cursed microwave. With the help of my grandson, we took it down from the cabinet and set it on the kitchen table. I removed the cover and got to work.

First step was to verify where the problem was originating. A microwave troubleshooting guide suggested disconnecting the primary side of the transformer to help isolate the problem. So I unplugged it and powered up the microwave. Upon opening the door while it was running, as has become the usual M.O., the fuse blew.

Right there that tells me the problem is not with the microwave generation circuitry, so my capacitor/diode purchase wasn't going to fix anything. I confirmed that by replacing the fuse and heating a glass of water for one minute. It heated fine with no issue, so it was time to go back to the door switches; it had to be either them or some of the circuitry they're attached to.

Examining the operation of the switches, it became apparent that the one labelled the Monitor switch switches state first when opening the door. The Primary switch goes next, with the Door Sensing switch either immediately after or about the same time as the Primary switch.

I examined the design of the switch mechanism carefully and verified that the middle switch is definitely designed to change first, before the other two. Pulling lightly on the door, just when you start to encounter resistance is when that Monitor switch connects (it's a NC switch). I wanted to verify that sequence was what was causing the problem so I unplugged it and plugged in a spare switch. While holding the switch down with my finger and having the door closed, I plugged in the microwave (kids, don't try this at home!) I put some time on it and started it heating a glass of water. After letting it run a few seconds, I released the button on the switch I was holding and sure enough, that blew the fuse.

Since the family was leaving I enlisted my grandson to help me remount the microwave in the cabinet since I can access everything I need to regarding the door switches with it in place. Having run out of ideas, I buttoned it back up and told them they could use it as long as they never open the door when it's running (the fuse was blown when I got to their house because my granddaughter can't seem to follow instructions and opened the door while it was running).

I was still pondering the whole issue as I started on the half hour drive back home. One thing I realized was that someone had previously worked on that microwave because one of the two NO switches was a different brand and color, so it's been replaced in the past. I was thinking about perhaps replacing the switch mounting assembly since that's what's responsible for the sequencing of the switches, even though I couldn't find anything that looked like it was wrong with the original one.

That's when I had a Eureka! moment and realized that maybe the sequencing is working exactly the way it should, but what if someone put the switches back in the wrong position? That would mean the monitor switch putting a dead short across the power lines and blowing fuses exactly as I saw, but if instead the Primary switch went first then there wouldn't be any danger of blowing the fuse.

I was at the halfway point but I went ahead and turned back around and returned to my son's house. Opening up the control panel took just a minute and since I had already replaced all three switches with NO/NC type switches I didn't have to swap the switches themselves, just change which plug goes to which switch.

I plugged it back in and tested. Heat worked fine, lights work correctly and - glory hallelujah - the fuse did NOT blow when I opened the door as it was running! So yeah, all that time and effort because the last guy who worked on it replaced the switches in the wrong positions. I'm unclear as to why it seemed to work fine for the several years they've been using it, unless perhaps they had a higher amperage fuse (it calls for 20A) and because it's on a 15A circuit breaker, I have to wonder if the circuit breaker has been going and my son just didn't think anything of it and reset it up until it finally blew the fuse and I put in the right amperage fuse that blew much easier than whatever was in there. That's my working theory, but at this point I don't care enough to follow up on it; the microwave is working now and I don't have to deal with it any more.

TL;DR version: Last person who replaced a door switch swapped the position of the NO Primary switch with the NC Monitor switch. Putting the switches back in their proper locations has fixed the problem.

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A microwave that is tripping a circuit breaker can be caused by a shorted magnetron. You can determine that a magnetron has shorted by contacting one multimeter lead to one of the magnetron's terminals and the other lead to the casing. If meter display indicates that electrical continuity is present between any of the terminals and the casing, the magnetron has shorted and will need to be replaced.

PART

https://www.repairclinic.com/PartDetail/...

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Thanks Mayer, I'll try that next chance I get (the kid's house is a half hour drive away, so I'm not just going to be "popping in").

I'm hoping I can get to it from the front panel, because if not I'm going to have to figure out how to dismount it from the cabinetry. I did not see any sign of how to do that when I was there yesterday.

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@dadibrokeit

Here's a link that may help. Scroll down to Testing the high voltage components.

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@jayeff Ah, this sounds like the clue I was looking for! Apparently the granddaughter has a bad habit of slamming the microwave door, so it's more than possible she's knocked something out of place with her overenthusiastic closings. Outside of hooking up a three-channel oscilloscope and tracing the three switches simultaneously, I wasn't coming up with a way to determine if they were operating in the correct sequence - not to mention even knowing what the correct sequence is!

But the instructions showing how to watch for a resistance change during a slow opening and closing sequence makes perfect sense. We'll have to see if I can catch it without the microwave being powered on, since that's when the fuse blows and I'm sure as heck not working on it with it plugged in!

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@dadibrokeit

Did you test the turntable motor, you never mentioned it?

It seems that the fuse blows when the power relay R2 is operated

Did you measure the HV transformer primary to ground?

The capacitor should show a reading that dissipates to infinite Ohms.

What happens is that when you connect the Ohmmeter to the two capacitor terminals (harness wires disconnected), either the capacitor discharges into the Ohmmeter (if it still has a charge in it) so you get a reading until the charge has gone so meter reading moves to infinity or if the capacitor has no charge stored, the meter charges the capacitor (Ohmmeter supplies battery voltage) so again there's a reading until the capacitor is charged where again the meter is on infinity as DC cannot continually flow through a capacitor.

If you keep reversing the meter leads the meter should show a reading that dissipates. Depends on the value of capacitance and the sensitivity of the meter how big a reading is shown.

The diode should conduct in one direction only but it may be that your DMM can't supply enough voltage to measure it accurately if at all, as the voltage drop across the HV diode may be too great to determine whether it is OK or not. Most DMMs only supply 9V on highest Ohms scale as this is the voltage of the battery in the meter.

What value battery is used in the meter? This usually indicates what voltage is supplied when using the DMM on highest Ohm's scale.

The link I supplied shows how to test the HV diode using a 12V-15V plugpack

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@jayeff

I didn't test the turntable motor, but before replacing the switches the microwave would occasionally work and the turntable did turn.

I did check all of the transformer wires to ground, and they all showed an open circuit, so I'm concluding the transformer is good since the expected readings all matched the diagnostic sheet.

My DMM uses 4 AA batteries for a total of 6VDC for power. I remembered that I had an old motor start capacitor from when I had ordered the wrong one for my A/C fan. I checked that in both directions with the DMM set to the same range I used on the microwave and did indeed see a reading that dissipated.

So now, I'm suspicious of the capacitor; but the document you linked to says a capacitor that has failed open (like mine) would result in no heat but no other symptoms, but a shorted cap will blow the fuse immediately.

At this point I'm tempted to go ahead and blow $23 on an OEM cap/diode assembly. Is that a worthwhile investment or is there something else I should check first?

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