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rickr

rickr

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I have a 1500 watt Amana Radarange model # RR10A that is not heating the food well at all. (Hot spots,and very cold spots) I took the plastic cover off inside,and watched with the light on,and the microwave distributor (whatever that thing is called,that spins freely by hand) does not spin. I would guess that is the problem. I then took the cover off,and the control panel out for further inspection. The fan runs,and the air comes out the front.There is no belt or motor that I am aware of that is to turn the distributor. I think it turns with the air flow from the blower motor,which is running. Trash pickup is Thursday morning,and I do not want to "nuke" myself trying to work on this too much with the cover off... Should I set this out in the alley?

Thanks,
Rick
 
Rick,

My sediments exactly. I've walked through many isles looking at new units, and I cannot stand how cheep it is to mfg these with the low-grade quality of products put into it. My favorite quote of Cory's on RR's is, "As much chrome as a 58 Buick, and closes like a bank vault". I wish you well tomorrow, I hope things turn out cookin! I'll be thinkin of ya tomorrow. Cory and I will be 'working' on things tomorrow, so we'll be checking for a post of sucess!

Ben
 
RICK!!!!

Heavens no! I have that same oven. Want me I should take a look at mine and see what she does? I was under the impression that the exhaust fan was what turned the stirrer. Does it move easily by hand? Maybe she just needs a little oil.

Ben, you're an expert--any ideas? Where's Cory?

veg
 
Hi Veg,
The "stirrer" turns very easily by hand. Just will not turn by itself. I think the exhaust fan turns it also. Do not have a clue why this one is not turning.
 
Stop in the name of love!

Rick... vintage Radaranges are worth repairing. You won't get anything nearly as good by buying new. It would even be worth getting to a shop (in my opinion).

Around 1995, my RR-700 (new in 1986) needed a new internal fuse, and something else. Got it repaired, and it's ben fine ever since.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
If you are operating the oven with the cover off of the stirrer, it may not be getting enough airflow over the stirrer to make it spin. The air inlets to the food compartment are at the back of the plastic cover, making the air pass over top of the stirrer on it's way to the fan inlet near the right front. During it's trip, it hits the stirrer and makes it spin. With the cover removed, the air just draws right in from the front.

You should not experience a dramatic drop in heating capacity with the stirrer not moving, but what you will experience with an in-operational stirrer is an un-balanced cooking. One part of your food will scorch, while the other parts will stay raw. IMHO, stirrers work MUCH better than the turntables that are installed in newer microwaves!

Check your power line voltage! I remember having problems with a GE spacemaker, and I found out that I had only 108 volts feeding it. This was in a campground with iffy power.
 
YIKES!! Its the Fourth of JULY!!

So I put the inside cover back on,plugged the RR back in,set it for 10 seconds,and pushed the start button. The unit started,then sparks started flying out of RR in the area just above the stirrer on the outside of the RR. A smell of ozone?? filled the kitchen as I pulled the power cord from the wall. I am done with this project!
 
Hey Kenny! (:

It did not have anything in it,so perhaps that could have been the cause of the sparks. Still I just do not like messing with this thing. Cancer runs in my family, and running this without the cabinet on it,while looking for???? does not seem to be a smart thing to do. I carried it out to the garage for now (do I need to go to the gym tonight now?)LOL!! and will wait to see if anyone has the answer to this problem. If it is easy to repair,and I feel comfortable with it,I will try to fix it. If not it is now now much closer to the alley,and they pick up every Thursday. I would save the glass tray and control panel,and look for another. These are not like trying to find a Unimatic. (: RR.
 
Microwaves are not ionizing radiation. Far as I'm aware, you'd feel heat before any other corporeal damage occurs. Remember how the story goes about discovery of microwaves for cooking -- chocolate bar melted in a lab tech's pocket, or something like that.

The danger in working on microwaves is much more electric shock from high-voltage components than from microwave/radiation exposure.
 
Rick, well it is sorta blondish to run a microwave empty LOL

It won't spin with the inside plastic cover off. I would put one cup of water in (not in a metal cup LOL) run it on high and time till the water boils which should be around 3 minutes. It's possible that it's stuck on a lower power setting, plus if you do it in a somewhat darkened room with the oven light on you can see the stirrer fan turning thru the window, and if you plug in a shop/emergency light in the same outlet you can notice the shop lightbulb dimming and brightening as the magnetron cycles depending on the power level setting.
Don't you dare toss it out yet. The resident RR expert hasn't chimed in yet...
 
Blonde moment indeed!

Well,just because I forgot this doesn't "ding" when it is ready,and burned my leftovers up! *KIDDING*

We will have to wait until the jury is in before we decide the fate of the RR. (the jury is in Iowa,and the judges name is Cory)
 
I was just checking to see if it was possible to rupture the blood vessel in the other side of your head! Stay outta the damn gym Romeo!( BTW, did you leave any screws in the bottom?) OK, Just kidding!, I'll shut up now.
 
No screws left behind!!

Ha! I am going anyway
Be back at 9:45 p.m. my love! (:
 
RF dangers

WOW--Microwave radiation exposure IS VERY DANGEROUS from the heating of your body tissues.VHF,UHF-and microwaves from your microwave cooker should be treated with GREAT RESPECT.I have worked with these-from FM and television transmitters.Yes-eyes and genitals can be cooked-and internal organs-because they have few nerves and don't feel the heating or pain.I remember reading a story years ago in one of the broadcast publications about a tower rigger who was working on a tower near an energized UHF broadcast antenna-he said(before he died)"that it feels pretty warm up here"to other co-workers on his walkie talkie radio on while he was on the tower working on another stations antenna-(which was deenergized)When he came down after his work--he died.An autopsy showed his internal organs were literally cooked from the RF from the neighboring stations engergized antenna.It was a very disturbing story-and now the RF is treated with GREAT respect.Yes-the energy from the microwave cooker isn't as great as from a TV station-but still enough to burn your hands or your eyes.The microwave tube(magnetron)operates at LETHAL voltages which are exposed when the cover is off.Even low power microwave communications antennas and dishes are treated with respect by techs and tower workers.You could cook a hot dog from the beam on a dish antenna energized with only 20Watts of RF power.That would also explain the melted candy bar in that engineers pocket.Nowadys with present rules and safety regulations-workers CAN NO LONGER work on towers that have more than one antenna unless ALL of them are deenergized.I was exposed to RF as well-have felt my hand get warmed from the hot end of a tower isocoupler from standard FM broadcast transmitter.It was also enough energy there to light a 4 foot flourescent bulb to full brightness when held there.I then rescheduled my work when I could shut down the FM transmitter.Yes-I would treat an open microwave oven with GREAT care . and to cut down on the radiation hazard-you should put a "load" in the oven-the glass container with water-so the energy is absorbed.If it is not-the microwaves can reflect back into the magnetron-and cause it to burn or the engergy can radiate when the covers of the oven are removed-also the stirrer is in the "waveguide" that conveys the microwaves from the magnetron tube to the oven cooking chamber.I have only run microwave cookers one or two times with their outer covers off and I treat them with the same respect as if it were one of the high powered transmitters I usually work on.I don't touch any thing inside while it was on.and also left any covers around the magnetron or waveguide covers on.
 
Hey Guys!!

No, I haven't been intentionally ignoring everyone, just extremely busy with all sorts of things, not the least of which has been hauling lumber : )

So it looks like we've got a RR problem here... You guys are on the right track, first make sure the stirrer is stirring. IT IS air driven on this model. With all the covers in place, put a pyrex measuring cup full of water in the center of "the cavity". Also make sure you have the RR tray installed. Turn it on and shut the room lights off....is it spinning?

If it spins, and your water stays lukewarm and you find your food is still cold and uneven, it's possible that A) Your magnetron is on the way out....or B) The SCR (located in the control panel) is failing causing the tube to work intermittently.

There is a possibility of a more serious problem, such as HV failure, and anything in this realm requires more scrutiny.

So the first question is.....does the stirrer stir?

-Cory
 
Rex, thank you! I can find another RR for appx. $25.00. If this is not a simple fix,I do not want this microwave. Some areas of the inside of this RR are held together with very large welds,or large rivets.(including the microwave "channel" that leads from the wave source to the stirrer) You can tell that the engineers did not intend for thoses areas to be serviced. EVER!

On another note of the same type of danger,

My sister had a Sharp microwave from 1975. My parents had bought it new. It always worked like a charm,however about three years ago I was over and decided to warm some soup. I opened the door to the MW and broken parts of the (magnetic??) metal seal were falling out of the edge of the door! I showed my sister,and told her not to use the MW anymore. She said it had been like that for years,but she didn't think about it. She had been using the MW like that for a few years,and stood in front of it every morning while it heated her coffee water!! Well.... after explaining to her that it was not safe to use,I sat it curbside,and cut the cord off so no one else might try to take it home and use it.

BTW, both of our parents,two grandparents,and my uncle all died of cancer. We do not need to take any chances in my family!
 
Hi Cory,
The stirrer does not stir. The blower is running. The RR is out in the garage now and it is raining hard here. Tomorrow after I get off work I will perform your stirrer test.

You can hear the transformer hum a couple of seconds after the MW is started. It continues to hum the entire time the MW is on. (it makes a pulse sound on defrost though) It seems that this MW has never worked very well since a bought it about 8 months ago. It took too long to heat up,and heated unevenly. Once in awhile the food would be stone cold after cooking for five or six minutes. The last couple of weeks have really been bad,and today after trying to heat a frozen dinner for lunch for 30 minutes (five minutes at a time) I knew it was time to "have a look" inside.

BTW: As a rather poor performer, I have always thought that this RR must have been the lower wattage model,and was suprised after pulling the unit off the countertop to see it reads 1500 watts on the back.

Thanks Cory!

Rick
 
rickr:Yes-good point on the door seal.If the magnetic seal isn't sealing against the main cabinet-radiation could leak out---and expose someone watching the oven cook-right where their eyes could be.VHF,UHF and microwave radiation can cause cataracts in your eyes after prolonged exposure-this happened to some UHF TV transmitter engineers (in the very old days)who were replacing tubes in a "dead" power amp cabinet-others were one so the station still on air-you would have to sight down a waveguide to align the tubes output guide to the transmitters--their eyes would be exposed.Newer transmitters don't have this danger.It does sound like the oven you are working on may have a bad magnetron or as one other member pointed out a defective controller.I think the "1500W" is what the machine must pull from the powerline when its running at full power.Small magnetrons used in microwave ovens are about 75-85 percent efficient.The efficiency goes up in higher powered models used in radar transmitters-those are another HORROR STORY to work on-know people that have worked on radar transmitters-VERY dangerous!!
 
Rick the oven uses 1500 watts but the magnetron only puts out something like 750 watts of cooking power on high in these old Radaranges. Many of the newer ones are up to 1000 watts output etc but unless your in such a hurry a la Liz Taylor then the difference isn't all that important.
 
Personally it's a beautiful machine, but I'm not sure that an aftermarket fix, even professional, gives the same assurance that radiation standards are met.

and new ones are now $40-
(Ducks and runs).
 
While we are on this subject

Anyone know where I can find a new glass tray for my RR-10A? The original broke into pieces while nuking some popcorn. I have been using it without the tray and it seems to work fine, but would like to have it back to original.

Scott
 
Sleepwalking at work.....

Scott,

In trying to keep a few extras on hand, due to popcorn, I usually spot one or two each trip I make to Goodwill. Make sure it is an actual Amana glass tray, (Will either say "FRONT" or Front with a bunch of warnings) as there were other MFG's who used glass trays. Amana states that you are not to use the machine w/out a tray... does it still cook the same? =)

Ben
 
Hi Scott,
You can have the tray from mine,IF I end up scrapping it,and purchase another brand of MW. Will let you know in a few days.

Rick
 
Thanks to Ben and Rick

While it seems to work fine without it, I will stop using it until such proper equipment is re-installed, I love my RR and don't want to harm it.

Thanks guys!
 
I really like my radaranges. The one I tend to use the most is the one with the two timer dials because it's the simplest. Most everything I use a mw oven for is under 5 minutes and with the timer dial you just put the food in, tweak the dial quickly and press the start button rather than following a sequence of button pressing.
And who doesn't like the solid sound of that big chrome door clunking when you close it, or the definite click when you hit the light or start and stop buttons.
 

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