Microwave repair or replacement?

Not necessary to replace like for like. When ours died, best buy had exactly what we needed in a samsung. Yea, needed to drill a couple new holes and relocate the mounting bracket, but oh well, still did not take that long, and we got a better microwave in the process.

Daughter had a beautiful Kenmore under-counter micro that was made by LG. It displayed an error code that turned out to mean the Inverter Section had failed. It turned out that "they all quit that way" (or at least close to it) and repair exceeds cost of a new microwave. So we junked it and bought a Whirlpool non-inverter replacement at Lowe's.

Inverter IS a nice feature. Without it, when you set a 1000 Watt Micro at Power Level 50-pct, it runs at 1000 half the time, On, Off, On, Off, etc. When you set 1000 Watt Inverter at 50-pct, it cooks at 50-pct for the whole time it's set for. The big benefit for an RVer, is being able to run at less power consumption to come in under that capacity of a generator, 30-amp shore tie, etc.

Because of the common LG inverter failure, gOOgle around, read reviews etc. It's very possible the issue has been corrected.

LG cabinet-mounted Microwaves have vent opening where you can re-orient the opening to match your needs.

They usually come with side wall orientation, but you can reposition the squirrel cage blower if your vent is through the roof.

Pay special attention before you start removing the knock out opening because you'd be left with a gaping hole which would negate the venting capability for which it is designed to do.

If you replace it with the same size, model and brand, you may not even need a new mounting bracket--you can (if you're lucky) just install the replacement without drilling holes.

In our previous camper, the microwave died. We went to WallMart and purchased a new one. No, it did not match cabinet. It was actually a bit smaller. I had to do a bit of modification, but it was very simple to do. I had to drill two holes from the bottom of the cabinet so I could run machine screws through and catch the front feet of the new microwave to hold it in place.

The new microwave did not require any venting (just like in a house), and I used the trim from the old one to fill in the little extra gap. When it was all done, it looked factory installed. It really was easy to do. Yes, a little smaller than the original, but we never noticed the size. It was the same size as the one we had in the house. And! We got to pick a color we really liked.... Red!

Many microwave units I repair have security Torx fasteners to remove the shell.

Many fail to work in one of two ways

1) No indication of power. Failed 5 amp fuse on control circuit board near chips

2)Power indication but no start. Failed 10 amp fuse sometimes on underneath of board. Use normal fuse for control, slo-blo for power fuse.

Fuses not blown is bad juju.