Anyone ever fixed a broken microwave door?

[CustardSocks]

The door on our microwave won't shut so we can't use it. It's an integrated microwave so would be more expensive to replace than repair. And chucking it just because of a broken door seems very wasteful.

I've partly taken the door apart and I can see that the hook that holds the spring has broken. I think I'd need to replace part of the door to sort this.

Is this a silly thing to do myself? Am I likely to end up killing us all with micro waves? Anyone with any experience? Thanks.

Little tiny bump. Anyone?

Try espares (for parts) and youtube (for instructions). Do be very careful though that you don't leave anything wonky when you put the door back together so you hopefully won't get leaks.

I agree with RaisingSteam, and you got to be really careful.Otherwise it could end up in costing you way more that the repair!

If it's a good microwave, you need to have it repaired professionally.

It used to be really hard to find spares, because of the risk of home repairs.

I've repaired the hoover, the washing machine and the tumble drier from e-spares but microwaves are a bit more risky really. I have had a microwave engineer out before, it cost nearly £100 although that was when the Magnetron or whatever its called had broken.

You could call a couple of places, explain exactly what's broken and ask for a quote to repair and test. Hopefully about £50.

It's not like repairing any other electrical appliance - you have to be certain that the electrical seal around the door makes contact all the way round. There is a microwave tester that a proper repair shop will use to check it, and unless that is done properly it would not be safe to use.
The energy inside that oven is about 1,000 times the power of a mobile phone. It can cause cataracts and other health problems, particularly for children.

Yay, replies! Thank you.

I think I agree with you all. I love my children and my DH, and don't want to fry them all with a dodgy microwave repair. It's annoying as the bit that has broken is a tiny little hook that, from what I've read, can often just be replaced. Except on my model, the hook is part of the outer door so the whole door will need doing.

I found a couple of places online today so I'll ring them tomorrow. Now just need to work out how I get the blasted thing out of it's integrated home...

Just make sure that it's a responsible firm who can do a proper repair and test it for leaks.
You don't want someone bodging it in a garage somewhere.

Thanks for your advice Sallying. There are a couple of local electrical repair firms that have been around for a long time. I'll specifically check that they test for leaks too.

A long time ago, I used to work in domestic appliance spares/repair industry and then you needed a special licence to work on microwave ovens.

Not a lot of people know that