Question about microwaves, can anyone help?

[MyNameIsInigoMontoya]

Hi, our built-in microwave has gone wrong and will be very expensive to fix or to replace with a similar one. DH has taken it out of its slot and reckons it is pretty much similar to a non-built-in one, just with a frame round the front to make it look neater and a sort of metal cowl thing placed on top to direct the heat/fumes/something?? from the back to the front.

He wants to know whether it would be OK to just replace it with an ordinary freestanding microwave, possibly using the same metal thing on top to help with venting if necessary, or whether this would cause any problems. It wouldn't look as nice, but we need to economise a bit so would prefer to do that if there isn't any other reason why we need a built-in one! Does anyone happen to know the answer? Thank you!

Are you certain it will be expensive to repair the old one? Mine was repaired for £25 a few years ago, as was my Mum's and they are 25 years old now!
Do you know what's wrong with it?

Well I phoned the manufacturers on the number in the instructions, and they said as it's out of guarantee they could only do it if we buy a one-year support contract thing for £159 (ouch!) which covers any repairs for a year. I suppose we could look for a local repair place and see if they can do it for less.

The problem is mostly with the timer - it has started to "jump", so if I set it to say 6 minutes, sometimes it will run for 6 mins but often it will skip bits and only run for 3 minutes or even just 20 seconds and then stop. Occasionally it jumps upwards too, so you set it for 4 mins and then it tries to run for 59 minutes which obviously could be quite dangerous if we didn't notice! We think it is something to do with the circuit board containing the timer knob. There may also be a similar problem with the power setting knob, as occasionally it seems to set itself to lower heat settings (e.g. defrost) when we haven't touched it.

Might have a look whether there are any local repair places advertised...

That was my next post! I took mine and mums to a small electrical place and they were great. Even if they charge you to have a look inside and you end up buying a cheapy replacement, it will be cheaper than the 'warranty'. Hope you get it sorted.