Microwave Repair in the San Francisco Bay Area

Best Pro repairs over-the-range, built-in and drawer microwaves in houses, condos and rentals. Those are almost always worth fixing: a replacement has to match the opening, the mounting plate and the venting. A small countertop microwave is a different story — it often costs less to buy a new one, and the technician will say so.

What the symptoms mean

It runs, the plate turns, the food stays cold. Something in the high-voltage section has failed: the magnetron, the diode, the capacitor or the transformer. A thermal cutout that has tripped looks exactly the same from the outside.

It went dead with a bang. Behind the door are three or four interlock switches. When one goes bad, the oven either refuses to run or blows its main fuse — and a fresh fuse will blow again until that switch is replaced.

Sparks in the cavity. Grease baked onto the waveguide cover (the small panel on the side wall), chipped paint inside, or something metal on the plate.

The plate doesn’t turn. A turntable motor or the coupler under the plate.

The keypad ignores you. A worn membrane keypad or a failed control board.

A drawer that won’t open or close. Microwave drawers — common in Peninsula remodels — have their own motor, gears and position sensors.

Over-the-range units in condos

Many San Francisco condos and apartments can’t vent an over-the-range microwave outside, so it recirculates through a charcoal filter instead. When the vent fan or the light quits, we check the fan motor, the light socket and the switch. While we’re up there, we look at the grease filters and the charcoal filter too. A clogged filter makes the fan strain and leaves the kitchen smokier.

Leave the cover on

A microwave’s capacitor can hold a lethal charge long after the plug is pulled. Testing the high-voltage parts needs a technician and the right tools.

We repair GE, Whirlpool, Samsung, LG, KitchenAid, Maytag, Frigidaire, Bosch, Kenmore and other brands. A microwave stacked over a wall oven is covered under microwave and combo oven repair; for restaurant microwaves, see commercial microwave repair.