Microwave ovens

The other morning, I went to heat some milk in the microwave and - nothing. Dead as a dodo. It had been perfectly alright the night before.
I turned it off at the wall, then on again, then retried to oven - still nothing.
Being as I do not have a technical head, and I'm not a one for fancy gadgets, the microwave was only a simple, inexpensive manual one, so I thought to myself it must have run its course and died.

Later in the day, I unplugged it ready to take it to the tip, but thought I would give it one last chance, and plugged it back in.
To my surprise and pleasure, it worked perfectly!

Now what I want to know from anyone who knows about electrics is, why might this have happened?
How come when I unplugged and plugged it back, it suddenly was fine? Is it safe?
Any ideas please?

Re: Microwave ovens

Maybe a loose wire in your plug or socket? Taking out the plug and returning it to the socket might have resettled the wiring. Whatever it might need looking at Mups

Re: Microwave ovens

If it's a sealed plug I'd cut it off and fit a new one.

As rehab said, it could be a loose wire or possibly an unseated fuse?

Re: Microwave ovens

Maybe the plug top was not pushed into the socket properly. We get this happen at work quite frequently if the cleaners have been moving things about.

Re: Microwave ovens

As you can see Mups, it is all the Men that have answered your question, plugs, mechanics etc. Man talk, but I totally agree with them, loose wire.

Re: Microwave ovens

Oh, thank you everyone. Do you think I should get an electrician in to check it's safe?

Re: Microwave ovens

My guess would be that as it is an old manual one it was probably a fault in the timer switch which can be intermittent. There is nothing else you could have done however.

May the Impedance of your food at 2.45 GHz be pleasing to you!

Re: Microwave ovens

Hiya Mupsy....strange isn't it?

I'd be tempted to plug something different in the wall socket where the m/wave was, like a kettle or something, for a while. See if anything happens with that.

Put the m/wave in another socket and use it there for a while, after first checking the plug is wired ok and the fuse is ok. See if it happens again. If it does you'll know it might be on the blink.

Don't leave the kitchen with the kettle or m/wave working though. Just in case it could be either that particular socket the m/wave was first in or the m/wave itself in the 2nd socket.

(are you with my thinking? )

Then you'll know if it's that particular wall socket or the m/wave itself.

For peace of mind though, you may want to ensure all the sockets are left off when you aren't there or at night.

But if you want total peace of mind, get the sockets checked, bin the m/wave and get another. I don't think they are that expensive now are they?

Just re-read that....have I confused you with my thinking

Re: Microwave ovens

Philip, it's not an old one, I believe I only got it about 12 or 18 months back.

I'm afraid your wit is wasted on me (but thanks for trying), as I don't have a clue what 2.45 Ghz means.

Re: Microwave ovens

It's the frequency of the microwave energy we cook with! It's just standardised like radio frequencies. I was just having a bit of fun!