Need Microwave Suggestions

[leehljp]

These posts the last few days over quality of appliances and MWs have me concerned. We have a microwave that we bought 25 years ago in the US and brought it with us to Japan when we came. It is still working great over here. Lately, I have been wondering if I want to ship that MW back to the States when we return just prior to retirement in Dec. 2010.

I will say that I have learned a few things about our US appliances here - Japan has 100V and most of our appliances were made for 115/120V. I use step up transformers and Variacs for the MW and some of my tools. It recently dawned on me that the Variac/transformers are providing the appliances a MORE steady power supply than the tools/MW would be receiving if they were operated in the States.

How much does voltage variance during brownouts and just ordinary voltage fluctuations affect the longevity of appliances?

I sure like my 25 year old MW and hate to think about buying another one that at best is regarded as a "consumable" by today's manufacturing standards.

[wbsettle]

How much does voltage variance during brownouts and just ordinary voltage fluctuations affect the longevity of appliances?

I sure like my 25 year old MW and hate to think about buying another one that at best is regarded as a "consumable" by today's manufacturing standards.

It may vary somewhere depending on where you live, but I don't think power fluctuations are a big concern in most of the US these days. The power center I use for my A/V gear has a volt meter built in. The most I ever see wall voltage sag is when the HVAC kicks on (~3 volts), otherwise it's steady state operation from my observations.

We just replaced a 15 year old GE microwave that was still going strong and hopefully it finds a new home via the charity we gave it to. We only replaced it due to a remodel a couple of years ago. At the time, we only replaced the previous owners' range/dishwasher/fridge with stainless units, but left the MW since it was black and didn't really conflict terribly with the range (black glass cooktop). When I recently ran across a closeout in the GE employee store; upgrade time.

-Brent

[wbsettle]

We've got a GE/Profile Spacemaker XL1800 in our little office kitchen. It's not convection, but it has been really nice over the last 5 or so years. It gets used several times a day. The under cabinet surface light is nice, and the automated top vent is pretty cool. The exhaust fan for the microwave isn't very noisy.

It's not over a range so I never tried the underside vent. I just turned it on to see and it is really loud, I didn't even bother hitting the vent fan boost.

Somewhat counter intuitive, IMO, but the fan comes on at its highest setting on the first press. The second press drops to a lower speed.

It's worth noting that people in this thread need to distinguish between the range exhaust fan and internal cooling fan when discussing fan noise. We just installed the 30" version of the XL1800 linked above and it's quiter than the 15 year old model it replaced in both operations. Our range exhaust also vents back into the room. (not sure why the folks who built the house didn't have it vented outside...that's a project on the long term list), but that shouldn't have a whole lot of bearing on exhaust fan noise.

-Brent

[tjr]

Have the GE JVM1440 installed in December 2004. This one replaced a slightly better similar model that had sensor cooking installed in 1999 which completely pooped out. Biggest thing I like about the GE is that it has instant 30 second, 1 minute, 2 minute ... 6 minute buttons that I use all the time. Good size turntable. Power is not real great for its rating. Exhaust fan OK but not super. Hood illumination is fair but uses expensive T8 bulbs that burn out every 6 months or less - why on earth don't these things use fluorescent bulbs??

I bought a freestanding GE microwave/convection combo for my inlaws vacation house, really not very good at all so I'd be pretty leary of their lower-priced combo over-the-range units.