Combi microwave / oven brand recommendation ?

[gentlegreen]

I was going to put this in "mildly vexed" ...
I had an idea my Aldi microwave had tripped the mains the last time I used it, but on a whim I un-retired it and baked a good few potatoes in it before it went rogue on me again - having committed to a new dietary regime involving said root vegetable...I was also using it for other purposes...

Far too dangerous to go even taking the lid off ... a shame I'm hoping to leave the country so not ready to convert the transformer into a spot welder...

If a bog standard microwave appeared very cheaply on my radar I would likely go for it and save myself the caloric temptations of making food crunchy and more calorically-dense and moreish ...
But I might at least go for one with a convection oven ..
Some are now claiming to also be "air-fryers" - I'm not sure I want anything capable of making "healthy" chips ....

 

[gentlegreen]

When I moved my dead microwave out of my cooking area I realised the issue is almost certainly condensate water pooling at the bottom and trickling down into the turntable motor... I wasn't sufficiently proactive in mopping up ...
Damn...
Maybe I'll try running a hairdrier in under it - it's completely inaccessible even with the cover off and the lethal capacitor staring at me...

 

[Elpenor]

Leave the microwave door open when not using it for the moisture to evaporate

 

[gentlegreen]

Leave the microwave door open when not using it for the moisture to evaporate

that's what I was doing, but there was still enough running down to the bottom ...

 

[xenon]

When I moved my dead microwave out of my cooking area I realised the issue is almost certainly condensate water pooling at the bottom and trickling down into the turntable motor... I wasn't sufficiently proactive in mopping up ...
Damn...
Maybe I'll try running a hairdrier in under it - it's completely inaccessible even with the cover off and the lethal capacitor staring at me...

Can't recommend one I'm afraid. I have a bog standard, 2 dials, no combi oven type. Which works for me. Recently got a fairly basic air fryer, which is getting a lot of use...

I did have a microwave once which similarly met it's demise. I was a bit lax about condensation and the floor of it rusted through, meaning it had actual holes in it. Fortunately the screen was fine....

 

[xenon]

Leave the microwave door open when not using it for the moisture to evaporate

^ is what I do now.

 

[urbanspaceman]

Best combination ovens, as tested by Which

 

[gentlegreen]

I probably gave up too soon on the old one.
It clearly sorted itself out left to dry for two years...
I'll blow my fan heater into the turntable motor and see if I can't dry it out over the next few days - the heat won't go to waste ...weird that it tripped the earth when I shut the door ...
In the meantime I found I could chop the spuds into quarters and carefully boil them in a fairly moderate amount of time so all is not lost ...

 

[Elpenor]

I was hoping you’d make your own, wire it into the consumer unit on a separate loop

 

[gentlegreen]

I was hoping you’d make your own, wire it into the consumer unit on a separate loop

I contemplated disconnecting the earth - but this thing has lethal HT available...
A separate RCD would be handy for dodgy appliances so it doesn't take out everything else including my Internet and heating ...

 

[gentlegreen]

So I found a video and it seems the initially attached cover is designed to be removed for servicing and replaced using self-tappers...
Since it's a synchronous motor I'll see if it'll dry out first - definitely scope for leaving off the earthed inspection cover where liquid was pooling ...

 

[gentlegreen]

I peeled the label off and there's actual visible rust leaking from the iron motor stator so I think it has to be worth a go - £5 from China, £10 from UK.
Sod's law someone near me chucks out a dead microwave after I've replaced it.

I've put the motor on a radiator - initially 1.2Megohms from winding to ground with an ordinary multimeter ... so not enough leakage even if it ran on 240 volts - though perhaps it's a neutral fault ... oh well we'll see if it improves.

 

[cesare]

We inherited a Panasonic combi but tbh we only use the microwave function which is fine.

 

[WouldBe]

I contemplated disconnecting the earth - but this thing has lethal HT available...
A separate RCD would be handy for dodgy appliances so it doesn't take out everything else including my Internet and heating ...

Rcd's work by tripping if there is an imbalance in the current in the live and neutral wires regardless of where the current difference leaks to.

 

[gentlegreen]

Now I understand why it tripped when the door was closed but without the motor actually turning .
It gets its 30 volts off the chassis fan - like old record players used to get HT off the motor ... that all looks a bit iffy with control switching happening in the neutral ...
Still only 0.2mA at 240 volts though ....
Assuming fixing it is a viable option I will deploy some inner tube and perhaps silicone and / or grease as a seal - as well as making sure I mop up the condensate ...

 

[gentlegreen]

We inherited a Panasonic combi but tbh we only use the microwave function which is fine.

I had an amazing family size Samsung combi that I bought on impulse and which served me well for over 10 years.
I replaced it with a very expensive Panasonic invertor jobbie that only just lasted till the warranty expired...
My Panasonic breadmaker lasted well though ...

My first one was one my brother found abandoned...
The membrane pad was faulty so I used two terminal blocks and a wire - I was so lazy I only spent half an hour "fixing" it and for the several years I used it I think I made do with "1" and "5" and "start"

 

[existentialist]

I contemplated disconnecting the earth - but this thing has lethal HT available...
A separate RCD would be handy for dodgy appliances so it doesn't take out everything else including my Internet and heating ...

Unlikely as I realise this would be, if you had an electrical inspection on your place, chances are that they'd point out to you that it is now usual practice to have every circuit on its own RCBO and recommend an upgrade. We're not quite at the French standard yet (every outlet has its own separately-fused spur there), but it's getting there.

 

[gentlegreen]

Unlikely as I realise this would be, if you had an electrical inspection on your place, chances are that they'd point out to you that it is now usual practice to have every circuit on its own RCBO and recommend an upgrade. We're not quite at the French standard yet (every outlet has its own separately-fused spur there), but it's getting there.

I'm currently looking for an electrician to work with .. but even my existing plastic CU is possibly legal - though being in the hallway it might need to be in a cupboard ...
But the CU will almost certainly be replaced... I see you can get populated RCBO ones with a surge arrestor at Screwfix moderately-priced...

I need this house signed off so I can sell it...

Yes France will be interesting assuming I get there - the people I stayed with even in 1975 had an industrial-size cabinet on the landing - there was a pharmacy on the ground floor but even so ...

Speccing up the wiring in this house I'm amazed things don't trip more often...