Said It Here

Microwave turns on and rotates but doesn't heat food

A microwave that lights up and spins normally can fail to heat due to internal relay issues or component damage caused by recent electrical sparking. This leaves you with a running appliance that cannot actually warm up food.

Overview
People affected3 accounts across 2 forums
Workarounds found7 items attempted
Community agreement2 total upvotes

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

7 items+ Contribute

Found another way around this?

Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.

  1. 1
    Testing internal components like fuses, capacitors, diodes, and magnetrons with a multimeter
    Did this help you?
  2. 2
    Measuring power consumption and voltage across relay coils
    Did this help you?
  3. 3
    Inspecting and cleaning door switches and terminals for grease buildup
    Did this help you?
  4. 4
    Unplugging the microwave and replacing it
    Did this help you?
  5. 5
    Using the stove instead
    Did this help you?
  6. 6
    checking all of the switches and diagrams
    Did this help you?
  7. 7
    using a meter to do a continuity check on heating elements or thermostats
    Did this help you?
Tried another approach not listed above?+ Share your workaround ↑

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/appliancerepair2 people · September 2026 – October 2026

“I have tested the microwave (model privileg 8020) and: 1. the lamp is working, the turntable plate rotates, but the food does not heat up”source ↗

“It seems to me that the relay is not making contact between the two relay switches. But I don't know: is this supposed to be a normally open (NO) switch?”source ↗

WindWalker2291 · r/appliancerepair · 1 upvotes

“Trying to diagnose my electric dryer that is just not heating anymore.”source ↗

“I was wondering if there was anything specific I should check and if this melted connection could be part of it?”source ↗

AzarathMZ · r/appliancerepair · 1 upvotes
r/HomeMaintenance1 person · September 2026

“Microwave sparking a few times. I cleaned it, it stopped for a day or so. Sparked again now it’s not heating.”source ↗

VeterinarianNo3177 · r/HomeMaintenance

Where this came up

r/appliancerepairr/HomeMaintenanceappliance repairapplianceselectronicshome maintenancetroubleshooting

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