Home Improvement → Panasonic Microwave Makes Crackling Noise

I have an eight year old Panasonic Inverter Microwave Oven that has given me years of faithful service. Last night when I pushed the start button to do some popcorn I heard a loud crackling noise for about two seconds. Then the oven heated the popcorn like it normally does. I heard the noise again this morning when I pushed the start button to defrost something. If anyone has any idea about the noise please let me know.

Use it until it stops working.

These products are not serviceable by the average homeowner.

And even if you take it somewhere, the cost of having a part replaced will make it likely uneconomical, especially after 8 years.

Is the crackling like a sizzle or sparks?

Sizzle = Clean it. You have sauce or something that's boiling in there.

Sparks = Why bother keep it?

That being said, my father is still making his popcorn in a microwave that's as old as me (29 years old). Sure, it takes 4 minutes instead of 2, but it makes GOOD popcorn.

I've had newer, but cheap microwaves simply burn the bottom of the bags before even half the kernels popped. So if you like popcorn, don't cheap out if you go buy a new microwave

I had that problem one time, I thought a capacitor burst because yellow fluid was leaking from it, so i took it apart to see if the cap needed replacement, and was shocked to find a dead mouse with it's mouth on the capacitor terminals!!. that was too disgusting so I threw it out.

Unless it's built in it's just cheaper to buy a new unit then service them.

Even built in you just go online and find the built in trim kit.

I too have a Panasonic Inverter... it has issues, the turntable just stopped working..

BUT, mine does a sizzle noise when there's boiled over liquids under the turntable, or something spattered up a corner you missed wiping out.

As regards fix or buy. I am ready now to dig my heels and and yell ENOUGH!!! I am not fugging "renting" this crap for 366 days at a time. As someone else mentioned recently, buying anything these days is like going to the Casino. So if I can't fix it, scavenge three together to make one, or find it for $5 used, I'm not going to have one any more. I'll start buying again when stores start standing behind what they sell. I HAD hoped that excessive returns would make them pick better quality sources, but no, last couple of years they've just tightened their returns up huge, like 15 days for some stuff. Fug 'em. That leaves you dealing with a "service center" to which you have to ship your $100 item by recorded delivery for $95... yeah right. It is becoming too costly to re-re-rebuy small appliances year in year out. Some turn out to be fairly reliable, once the "weakest link" is upgraded. Some you just give up on anything made in the last 10 years and go find something made in 1980... like our coffee machine... been running that 7 years since I went through a string of disposable black and decker ones.

Anyway, I like how mine worked, and I'm going to see if there's a simple fix for the turntable. If not, it's gonna get parted and hopefully donate something to keep a different one running. Did pick up a spare off the curb last weekend... but am NOT, just NOT going to obediently run out and buy a new one when anything breaks any more.

Be sure to get back to us when your kitchen catches fire or you've irradiated yourself.

Your basic handheld AM radio is a handy dandy leakage detector.

I trust myself to keep me safe more than any faceless corp.

Make sure that there is no twist ties with wire centers in the cavity that stuck to the bag of pop corn and then fell off.

Clean it, especially the microwave guide cover. There's probably food stuck to it...

Could be roaches in/around the magnetron or waveguide. No offense intended, bugs happen...

Had one about 10 years ago do same thing....

The transformer was arcing internally... Eventually started stinking....
Fuse then went.... Seeing it was not the 'tube' searched and found a transformer for ~ $70. It was a bear to replace...

Unit ran for 4-5 more years, then the tube started getting weaker, and weaker...

Yeah, you can get internal arcing especially after everything is coated in kitchen grime after years, the fans suck it in. If it starts smelling ozoney/iony then best to cease use and get it looked at.

Stop buying the manufacturer - don't blame the store of the manufacturer. It is the manufacturer also changing their returns.... Problem is - most people want the cheapest possible and they get it. You have to search to find a good product and most stores do sell good products.

There are entire manufacturers I will not buy from - ever. Take it out on the manufacturer - not the store it was bought from.

the store SHOULD be blamed if they keep on selling something that gets returned often for defects, do you think the store knows they are selling defective products? of course they do!. but they keep on doing it!.

How about the idiots who buys a $59 Microwave and thinks it a quality product?

Use the power level selector.

Is $900 for NSF certified stainless steel better »www.acpsolutions.com/com ··· cial.asp »www.sharpusa.com/ForBusi ··· MWO.aspx ? I can buy a dozen microwave that will each last a couple years instead of a $1000 microwave oven that will last 50 years. Who made the smarter choice?

Switching power supplies (inverters) tend to make a crackling noise when they have bad caps in them. It will eventually fail, probably with a lot of smoke.

The $60 microwave only spits 1/3 of the power and will probably die in few months of commercial use. Plus commercial units have other features (programmable settings). For residential use I wouldn't buy a commercial unit though...

Trust me, I burned many bags trying to find a good balance of power and time. It had a rotating plate, I tried to elevate the bag, nothing worked. It just didn't heat evenly and it was a POS.

The microwave I now use is much higher in quality.
Whisper quiet
Rotating plate never gets off the brackets
Bigger space
It pops corn so perfectly that it only leaves 3-4 kernels left and everything else was fluffy and yellow.
Soup is never boiling at the top and freezing at the bottom.
Hot pockets are never frozen in the middle and hard as rock on the edges.

That wasn't the aspect being discussed. I agree with you and don't blame the store for selling it to me.

I've been using one of these for the last 12 years without a hiccup. Makes everything from popcorn to pizza to leftovers perfectly. No problems with the rotating plate either.

»www.danby.com/en/US/our_ ··· 11kpssdd

Cost me $89 at Wally World and I couldn't be happier. As for power levels? You'll be hard pressed to find ANYTHING that plugs into a standard wall outlet and delivers more than 1200 watts.

Years ago (1984-90) I repped Sharp microwaves. The only product back then that had the quality and reliability to be a competitor of Sharp was Panasonic.

Times have changed and I'm sure quality on all fronts have changed, but I replaced my top of the line Sharp with another top of the line Sharp microwave a few years ago.

Back then you could beat Sharp on price but never quality.

that's fine, they'll realize soon the consequences of doing that. but if a store has hundreds on returns on a product, and keeps on selling that product, it's the stores fault, and there's no way around that blame!. also, enameled wire coming out of Mexico is VERY poor quality, any manufacturer that uses that will have shorted turns in their products!. it may very well be the transformer in the OP's case used enameled wire made in Mexico in the transformer, which is starting to short out!.

An implied warranty of merchantability is a warranty implied by law that goods are reasonably fit for the general purpose for which they are sold.

Stores ARE responsible for selling crappy products! The Uniform Commercial Code applies, and the store could be held liable for selling crap. Almost no customers know this though, so they put up with it.

Dollar stores would go bankrupt if that were true.

The store just returns it to the distributor and gets a credit on the invoice. If some don't come back, it is profit. No skin off of their nose.

It's people that insist on the absolute cheapest price (cheapest intentionally used) to get something. In most cases, if it is made in China, it's probably bottom of the barrel stuff, but cheap. It's the $49.99 VS $49.89 deals that make them all look bad.

Nobody is in business to lose money. It's a fact of business 101. They wouldn't sell it if there wasn't a market for it, and that market is those of us that want that dollar off. It's not gonna change soon, though. People want to place the blame somewhere else but on their own stupidity.

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