GE Microwave switch

[Chris]

Greetings,

I am in the midst of troubleshooting a GE microwave, which appears to
have a bad switch in the protection circuitry. The switch is marked
VP-533A-OF. It appears that there is a hole melted in the switch and it
will only work when partially pressed down but it opens when fully engaged.
This results in the microwave exciter and fan not operating, but the timer
counts down normally and the light comes on. I was curious if simply
replacing the switch should correct the problem (or will it fail again?),
and where I might be able to find one at a reasonable price. I am willing
to go online or look locally (Cincinnati/Dayton/Columbus) if that is
possible as well.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Sam Goldwasser]

"Chris" <zap@columbus.rr.com.xnospamx> writes:

Greetings,

I am in the midst of troubleshooting a GE microwave, which appears to
have a bad switch in the protection circuitry. The switch is marked
VP-533A-OF. It appears that there is a hole melted in the switch and it
will only work when partially pressed down but it opens when fully engaged.
This results in the microwave exciter and fan not operating, but the timer
counts down normally and the light comes on. I was curious if simply
replacing the switch should correct the problem (or will it fail again?),
and where I might be able to find one at a reasonable price. I am willing
to go online or look locally (Cincinnati/Dayton/Columbus) if that is
possible as well.

See if there's a blown fuse to the microwave exciter. I'm guessing that
switch is there to short across the line and blow the fuse if the
interlocks aren't activated in the correct sequence. In your case,
the switch may have failed first though. Is there a circuit diagram
inside?

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