Oven Failure Act Three

I wrote about this in a blog published in February, 2018. I was heating a meal in my microwave oven when the oven went dark. It was dead. I knew at once that a fuse had blown. I grabbed a screwdriver and removed the sheet metal housing and looked inside. I saw a fuse, and I pried it out and checked it. It was blown. There is a TV repair shop a few blocks from my house, so I drove there and showed the owner the dead fuse. It was a 5x25 mm ceramic cartridge fuse. Some of you will know what that is. He had a replacement and it cost a dollar. I came home and installed the new fuse and the oven came back to life.

Flash forward about two years. I was heating an item in the microwave oven when it went dead. Of course, I immediately suspected the fuse—the replacement fuse I had installed two years earlier. I removed the screws holding the cabinet in place and checked the fuse. It was blown. So I made another trip to the TV repair shop and bought another fuse. Price: still one dollar. I took it home and installed it and put the cover on the oven. I was back in business. Plus, I had another blog post for my trouble

I was back in business until about six months ago. One day, I pushed the Start button on the oven and it went dark. Dead again. But this was Sunday and the TV repair shop (a one-man affair) was closed. Where could I get another fuse? My mind wandered back to the days of my youth when I used to make fuses. I didn't have a choice. I had to make a fuse or drive to Wally World and buy a new oven. 

I got out a roll of aluminum foil. I tore off a small piece of foil and wrapped it around the bad fuse. I pushed the shiny fuse-shaped object back into the fuse holder and I screwed the cabinet in place. I put a glass of water in the oven and gave it 45 seconds. I pushed Start. The oven came on and ran for 45 seconds. I opened the oven door and checked the water. It was hot. I was back in business.

As I said, that was about six months ago. I use the oven several times a day and it always works like a champ. But isn't it dangerous, you ask, to defeat the fuse. Ordinarily, yes, it could be. But the oven is all metal. If a fire starts inside, it will be because I am here operating the oven. Because the oven is metal, fire cannot escape but, of course, smoke can. At which point I'll unplug the oven and carry it out to my back yard and drop it on the ground. But so far, there's been no sign of trouble. The oven turns on, and it runs, and it turns off when it's supposed to.

But don't attempt this yourself. I'm a professional. I have a faux parchment and shelves of dusty textbooks and even a class ring to prove I'm a professional. Though I could easily buy a new oven, it bothers me to throw away 50 pounds of good electrical equipment because a one-tenth ounce fuse is blown. I'm going to use that oven until it smokes!

Which is just what my mother did, and I guess that proves I'm my mother's son. I wrote about her experience here. (I wrote about it in 2019, but she passed in 2003, so that blog post is more of a fond memory than breaking news.) Maybe I've got a bit of Scottish blood in my ancestry, but I like to "use it up" or "wear it out" before I throw it away.