Who here as the oldest working Microwave?

[HipChick]

Mine has outlasted a marriage, and now a few ex's..

always dependable and faithful,

never lets me down

Although I keep eyeing up newer black/silver over-the-range model with sensor timing,and steaming/convection capabilities

I still keep coming back to old faithful....

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Mine's 10 years old, but I really doubt that's the oldest around here!

[Joe Shlabotnik]

2. My parents still have one that they bought in the late 1970's

Its huge. They paid an outrageous sum of money for it though because its also a convection oven, I don't think they've used it as a microwave in 20 years though (thankfully ).

[yawnmaster]

3. the old radar range!

take an old radar put it in a box and it's an oven!

[Nikia]

15. My gradma was using one until a few years ago

My uncle suggested that it might be leaking radiation so she replaced it. I don't know if it was really a hazard or not. My grandmother tends to never replace things that she bought in the 60's and 70's though.

[Honeycombe8]

20. I have a stainless steel Amana Radar Range that was in the house 19 yrs ago when I bought the house.

I don't know how long it had been here before then. I do know they'd bought a new a/c and done some minor remodeling in about 1984. I guess there's a date on the appliance somewhere...label or model #. I've never looked.

It's still going strong!

I've window shopped for new microwaves occasionally, expecting mine to go kaflooey any time. But it hasn't.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

4. My wife received a Sharp Carousel R-9400 as a present in 1977. It was the state of the art.

If my memory serves me right, it came with a 7-year warranty. That was a time when most things were made in America.

[cbrer]

5. Built into our Kitchen

In 1979

[Art_from_Ark]

6. I have a basic model Tappan microwave from 1984

Very basic model

[Angleae]

7. 18 years and counting.

[Maraya1969]

8. Mine is only about 15 years old but people always comment about it. It is

kind of small and built a little like an igloo without the front crawl in part of the igloo and it is cobalt blue. Actually it is just not square, more curved edges. First people ask me what it is and then they are really impressed with it. It wasn't that expensive.

It doesn't cook real fast but hey, it doesn't take up much room and I still like the way it looks and so what it is takes a minute longer.

[hobbit709]

9. Bought ours in 1988.

I've had to replace a relay and a couple wire connectors. we had it on layaway at the time and when we paid it off they brought out the next largest model. It's big enough so that I once defrosted a 20-lb turkey in it with room to spare. I'll use it until it finally dies.

[HopeHoops]

10. Ours is about 14 years old. The previous one died a horrible fireworks death.

[Liberal Veteran]

11. What possessed you to heat up your fireworks in it?

[HopeHoops]

12. I don't remember what we were cooking, but the magnetron went APE SHIT!

I grabbed the power cord and yanked it out but the fucker still kept shooting sparks into the innards. It took about an hour for it to cool down. I'll NEVER, I mean NEVER, set a microwave to come on at a future time. The things fucking freak me out.

[Liberal Veteran]

13. My biggest gripe with the microwave is chicken.

It undergoes some sort of biological metamorphosis that gives it the same consistency as leather or perhaps a car tire.

[HopeHoops]

14. Wrong. Industrial chicken starts out that way.

[Honeycombe8]

21. Yeah, I never set ANYTHING to come on later. Washer, dishwasher, microwave, oven. I manually start

things, and I stick around until it's through.

[HopeHoops]

23. The only thing I use an auto-timer on is the coffee pot - it's in our bedroom.

If it explodes, I think I'll know about it.

[rzemanfl]

32. Nice to know there is someone more addicted to coffee than I am. n/t

[rzemanfl]

33. Metal in the food? n/t

[caraher]

16. We have one from 1986

It was a wedding present. It's a bit on the small side, currently in our son's dorm room. It has some display glitches but works fine.

[alphafemale]

17. I remember seeing demonstrations in the 70's as a kid.

I still don't use a microwave for much. Most nuked stuff tastes odd to me.

[PAMod]

18. I bought one for college in 1984 at Montgomery Ward

The saleswoman warned me not to get the touch pad model because the buttons wouldn't last (the alternative was a dial like on a board game) but I went against her advice.

Well - 28 years later, I still use it in my office. At 500 watts, even in its prime it really wasn't good for much more than heating up water, soup & cooking popcorn.

[Nevernose]

19. 1974. My parents bought it to heat my baby bottles

Still in my garage, and it still works to heat my coffee. It will also run even if the door is open, as there's no safety feature.

[ThoughtCriminal]

22. Mine' not old, but I remember the first one I saw - in 1965!

A physicist friend of my dad built his own. Was it safe? No idea - but it was pretty amazing.

[gswesquirethe3rd]

24. my 84 monte w. blew a fuse!

it has been working for almost 30 years and then one day it would not power up! Usually when electronics have no power the first place to look is the fuse! So I took the cover off of this beast and found the fuse, which was so old and burnt I couldn't see inside the glass, but a quick test was to wrap some aluminum foil around it and put it back in to see if it is a fuse related issue (which 95% of the time it is!) Sure enough she was back in business and I replaced the fuse and closed her up! This is a micro that was built right! it is so sturdy and solid compared to the microwaves of today! I can see this thing lasting another 30 years!

[JustinGGram]

25. old microwave

I still have a microwave that was manufactures May 1977... it works like a CHARM..... My ex-Mother-in-law bought it at a yard sale about 25 years ago for me and it has been through a lot but still keeps working thank goodness. I hope it continues to keep working, just goes to show they don't make them like they use to.

[rzemanfl]

31. Ours came with the house when we bought it in 1997. So twenty years at least. n/t

[Rhiannon12866]

34. Wow! I guess not! And I'm still using one from the '80s

Doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but still has everything that I need! Welcome to DU!

[samnsara]

26. i will have to check my moms. she still has harvest gold kitchen appliances.

[JustAnotherGen]

28. That's awesome!

Good for her!

[JustAnotherGen]

27. Only 13 years

We only use it for quick reheats, "softening" for recipes, and dissolving bullion. After it dies - we are going to put a door on its chubby hole and call it a day. We bought the door when we overhauled the kitchen a few years ago.

[2naSalit]

29. Those things are not allowed in my home....nt

[Bayard]

30. Ha! We just returned a super-duper bells and whistles one to Walmart yesterday

It worked one day (thanks for no help at all, Samsung). Traded it for one half the price.

The old one still worked, but was having problems from being ancient. And staunchly refused to come clean anymore. It received a full honors burial.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

35. I'm not sure how old mine is.

It was sold by Montgomery Ward, so automatically, it's getting up there. I pulled it off a trash pile in about 1989, give or take. It didn't work. I diagnosed a bad magnetron and put in an extra I had lying around. I had to add some brackets to the magnetron, IIRC, to get it to line up with the waveguide. Since then, it has been cranking out the goodies. It has a fake walnut cabinet, I think. It's so wedged in that I can't easily come up with a model number or determine the finish on the cabinet.

In the same kitchen, I have a GE 10-inch color TV from about 1981. It needs a convergence, which I've been meaning to get around to any day now for a couple of years. It was made in Hampton Roads, Virginia. I suppose the Montgomery Ward microwave was manufactured in the U.S. too. The magnetron was made by Panasonic, I think. Back then, you needed to stock only two magnetrons to replace a bad original part in about 90% of the microwaves on the market. They differed only in the direction in which they were to be installed.

The same kitchen has a scale from about 1912. It works just fine.