What To Do if the Microwave Door Won’t Open: 4 Easy Tips

Nothing lasts forever – any mechanism fails, including the microwave oven. It’s not a pleasant situation to heat up food and suddenly find that the door won’t open.

How to open a locked microwave – causes and solution

Masters of microwave oven repair call only five reasons why the door of the microwave may not open. Depending on the situation, you need to act differently, but what you should definitely not do is pull the door on itself as hard as you can. This way you will only break the mechanism and achieve nothing.

Broken handle

The first reason is that the handle on the door or the opening button is broken, but the timer and the opening mechanism work. In this case, you can either fix the handle comfortably or pull lightly on the door frame itself. If the door is fine, but it still does not open, then the locking mechanism is out of order. In this case, you will have to unplug the microwave and go to the service center.

Broken latches

Every microwave has latches on the doors that cling to the locking rods when the oven door closes. When the unit is finished operating, the latches unhook when the door is opened.

Determining such a breakdown is not difficult – you need to gently pull the door toward you. If you get a feeling as if something is holding the door from the inside, you need to unplug the microwave and check the latches and locks. There may be debris clogged in the holes, but if not, you’ll have to buy and put in new latches.

Broken springs

The microwave door has a spring on it that works when you open and close the appliance. Over time, the spring wears out, especially in mechanical models, so there is only one solution to the problem here – replace it with a new one yourself or with the help of a specialist.

Broken button

Buttons on microwaves come in touch and spring, and just like the doors, are involved in the operation of the device every time. Determining the breakage is easy – press the button (if it’s spring-loaded) and see what happens. A broken button reacts differently – it “sinks”, does not make any distinctive clicks, or, on the contrary, does, though it should not. With a touch button, it is easier – it will either respond or not.

In this case, you need to unplug the microwave from the mains, put it on a flat surface and pick up the door with a ruler so as to open the latches. After checking all the mechanisms yourself replace them or take the appliances for repair.

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Written by Emma Miller

I am a registered dietitian nutritionist and own a private nutrition practice, where I provide one-on-one nutritional counseling to patients. I specialize in chronic disease prevention/ management, vegan/ vegetarian nutrition, pre-natal/ postpartum nutrition, wellness coaching, medical nutrition therapy, and weight management.

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