The door on your Samsung Microwave might not close all the way; it might feel a bit “loose” when you try to pull it open. That can be annoying and means the unit probably need repairing before you replace it.
So what’s wrong? Look where the door physicaly latches into place. Are the plastic latch hooks broken? Did something get stuck in there?
Internal Components And Safety Warnings
That type of mechanical failure doesn’t cause the door to lock down tight. Instead, it feel “loose”. Look at the springs attached to those hooks…are they worn out? If so, replacing the springs would of been a good starting point.
The latch doesn’t grab onto strike plate very well because it’s a weak spring. But replacing the mechanical latch might not be enough. Even if you adjust tension on the spring, the door can still feel wrong. That means that there might actualy be more at play here than just loose hardware. It could require further study of the inner workings for an answer.
Once opened, you can see these pieces and take a peek inside:
Be careful. There are high voltage parts in all microwaves. To be safe, always unplug your microwave before opening it up and playing around with the insides of the appliance.
Normaly what you’ll find is some sort of big old gray transformer marked with danger messages and maybe some electrical connections by the hinge section. Pay close attention here; this part is important if you want to get at whatever is making the microwave think the door is closed when it isn’t.
In those instances, however, you’ll find that often the door switches is the problem. They’re little things that detects whether or not the door is completely latched and then signal the control board accordingly.
When they go bad, the control board believe the door remains open (even though it looks like it’s closed). The resulting miscommunication shuts down the microwave. It can be confusing how a loose-feeling door can also prevent the microwave from running, but more often than not it has something to do with electricity different than just mechanics.
Near the hinge assembly is the switch mechanism. It’s wired straight into a white plastic housing near the switch. You might notice one of the switches are damaged from opening and closing it so many times. That’s what caused it to stop working.
Though it appears closed, the microwave won’t turn on. It just stops operating because the electrical circuit gets broken at this location. Replace the door switch assembly and it should fixes the problem with latching and not turning on.
Once the door is replaced, it will snap shut on the frame. Then it will resume its normal operation of running the microwave. You saved yourself the expense of purchasing a new one.
Faulty switches and worn springs are overlooked parts which fail silently. Electrical failures can mask mechanical looseness so a complete fix might require checking both. It’s not a quick diagnosis, but the end result is a workhorse appliance again.