Microwaves are a blessing in disguise for those who are always in a rush. Whether you want to cook food or need to warm up the leftovers quickly, you must rely on this home appliance.
There is no alternative to this machine as it lets you satisfy your tummy any time of the day that too without any mess. As you already know how important a microwave is for maintaining daily life with the help of technology.
It’s nearly impossible to think of a day without a microwave. But what if one day your microwave starts behaving weirdly? Specifically, making loud and unusual noises?
That’s obviously alarming and can’t be ignored because usually, microwaves don’t make a loud noise. So if your one is doing there is surely some major reasons behind it. Let’s find out!
Why is my microwave so loud?
Your microwave can be loud due to many technical reasons. The drive motor, roller guide, or tray can be faulty if it’s making a grinding noise. Moreover, a microwave can be loud while running due to a damaged magnetron. Uncovered food too often makes the oven noisy. However, these can be solved.
Microwave is a daily need these days. It gives us the luxury of having quick meals without rushing to the stove.
Even if you want to warm some food, using a microwave you can do that within a few seconds. So this machine must run flawlessly to provide us with the facilities. However, if you’ve noticed the microwave does a light humming sound while it’s working.
Well, that’s normal for a healthy machine. But if the sound is louder and unknown, then you must know that your machine is in trouble and it’s seeking your attention to get checked.
A microwave when going through some issue makes various noises. Each type of noise directs to a different problem that’s mostly detectable. Let’s learn the reasons behind your microwave being noisy:
The drive motor is damaged:
The drive motor of a microwave is an important part that helps the tray to rotate and heat up the food. But if this drive motor is faulty the try won’t move normally and lose balance.
Indicating this issue, the microwave then starts to make an odd clicking and grinding sound that’s loud and annoying.
The magnetron is faulty:
Magnetron is what generates the heat in the microwave. Because of this part’s activity, a normal microwave does a light sound while working. But the sound can get loud if this crucial part stops working as usual.
Due to a faulty magnetron that fails to produce sufficient heat, your microwave can make loud screaming, humming, or buzzing sounds.
The Roller Guide isn’t working:
A roller guide lets the oven tray rotate in order so that the food inside gets warm evenly. This part of the tray supports the microwave tray to work as it does. If the roller guide is somehow damaged and does not let the tray move usually, it makes a loud grinding noise.
High Voltage Diode has failed:
This part is associated with the magnetron that provides heat in the microwave. A high voltage diode acts as the power source for the magnetron and helps to generate heat evenly in the microwave.
This part when gets damaged can make odd sounds while running as a sign of current discharge. Usually when the high voltage diode fails the microwave makes a heavy buzzing or humming noise.
The cooling fan is dirty:
A dirty cooling fan is often the reason why your microwave is making an unusual sound. The cooling fan installed in a microwave is meant to maintain the temperature of the oven.
With frequent use and due to lack of deep cleaning the fan gets covered in grease, food particles, and residue. Besides, dust too starts to build up there over time. All these interrupt the cooling fan’s work and it starts to make weird loud noises.
The food inside is uncovered:
If the food you’re trying to heat up in the microwave isn’t covered the oil and grease can get warm and spill inside the machine. Thus it can make an unusual cracking noise.
Should microwaves be loud?
Microwaves aren’t meant to be loud or noisy. But they are not free of sound. A good microwave will make a light noise while running which is natural. But if a microwave is making a loud humming, buzzing, grinding, or screeching noise, it’s not normal at all.
Microwaves let us know their existence by making a light buzzing sound while preparing or warming food. But if the sound isn’t mild humming instead there is loud buzzing or high-pitched noise coming while heating the food, your microwave isn’t in a good state.
Microwaves only get loud when they are facing trouble with their parts and programs. For example, if your microwave is making a grinding noise then it might be because of the faulty drive motor.
Microwaves do make a sound when it’s working. But if the sound is heavy and annoying, note down your microwave isn’t healthy.
How do I make my microwave sound quieter?
A noisy microwave can be really irritating. Not only does it make the whole process loud also goes towards damaged every day.
So if you’ve discovered your microwave is doing an unusually loud sound, you must make moves to stop it and get the microwave repaired before it goes out of the game. Here are some tips on how to make your microwave sound quieter:
Restart the microwave:
Often the microwave starts to beep loudly if you’re taking too much time to take out the food. This can get louder if the minimum time limit is accessed.
Also if the microwave door is not closed properly or it is open for a long time the microwave can make an unusually loud noise. In such a case, you can refresh the command panel or restart the microwave to make it quiet.
Switch it off immediately:
If all of a sudden the microwave starts throwing unusual sounds, it can due to low voltage. Every microwave needs a specified amount of power to run smoothly, if that much electricity is not provided it can lose its efficiency and make a loud screaming sound.
To stop this, you have to switch off the device as soon as possible and wait for the voltage to be normal.
Replace parts:
Microwaves do odd sounds and get noisy if their parts are faulty.
Drive motor, magnetron, drive coupler, and high voltage diode can be responsible for high pitch screeching, grinding, or buzzing sound in a microwave, so detecting the damaged part, you have to replace it to make the machine sound low.
Clean the cooling fan:
A dirty and grease-covered cooling fan in a microwave can make it sound loud while working. So if you find out the fan is guilty, switch off the machine, remove the outer part and clean the fan properly.
Keep the food covered:
Uncovered food items in the microwave can make a cracking or oil-spilling sound if you run the oven. If such an incident happens put an oven-proof cover on that food and restart the oven. It will run as usual.
How much does it cost to fix a loud microwave?
If your microwave is loud these days, it’s asking for repair. Cost is a factor that comes into our mind as we say repair. For each brand’s each model’s microwave the repairing cost is different. Check out how much it can cost to fix a loud microwave:
Samsung microwave:
Depending on their models and the problem you may have to spend 50$ to 500$. Usually, if the broken part is expensive the repair cost increases.
GE Microwave:
GE microwave’s parts’ price starts from 25$. If you want to replace the faulty magnetron of your GE microwave you might have to pay 60$ or more. For roller guides and drive motors, the cost is less.
LG microwave:
LG microwave parts such as turntable or roller guide repairing will cost 19$ to 30$. To change the drive motor, the cost will be 11$ to 50$ depending on the model.
Magic chef microwave:
Magic chef microwave parts are sold in a range of 10$ to 300$. To replace the diode, you will need 9$ to 15$ and to replace the cooling fan or magnetron will cost more than 60$ without a service charge.
Final Thoughts
Your microwave makes loud unusual sounds when it’s faulty and needs repairing immediately. Usually, the drive motor and roller guide are responsible for grinding or clicking noise. But a damaged magnetron, high voltage Diode, or a dirty cooling fan too can make a microwave too loud and noisy.