I have an old but serviceable microwave cooker which does not have a turntable, but a 'stirrer' in the top to distribute the energy. The belt which drives the stirrer has perished and broken - after only 18½ years.

I had to remove the outer cover to diagnose the problem. I can still run the cooker if I stand by it and manually turn the plastic wheel which turns the stirrer, but is this safe? I am nowhere near the electronics and live alone with no children around.

Alternatively, is it safe to run the cooker without the stirrer in operation? I imagine the energy would concentrate on one spot inside, and then bounce about until it found something to absorb it, but I am not sure.

All this is, of course, until I can get it fixed. These problems always occur at weekends! Can anyone help?

Its probably not worth getting fixed Ewood!
You can buy microwaves from as little as £37.99 from most major supermarkets, Morrisons, Asda Tesco etc. Nice to see something last that long though. The first microwave I had lasted 15 years, but in the last 10 years I have had about 4 We live in a throw-away society nowadays!

Thanks, Jenny. Yes, I could replace it, but it seems wasteful when all it needs is a rubber band. Besides, with no turntable it holds a lot more than most of today's products.

I was going to say replace it too. The price has gone down a lot on those cookers since you bought that one. You forgot, we live in a disposable society. It cost more to fix it even with a minor problem, than it does to replace it.

Update. I found what I hoped, a small repair man with a box full of odd drive belts and had my cooker fixed for £10 (approx. $14 US). I wouldn't bother with repairing any major fault though.

If anyone was wondering, I was assured by the repair man that it was not dangerous to stand over the machine and turn the stirrer by hand, provided I stayed away from the electronic bits, some of them at around 4000 volts.

Operating the cooker without the stirrer turning was not dangerous either, the only disadvantage being uneven heating.

Ewood - Uneven heating can actually be a problem; it can cause some things to explode.

It doesn't sound like you opened anything that would cause a leak, and you may have done this, but it's best to use a microwave leak detector after any microwave repairs.

I have to agree with the above. Get rid of that thing! The new ones are a lot better than they were 18 years ago. They aren't that expensive either.

This reminds me of my parents. They have an older very dated refrigerator. My mother would like to replace it. My dad keeps fixing it. The argument over the appliances never end!

My son just told me that in the owners manual it says after five years microwaves can emit deadly radiation. Your microwave sounds like a safty hazard.

Thanks everyone. No, I didn't disturb any of the actual microwave generating or delivering bits, and I had the shop give it a check over. The man reckons they were built much better then than now.

Wildflower, call me a cynic, but that five-year life span was written by someone who wants to sell you a new appliance sooner than you really want!