Tell me about your beepless microwaves
November 7, 2019 6:27 PM Subscribe
You have a microwave on which you have completely muted button and reminder beeps. What specific model is it, and would you recommend I buy it? (Please no comments about how the beeps are for safety, etc. I am aware of the danger of leaving bagel bites in the microwave for too longer after they're done, thanks.)
Got the same one, it works fine. The beep needs to be reset after a power outage or pulling the plug.
posted by sammyo at 7:27 PM on November 7, 2019
posted by sammyo at 7:27 PM on November 7, 2019
I know that the vast majority of consumer commodity appliances are explicity "non-user serviceable," but...
The microwave makes the noises through a tiny little loudspeaker pasted somewhere inside it. It's usually connected by two tiny little wires. Snipping those is basically giving your microwave a noise-vasectomy.
If you can find service manuals (online), you could conceivably fix your current microwave. Or pick a bunch of microwaves that you like, and buy the one that you could find a service manual and could get at those two wires most easily, and get that one.
Alternate to that, the speaker is usually located close the the surface, a surgical strike with a wire nail and a hammer could pierce the speaker and render it unable to create the pressure waves required to make sound.
posted by porpoise at 7:45 PM on November 7, 2019 [6 favorites]
The microwave makes the noises through a tiny little loudspeaker pasted somewhere inside it. It's usually connected by two tiny little wires. Snipping those is basically giving your microwave a noise-vasectomy.
If you can find service manuals (online), you could conceivably fix your current microwave. Or pick a bunch of microwaves that you like, and buy the one that you could find a service manual and could get at those two wires most easily, and get that one.
Alternate to that, the speaker is usually located close the the surface, a surgical strike with a wire nail and a hammer could pierce the speaker and render it unable to create the pressure waves required to make sound.
posted by porpoise at 7:45 PM on November 7, 2019 [6 favorites]
I have this small GE microwave. Pressing the "Sound" button toggles its beep-free mode. It's a pretty good microwave, though it's less powerful (heats more slowly) than larger models.
posted by mbrubeck at 8:33 PM on November 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by mbrubeck at 8:33 PM on November 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
As an fyi most consumer appliances can be set to silent mode, although it's not well advertised and the salespeople might not know.
posted by fshgrl at 9:32 PM on November 7, 2019
posted by fshgrl at 9:32 PM on November 7, 2019
Our Panasonic NN-ST633S can be set to silent mode, just as fshgrl suggests. We like it well enough and have no complaints. The only downside is that it resets to the default beeping state after a power reset, though it’s easy enough to turn back off again. It’s a couple of years old, so the model has probably incremented, but a look at the panasonic web site or quick google would confirm that you can do this for any specific current model you’re interested in.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 10:10 PM on November 7, 2019
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 10:10 PM on November 7, 2019
Came in to suggest our Panasonic NN-SD745S. Beeps can be silenced.
We like the overall unit a lot. It's fairly quiet when on, and the door opens & shuts smoothly and securely, without a noisy bang.
Similar to Quinbus Flestrin's, I presume.
posted by artdrectr at 10:26 PM on November 7, 2019
We like the overall unit a lot. It's fairly quiet when on, and the door opens & shuts smoothly and securely, without a noisy bang.
Similar to Quinbus Flestrin's, I presume.
posted by artdrectr at 10:26 PM on November 7, 2019
Hahaha I asked a very similar question a while back so I FEEL you: https://ask.metafilter.com/323791/Please-just-stop-it-with-the-beeping
I moved into a new place with the GE microwave that mbrubeck links. It's the easiest one I've found for muting sound with that simple sound button, though my old microwave turned out to have a code I could use to turn off the sound.
posted by CiaoMela at 7:02 AM on November 8, 2019
I moved into a new place with the GE microwave that mbrubeck links. It's the easiest one I've found for muting sound with that simple sound button, though my old microwave turned out to have a code I could use to turn off the sound.
posted by CiaoMela at 7:02 AM on November 8, 2019
My GE microwave is way too old to be purchasable today, but it has a "sound" button on it. One push and all button pushes are silent after that.
This model has a "sound" button as well. There are some others that have a volume button, which I would hope would go down to nothing, but I can't guarantee.
Do you have an appliance store near you where you can look at some models that are unboxed?
posted by hydra77 at 9:49 AM on November 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
This model has a "sound" button as well. There are some others that have a volume button, which I would hope would go down to nothing, but I can't guarantee.
Do you have an appliance store near you where you can look at some models that are unboxed?
posted by hydra77 at 9:49 AM on November 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
I have a GE over-the-range model similar to the one hydra77 posted. The "Mute on/off" button totally works. One drawback: the "surface light" button is right below the mute button, so if you try to turn the light on in a dark kitchen it's easy to accidentally unmute it instead, and it can take a few frustrating beeping pushes to mute it again.
posted by miles per flower at 6:50 AM on November 9, 2019
posted by miles per flower at 6:50 AM on November 9, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ohkay at 7:11 PM on November 7, 2019 [1 favorite]