Stainless over-the-range microwave in a kitchen, microwave repair in a Post Falls kitchen by SD Appliance

Microwave Repair in Post Falls, ID

Owner-Operated | Same Rate as Spokane, No Distance Surcharge | Open 7 Days | Bonded and Insured

A countertop microwave that has quit is rarely worth a repair, and then the question is where the old one goes. In Post Falls, the public drop-off is the metal pile at Kootenai County's Prairie Transfer Station on West Prairie Avenue, which lists household appliances among what it takes. A built-in or over-the-range unit is different: there, the answer is usually a repair.

The county metal pile in Post Falls

When the answer at the visit is a new microwave, the job is not finished when the new one is bought. Repair or Replace an Appliance counts disposal among the things a replacement involves, besides delivery and fitting, and for a microwave in Post Falls that item usually ends at Prairie Avenue.

Kootenai County's Prairie Transfer Station is at 15580 W. Prairie Ave., Post Falls, with its public entrance just east of the intersection with North Pleasantview Road. The county's Metal page says it accepts “almost any metal item” and lists “Household Appliances,” which is where an old microwave belongs. By the county's Solid Waste FAQ, Prairie and its other transfer station, Ramsey in Coeur d'Alene, are both “open to the general public seven days a week,” and the county does not collect from homes, so the microwave gets there on your own trip or with a private hauler you hire. The same FAQ posts the gate hours and asks that vehicles be unloaded and out by closing, so check them before you set out.

The microwave goes in whole, with the case left on. Do not pull it apart for its copper: the capacitor inside can still hold a charge after the plug is out. Set it on the metal pile itself, not in with the garbage, which the county trailers to its landfill.

Built-in microwave in kitchen cabinetry, the kind of unit usually worth repairing in a Post Falls kitchen

Repair, or the metal pile

On a countertop unit, a heating fault or a failed control panel tends to tip the answer toward Prairie. Door switches, a turntable motor, or a door latch are generally worth repairing on any unit. A dead unit has usually blown its safety fuse, and the fuse is rarely the real problem: something drew enough current to pop it, and that part decides which of those two answers applies. The rest of the common faults are at Microwave Repair.

1. Tracing the failure

If a microwave stays dark and its breaker has not tripped, leave the case closed and call first; on a countertop unit, you will hear on the phone whether a visit makes sense. The diagnosis at the microwave traces the failed component and, on a dead unit, what caused it to fail. The finding decides between the two outcomes below, and the type of microwave weighs heavily: built-in and over-the-range units are usually worth repairing because of what fitting a new one costs, and countertop units rarely are, which is when the Prairie trip comes in.

2. A repair you approve, or a finding you keep

Mention any earlier repair on the same microwave, because the history counts: the repair-or-replace guide notes that “a third repair inside two years is the machine telling you something.” If you go ahead, the repair is done in your kitchen, in place. If a new microwave is the choice, the finding is yours, along with the old unit's model number, which can help when matching a new one to the same opening, and the drive to Prairie Avenue becomes the last step of the replacement. Keep that model number for an over-the-range unit in particular: the same guide warns that a replacement sometimes turns out to be a different size from the opening built for the old one.

Two questions from the kitchen counter

Ask whoever is fitting the new one, before the delivery date, whether lifting the old unit off its bracket is part of the job. If removal is not included, ask for it to be added and leave the bracket alone, since the unit is bolted through the cabinet above and some installations take two people. SD Appliance brings one down to repair it and remount it; supplying or fitting a new unit is not part of the work.

Not if it is one of the county's rural sites. Besides its two transfer stations, Kootenai County runs rural sites with refuse containers, and the county says these “are not transfer stations.” Its list of what must go elsewhere: “Large bulky items (such as furniture, appliances, etc.), wood debris, tires, household hazardous waste, and loads larger than 1 cubic yard must be taken to a transfer station.” A dead microwave falls under appliances, so the trip still ends at a transfer station: Prairie in Post Falls or Ramsey in Coeur d'Alene.

Fee, warranty and financing

Sergei of SD Appliance with a homeowner in the kitchen, going over the microwave visit fee in Post Falls

The service call is $89. It covers travel, inspection, and diagnostic time. It goes toward the repair if you go ahead, and it stands on its own if you decide not to.

Parts and labor are warranted for 30 to 90 days as stated on your invoice, with the full terms at Warranty.

Zero-interest financing through Wisetack is available on repairs over $500 for eligible customers, and active-duty service members and veterans get 15% off labor. Terms are at Financing.

SD Appliance technician with a meter inside an oven, in-home residential repair in Post Falls

Outside the repair

01

Repairs only, in your home. Appliances are not installed, a new unit is not fitted into cabinetry, and nothing is reconnected after a kitchen change. The one exception anywhere on the site is a like-for-like garbage disposal swap.

02

Residential only. In Sergei's words, no commercial at all. Homes and rental properties are the business, and commercial kitchens, restaurants, and commercial refrigeration are not taken on.

03

There is no shop and no drop-off, so nothing gets carried anywhere. There is also no factory authorization here, which means manufacturer-warranty repairs are not performed. If your appliance is still inside its manufacturer warranty you will be told to use that coverage rather than sold a repair you could have had free.

How customers scored the work

Microwave appointments

Have the model number and whether the microwave is countertop, built-in, or over-the-range ready when you call.

Call (509) 866-6767 with the brand, the model number, and what the appliance is doing.

Request a Repair