Recently, I was surprised to learn that Goldstar and LG are the same company. LG stands for “Lucky Goldstar.” Gasp! This is no surprise to reader Jef, though, who has to keep ordering the same microwave over and over, and those microwaves come from either Goldstar or LG. Why has he bought four of the same microwave? Is he a landlord, a rich person with many houses, or an eccentric person who insists on having a microwave in every room? No. His problem is that the microwave in his kitchen keeps breaking down, sometimes just barely after the end of the original warranty.

I have bought 4 of these over the last 4 years.   They all have had the same common failure, which is the high voltage transfer burns out between  1.5 to 4.2 years, or just after the original warranty or extended ends.  The only reason I continued to buy Goldstar or LG was because these are over the range microwaves and require about 1 hr to mount the back bracket and drill new holes in the kitchen cabinet.   Buying these meant I simply unscrewed 2 bolts and unplugged the unit, removed it and put the new one in place,  a 15 min job.

I never in my wildest dreams would have expected these to all fail for the same reason in such a short time.

I think there is a problem with the high voltage transformer, but LG denies it.  I could see 1 burning out, but not 3 with the same problem.

Normally I do not buy extended warrantees, but for these, you almost have to knowing that they will fail.   My last one had an extended waranttee for 4 years, I didn’t extend it in time and exactly 4 years and 3 weeks later, it broke with the transformer blowing up.

Either Goldstar mv1610ww or LG Model: LMV1683SW

How irritating. This model has a list price of $219. Someday it’s going to be discontinued, so Jef should just bite the bullet and install a different brand of microwave, or a different LG model the next time one breaks down.

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