Amana AMC7159TAB 1000 Watts Convection / Microwave Oven
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- Power Levels: 10
- Microwave Type: Countertop
- Convection Cook: With Convection Cook
- Cooking Power: 1000 Watts
- Capacity: 1.5 cu. ft.
- Features: Automatic Sensors Browning Auto-Defrost
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Great Specs - But Not Worth 6-Months of Aggravation. Still Not Right!
Pros
Sleek appearance, great "paper" specifications, SST interior
Cons
Squealing Turntable motors, temperature 10 percent low, setting timer too slow-direct entry is faster.
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
Definitely Would NOT Buy Again!!!
I've had this Amana Model AMC7159TAB for around six months now and I'm still trying to get it to meet the "Amana" specs. This was to replace a 22-year old Amana RadaRange that still works like the day we bought it. I kept it just in case. Glad I did.
I first noticed a difference with the convection oven - things took a lot longer to bake. I checked the temperature with an oven thermometer which showed just under 300 Deg. when set at 325 Deg. Thinking the thermometer was off, I bought two high-accuracy liquid-filled thermometers. All three agreed within a few degrees. Now the test: at a setting of 325 Deg, the thermometers all showed just under 300 degrees. At 400 degrees they showed just over 350 degrees, and at 450 degrees they showed just over 400 degrees. One main reason I bought it was because it could go to 450 Degrees - NOT! (Amana supposedly claimed that the offset (error) was within their spec??? I asked them if their spouse would do their baking with an oven 40 degrees low when set at 400: no reply.)
About 6 weeks later the turntable motor started making this awful metallic grinding/squeal. Time to call Amana service.
The response was quick - the repair not so much. 3 weeks later I had a new motor. It lasted about 2 weeks. Repeat the process with three different repair companies.
The last repair included a new turntable motor, hub, support ring and thermistor. Problem solved; or so I thought. Heck, I'm on my 3rd motor, 2nd thermistor, 2nd support ring, and 2nd hub. Surely it's working now???
Checked the temperature and found it wasn't linear like before and it still only went up to just over 400 degrees. A week later, the motor grinding/squeal noise returned.
I've been in a constant battle with Amana about getting a refund or a different model since September, 2010. Here it is January 2011 and nothing is solved.
As for Amana's performance - Promised phone calls are not returned, they offered nothing to remedy the situation, and in general they just don't give a damn since I already paid the price - literally!! I should have bought the Sharp instead, but I had good Amana experience in the past, so... guess they don't make true "Amana-quality" products anymore. And I'm out $398!!!
Now, would I buy another Amana product??? I'll let you be the judge of that easy question.
UPDATE 6/23/11: After a couple more repair attempts I finally got a very understanding technician to look at the microwave. Of course the turntable wouldn't make the noise, so I played him the video I shot a few days before I called him with the demonic squealing sound. He got a horrified look on his face, and immediately called the factory support. When they questioned him as to whether the turntable was truly noisy, he laughed and replied "Oh yeah. It's LOUD." They then asked if the turntable was overloaded and he sarcastically replied "Well if you consider three slices of pizza overloaded, then I guess so". (my video showed the three pizza slices vibrating on the convection cooking rack as the turntable rotated & squealed.) I think he was less than pleased with the questions he was being asked as he kept rolling his eyes.
So now I finally had someone on my side. He ultimately replaced the turntable motor, support ring, and glass plate and the noise stopped - at least for 4-5 weeks. But it's now very rare and intermittent when it does make any noise and the volume is low enough to allow normal conversations to continue; a condition I can live with.
As to the temperature offset, I gave up on that and just set the temperature to ten percent or so above what I need.
So all in all it was either the 3rd replacement turntable motor (4th one total), the 2nd support ring, or the 2nd glass plate that fixed it - or a combination of two or all three. Do I really care? Nope. It's fixed.
My advice would be if you have this type of problem, nothing works better than show-n-tell. Shoot a video with full views and closeups and possibly some sound such as a TV in the background. They can't dispute evidence.
I first noticed a difference with the convection oven - things took a lot longer to bake. I checked the temperature with an oven thermometer which showed just under 300 Deg. when set at 325 Deg. Thinking the thermometer was off, I bought two high-accuracy liquid-filled thermometers. All three agreed within a few degrees. Now the test: at a setting of 325 Deg, the thermometers all showed just under 300 degrees. At 400 degrees they showed just over 350 degrees, and at 450 degrees they showed just over 400 degrees. One main reason I bought it was because it could go to 450 Degrees - NOT! (Amana supposedly claimed that the offset (error) was within their spec??? I asked them if their spouse would do their baking with an oven 40 degrees low when set at 400: no reply.)
About 6 weeks later the turntable motor started making this awful metallic grinding/squeal. Time to call Amana service.
The response was quick - the repair not so much. 3 weeks later I had a new motor. It lasted about 2 weeks. Repeat the process with three different repair companies.
The last repair included a new turntable motor, hub, support ring and thermistor. Problem solved; or so I thought. Heck, I'm on my 3rd motor, 2nd thermistor, 2nd support ring, and 2nd hub. Surely it's working now???
Checked the temperature and found it wasn't linear like before and it still only went up to just over 400 degrees. A week later, the motor grinding/squeal noise returned.
I've been in a constant battle with Amana about getting a refund or a different model since September, 2010. Here it is January 2011 and nothing is solved.
As for Amana's performance - Promised phone calls are not returned, they offered nothing to remedy the situation, and in general they just don't give a damn since I already paid the price - literally!! I should have bought the Sharp instead, but I had good Amana experience in the past, so... guess they don't make true "Amana-quality" products anymore. And I'm out $398!!!
Now, would I buy another Amana product??? I'll let you be the judge of that easy question.
UPDATE 6/23/11: After a couple more repair attempts I finally got a very understanding technician to look at the microwave. Of course the turntable wouldn't make the noise, so I played him the video I shot a few days before I called him with the demonic squealing sound. He got a horrified look on his face, and immediately called the factory support. When they questioned him as to whether the turntable was truly noisy, he laughed and replied "Oh yeah. It's LOUD." They then asked if the turntable was overloaded and he sarcastically replied "Well if you consider three slices of pizza overloaded, then I guess so". (my video showed the three pizza slices vibrating on the convection cooking rack as the turntable rotated & squealed.) I think he was less than pleased with the questions he was being asked as he kept rolling his eyes.
So now I finally had someone on my side. He ultimately replaced the turntable motor, support ring, and glass plate and the noise stopped - at least for 4-5 weeks. But it's now very rare and intermittent when it does make any noise and the volume is low enough to allow normal conversations to continue; a condition I can live with.
As to the temperature offset, I gave up on that and just set the temperature to ten percent or so above what I need.
So all in all it was either the 3rd replacement turntable motor (4th one total), the 2nd support ring, or the 2nd glass plate that fixed it - or a combination of two or all three. Do I really care? Nope. It's fixed.
My advice would be if you have this type of problem, nothing works better than show-n-tell. Shoot a video with full views and closeups and possibly some sound such as a TV in the background. They can't dispute evidence.
