Replacing an Apollo Microwave with something different

[Big-B]

Greetings fellow RV'er's,

My wife and I have a Bighorn 3055 and have never been real thrilled with the Apollo half time microwave. My wife likes to make popcorn and it just doesn't seem to have the power to do it so she had been using an air popper but that's just one more thing we have to take with us for the 2,000 mile plus trip for the winter. Last time we returned from a trip I noticed that the plastic around the microwave was broken on one side and needs to be replaced. I'm thinking that rather than buy a new part and still have a microwave that we don't like it might be time to replace it with something more powerful.

I've read that venting is sometimes a problem and haven't gotten into this yet but figured maybe others have had a similar problem and how did you handle it.

I looked at a very long thread about hanging a microwave but this microwave doesn't appear to hang but rather sits inside of an enclosed cabinet.

Anybody got any advice to offer?

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Flick]

Greetings fellow RV'er's,

My wife and I have a Bighorn 3055 and have never been real thrilled with the Apollo half time microwave. My wife likes to make popcorn and it just doesn't seem to have the power to do it so she had been using an air popper but that's just one more thing we have to take with us for the 2,000 mile plus trip for the winter. Last time we returned from a trip I noticed that the plastic around the microwave was broken on one side and needs to be replaced. I'm thinking that rather than buy a new part and still have a microwave that we don't like it might be time to replace it with something more powerful.

I've read that venting is sometimes a problem and haven't gotten into this yet but figured maybe others have had a similar problem and how did you handle it.

I looked at a very long thread about hanging a microwave but this microwave doesn't appear to hang but rather sits inside of an enclosed cabinet.

Anybody got any advice to offer?

Thanks,
Brian

To replace what you have, I would look for the highest wattage microwave that has the features you want and is the correct size to fit your space. If it doesn’t fit perfectly, add some trim or leave the space for air flow. Install it and your home free. All the popcorn anyone can eat.

 

[wdk450]

I did this years ago with a Sharp model that is no longer in production (but I still use).

My steps were: Measure opening size in surround front bezel. Measure microwave depth. Go to a websearch page on the internet to identify another microwave with those same dimensions. If you have multiple choices, order in the one you like. Remove the existing bezel and (Apollo) microwave/convection oven. Remove the microwave foot mounting device from the cabinet. Remove the add-on external air blower assembly from the Apollo oven and move it to the new oven. Figure out the wiring in the new microwave to find a hot circuit during microwave operation - OR - figure a way to wire power with an external switch to the cooling fan. BE VERY CAREFUL OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY AND MICROWAVE ENERGY WHEN THE COVER IS OFF THE MICROWAVE. MAKE TESTING TURN-ONS AS SHORT AS POSSIBLE WITH THE COVER OFF. Modify the foot mounting device to correlate to the feet on the new microwave. Use the new microwave and bezel to determine and mark the position for the foot mounting device with the new microwave. Screw down the foot mounting device. Move the 20 amp AC plug to the new microwave to allow it to plug into the 20 amp outlet in the cabinet. Re-assemble and do a final test.

 

[Adog]

Do you hav to have the external air blower assembly added on to your new microwave?

 

[Big-B]

Do you hav to have the external air blower assembly added on to your new microwave?

I ended up leaving our old one in there, but my understanding is that you do need to vent them. I put a piece of wood over top of the microwave and screwed it in so that now, the microwave can't bounce out of the little holders that the legs fit in. Our rig has easily over 10K miles on it since I did this repair and it's been fine.

The bezel broke a second time and that was when I fixed it again and put the shim over top of it. When I went to buy a new bezel, I found that they weren't available anymore and finding a new microwave that fit the opening looked like a lot of work and expense.

 

[Adog]

Okay this is the microwave I have! That’s the vent on top

 

[wdk450]

I did a Google search on "RV enclosed microwave oven" and came up with these hits. You need to start off with comparing your existing oven dimensions. With the cost of shipping 30 lbs, I would go with a locally available or FREE Shipping option on anything I buy. Search the model numbers from the original search on another websearch to find possible local sources (Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, etc.) Several of the listed ovens had the external vent blower installed, and came with new bezels.

RV enclosed microwave oven - Google Search

 

[Big-B]

Okay this is the microwave I have! That’s the vent on topView attachment 69207

That's the same one that we have. It isn't great but it works and I didn't need to reengineer it to make it work for us.