Just had repairman replace magnetron on 2 year old microwave. Now it is giving me "open steam sensor service may be needed" message.

M McCormick, December 2011

Same here, this is junk

I hate this microwave, January 2023

Don't replace it. I replaced mine a year ago and it went bad again - you thrown money in the drain.

Dragon, April 2021

The Steam Sensor has failed. Like the name implies, it senses the amount of steam coming off from the food as it cooks. It's what controls your Auto Popcorn or Baked Potato function also. My appliance retailer quoted me a price of $170 for a new sensor. I found it at Sears online for $102. You'll have to remove the top panel of your microwave to access it.

Jim, January 2021

I have the same problem with my four year old GE, JNM7196SK1SS microwave. Couldn't find an answer online, so when I now microwave popcorn, I bypass the popcorn button simply set the cook time for four minutes.

Now.....you have to pay attention to this a bit. When you're into the 3rd minute of cooking, listen to the "pops". When you no longer hear popping for three seconds or so, it's time to open the door and cancel the remaining time, otherwise, you're likely to burn the popcorn.....

GreenBeretLTC, November 2020

Yes, and i have had no repair work done. The oven is only two years old! It seems to only occur during the reheat function

Michael, July 2020

When I had this problem, I was trying to make microwave popcorn. The unit would run for about 40 seconds and then ask for the steam sensor to be opened. I have no clue what or where or how to open the steam sensor, but I would cancel the popcorn, then stat it up again. If it stops again, repeat the shut down and restart. One other thing might be to put a small tear in the distal end of the bag and restart the popcorn process. When you stop hearing popcorn kernels slow down to one e very 5 to 10 seconds, it is about as done as it will get without burning the popcorn.

Chris Richardson, April 2020

I have the same problem on a GE Model JVM6175EKIES bought and installed in Dec 2016. They always go bad when the warranty is out. Now wonder they will only give a One Year warranty on this junk.

Nolen Camp, January 2019