Unrepairable Appliance Condemn Decision
Purpose
Condemning an appliance is a safety verdict, not an economic one, and it is decided before anybody talks about money. A machine that leaks microwave energy past the limit, energizes its own chassis, or runs with its high limit jumpered is unfit for service whether the repair is trivial or costs more than the machine, and a shop that lets the quote settle the question will eventually put one of these back into a kitchen.
This standard separates the two calls, names six conditions that condemn on their own, and ends with a tagged, disconnected appliance and a written record.
Scope
Residential and light-commercial major appliances a shop is asked to repair.
It does not decide repair versus replacement on a machine that is safe. The repair versus replace recommendation standard owns that, with its four economic gates, and it runs only after this SOP returns a not-condemned result. Open safety recalls belong to the recall and safety notice check SOP, not to a seventh condition here.
Roles and the handoff between them
| Role | What they own | What they hand off |
|---|---|---|
| Technician | Naming the condition, gathering its evidence, isolating and tagging the unit | The condition number with its evidence, and a unit left isolated |
| Parts | The availability answer on the listed safety component | A dated yes, a date, or a discontinued, never a generic equivalent |
| Lead tech or owner | Any decision to reverse a condemn | A written reversal naming the condition and the evidence that retired it |
| Office after the visit | The written summary, the equipment-record flag, and blocking a re-book | The replacement quote routed to the repair versus replace standard, never a repair option on that serial |
Make it safe before you say the word
A condemn condition is a live hazard, so the appliance is made safe first and discussed second. Unplug it, or open and lock its breaker, and prove it dead with a meter proved live on a known source before and after, per NFPA 70E-2021, 120.5, with work practices at 29 CFR 1910.333(b)(2). On a gas appliance close the appliance shutoff first and leave the connector attached until the unit is being removed.
If a personal CO monitor reads at or above the shop action level of 35 ppm with the appliance firing, everyone leaves the room, the shutoff is closed from the doorway side, and the space is ventilated before anyone returns. That default comes from the NIOSH REL for carbon monoxide, a recommended time-weighted average with a 200 ppm ceiling; OSHA's enforceable limit for employees is 50 ppm as an 8-hour TWA at 29 CFR 1910.1000, Table Z-1. Set one action level on the monitor rather than leaving it to the tech.
Do not open the sealed system on a hydrocarbon-charged cabinet. Many domestic refrigerators run isobutane, marked R-600a on the plate. It is flammable, it displaces oxygen in a small closed room, it frostbites skin on contact, and it decomposes into irritant products on a hot surface or an open flame. If the shop is not equipped and trained for hydrocarbon refrigerant, a punctured evaporator on one of these is a condemn: ventilate the room, keep torches and ignition sources out, and do not run the cabinet.
The six condemn conditions
Any one condemns on its own. They are OR-ed, they are not scored, and a cheap repair does not outvote one of them.
| # | Condition | Evidence required |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Microwave door, hinge, latch or interlock damage, or leakage above the limit | Photograph of the damage, or a survey reading at 5 cm with the meter's calibration date |
| 2 | Chassis energized to a known ground, insulation breakdown line to chassis, or fire damage inside the cabinet | The readings from the electrical safety check SOP, or photographs of the charring |
| 3 | Gas appliance producing CO in the room while firing, cause not correctable with listed parts | Monitor reading, location, and what the appliance was doing |
| 4 | A protective device defeated or jumpered, with no listed replacement or no established reason it opened | The jumper photographed in place, plus the dated parts answer |
| 5 | A refrigerator or freezer that cannot be opened from inside, the surviving latch-type cabinet | Model, serial, photograph of the latch |
| 6 | An appliance, or its gas control or electrical controls, that has been submerged | The water line on the cabinet and the customer's account of the flood |
For condition 1 the limit worth knowing is the FDA performance standard at 21 CFR 1030.10, which binds manufacturers: 1 mW/cm2 at 5 cm from the external surface before the oven is sold, and 5 mW/cm2 at 5 cm at any point afterwards. That second figure is the defensible number for a unit already in a kitchen, measured with a survey meter intended for the purpose and in calibration.
Three dispositions come out of this SOP and only one of them is a quote:
| Disposition | What it means | Who owns the next step |
|---|---|---|
| Condemn | One or more of the six conditions holds | This SOP: tag, disconnect, record, decline |
| Not condemned, repair or replace open | No condition holds and a component has failed | The repair versus replace recommendation standard |
| Not condemned, repair proceeds | No condition holds and the repair is authorized | The relevant repair SOP |
The procedure
Name the condition and the evidence before you say anything to the customer. Identify which of the six you believe holds and gather the evidence its row demands. Acceptance: one numbered condition with its evidence attached. Wrong looks like "this thing is not safe," which cannot be defended, reviewed or reversed. Stop rule: no condition and no evidence means this is not a condemn, so the ticket routes to the repair versus replace standard. Hazard: none at this step, the appliance is already isolated per the block above.
Isolate the appliance and leave it isolated. Unplug and prove dead, or close the gas shutoff, and note what you closed. Acceptance: zero volts proved at the appliance, or the shutoff closed with the handle across the line and no smell at the connector. Wrong looks like a unit switched off at its own control, which leaves the terminal block live. Stop rule: an appliance that cannot be isolated at a shutoff or receptacle escalates to the lead tech before anything else. Hazard: if a gas connector is disturbed and gas is detected, nobody uses a switch, a light or a phone in the room; everyone leaves and the call is made from outside.
Establish why a protective device opened before treating the device as the fault. Where condition 4 is in play, find what drove the limit, fuse or switch open: blocked airflow, a welded relay, a shorted heater. Acceptance: a named cause with a reading behind it. Wrong looks like a new thermal fuse in a dryer whose vent is blocked, which puts the same fault back one part later. Stop rule: a cause that cannot be established leaves the appliance condemned under condition 4, because a device that opened for an unknown reason will open again. Hazard: a unit that ran with a defeated limit holds heat long after shutdown, so let it cool before reaching into the heater path.
Get the parts answer on the protective function, dated. Ask the supplier whether the listed part for the safety device, door, interlock or control exists for that model and serial. Acceptance: in stock, a stated date, or discontinued, with the date of the answer. Wrong looks like a generic equivalent offered for a listed safety component. Stop rule: no listed part condemns under condition 4; do not fit an equivalent to an interlock or a limit. Hazard: none at this step, it is a phone call made at the truck.
Tag the unit and secure the disconnection. Fit a durable tag naming the condition, the date and the shop, secure the plug so it cannot be pushed back in, and leave any gas shutoff closed. Acceptance: tag fitted and photographed in place, plug secured, shutoff closed. Wrong looks like a note left on the counter, gone before the next person uses the appliance. Stop rule: a tag that will not stay on the unit is escalated rather than skipped. Hazard: where the appliance is disconnected from gas rather than left connected, cap the open line with a listed cap before leaving the room, never with tape or a rag.
Say it plainly and record the customer's response as given. Tell them what the condition is, what it can do, and that the shop will not repair or reconnect the unit. Acceptance: a signed acknowledgment, or a recorded refusal with the tag photographed in place. Wrong looks like a negotiation, where the tech defends a number instead of stating a finding. Stop rule: the shop cannot compel a homeowner, so a refusal is written down, the tech does not reconnect the unit, and the shop declines further work on it; what the acknowledgment proves in a later dispute is a question for the shop's own attorney. Hazard: keep the appliance isolated through this conversation rather than powering it up to demonstrate anything.
Close the handoff so nothing lands back in service by default. Flag the condemn on the equipment record, send the customer a written summary the same day, and tell office the unit is not to be re-booked for repair. Acceptance: record flagged, summary sent, no open repair ticket on that serial. Wrong looks like a condemn living only in one tech's notes, so the next call dispatches as a routine repair. Stop rule: a customer asking for a replacement routes to the repair versus replace standard as a replacement quote only. Hazard: none at this step, it is office work.
The record this produces
The condition number, the evidence its row required, the isolation performed and what was closed or unplugged, the dated parts answer, the tag photograph, the customer's response as given, and the equipment record flag.
This is the record read after something happens. It has to show the condition was measured rather than guessed, the appliance was left isolated, and the shop declined the work rather than merely failing to schedule it.
Worked pass: an over-range microwave, condemned at condition 1
Booked as sparking, with a door that has to be slammed.
Step 1 names condition 1. The door face is cracked at the lower latch corner and the latch body is visibly bent. A survey reading is taken at 5 cm at the latch corner with a meter in calibration, calibration date recorded: 7.2 mW/cm2 against the 21 CFR 1030.10 in-service limit of 5 mW/cm2 at 5 cm. That is 7.2 minus 5.0, so 2.2 mW/cm2 over, and 7.2 over 5.0 is 1.44 times the limit. The physical damage alone would have condemned it; the reading is what makes the finding checkable by somebody who was not there.
Step 2 isolates the unit at its own receptacle in the cabinet above, proved dead. Step 3 does not apply, no protective device was found defeated. Step 4 returns a discontinued door assembly for that model, answer dated. Step 5 fits the tag, photographs it, and secures the plug in the cabinet.
Step 6 fails. The customer declines to sign, says the microwave has always been like that, and asks for it to be plugged back in. The stop rule is taken as written: the tech does not reconnect it, photographs the tag in place with the plug secured, records the refusal in the customer's own words, and states that the shop will not work on the unit. Office sends the written summary the same afternoon.
Step 7 flags the serial with the condemn and the 7.2 mW/cm2 reading and closes the ticket with no repair option attached. When the customer calls a month later asking for a new one fitted, the ticket opens as a replacement quote under the repair versus replace standard.
References
- See related: the repair versus replace recommendation standard, which owns the economic decision and runs only on a not-condemned result.
- See related: the appliance electrical safety check before service SOP, which produces the readings behind condition 2.
- See related: the recall and safety notice check during a visit SOP, which owns open recalls.
- 21 CFR 1030.10, the FDA performance standard for microwave ovens, source of the 5 mW/cm2 at 5 cm in-service figure.
- NIOSH REL for carbon monoxide and OSHA's PEL at 29 CFR 1910.1000, Table Z-1, for the monitor action level; NFPA 70E-2021, 120.5 with 29 CFR 1910.333(b)(2) for proving dead.
- The Refrigerator Safety Act, 15 U.S.C. 1211 and following, behind condition 5.