Is my microwave a goner?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

I put an open peanut butter jar in to soften the pb, not knowing that there were little shreds of foil still on the lip of the jar (obv. no metal products should go in a microwave.)

By god I saw a great flash of lightning and there was a terrible smell! I shut the thing off right away, shielding my eyes, but perhaps it was too late?

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 13:11 (nineteen years ago)

what happened to the jar?

― Ste (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 13:24 (nineteen years ago)

Possibly, but all you can do is try to use it again to find out. The arc could have damaged the magnetron, but it may not have. It depends on how close the metal was to it, or the walls of the chamber. Try heating a cup (as in 8 oz) of water for 30 sec. and see if it warms up.

― Jaq (Jaq), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 13:40 (nineteen years ago)

wait, did you try turning it on again or testing it? or did you run immediately to ILX?

― jinx hijinks (sanskrit), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 13:45 (nineteen years ago)

My microwave blew up yesterday after a similar unfortunate accident. It was one of those combination microwave/convection oven/grill things (and I'd never used the convection or grill on it) which was about five years old.

I've had sparks fly around due to small foil bits before, or when I forgot that you're not supposed to microwave a cup that has a metallic band on it, but the machine has always been okay as long as I switched it off pronto whenever that happened. When mine broke yesterday, it was as a result of someone hiding a teaspoon inside a bowl of rice, and the resultant flash! bang! wallop! (plus awful burning smell) was incredible. It still appeared to work - light came on, turntable went round etc etc - but it didn't heat anything up again. I went out and bought an el-cheapo basic model from Argos in the Bank Holiday Monday endless sodding queues, it cost about fifty quid I think.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 13:48 (nineteen years ago)

xpost - I actually started another thread asking ilx whether I should shut off the microwave while it was still running and shooting out lightning.

No, but I haven't tried it yet, cause I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to turn the thing back on after what happened.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 13:52 (nineteen years ago)

The jar just had little smelly scraps of burnt alluminum foil on it.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 13:53 (nineteen years ago)

aluminum, rather.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 13:53 (nineteen years ago)

Well, if it was arcing long enough for you to start posting, it's more likely a goner. But it will either heat the water up or not heat the water up if you try it again. The electrical arcs feed back to the antenna of the magnetron, shorting it out (or, with luck, not), but the rest of the components will usually be okay.

― Jaq (Jaq), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 14:01 (nineteen years ago)

I'm disappointed that the jar of peanut butter wasn't sent back to the future.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 14:04 (nineteen years ago)

or into another microwave in somebody elses house

― Ste (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 14:08 (nineteen years ago)

The transporter effect only happens when the microwave's too close to a TV.

― Jaq (Jaq), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 14:19 (nineteen years ago)

If the microwave unit burns out, there is a chance you can have it replaced for less expense than replacing the whole oven (and less waste, too). I just had ours repaired and it cost approx US$35 for parts and labor - and kept the oven out of the landfill for a few more years.

― Aimless (Aimless), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 14:22 (nineteen years ago)

The peanut butter appeared normal at first, but it's beginning to sprout thick black hairs.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 14:23 (nineteen years ago)

it'll soon be arm wrestling burley drunks in downtown bars?

― Ste (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

One of the few nice things about living in modern Ireland is that when this kind of thing happens (and it happened to our microwave about two weeks ago), you can put your dead microwave in the back of the car and bring it to the shop with you. When you buy your new microwave, you hand over the old one, and the shop has to send it for recycling.

This adds about a fiver to the price of a microwave. I think it's great.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 14:39 (nineteen years ago)

http://daily.greencine.com/archives/goldblum-fly.jpg

― -+-++-+---, Tuesday, 2 May 2006 14:44 (nineteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.