How can I test microwave's efficiency?

vyvyan_2

I'm beginning to doubt performance as some things are taking longer than they should. It's a Matsui 800w and admittedly about 10 years old (not a combi).

Is there any recommended way of testing them?

Mr_Grumpy_7

You could try boiling a litre of water in the microwave and timing it. Then do the same in a kettle and compare the times. If the microwave is 800W, and the kettle is say 1600W then it should take twice as long in the microwave as in the kettle. That's the theory, not sure how it would work in practice, maybe I'll try it later.

Mr_Grumpy_7

My 800W microwave took 375 Secs to boil 0.5 Litres of water compared to 95 Secs for my 3100W kettle, which does backup my theory. Based on the kettle taking 95 Secs, the microwave should have taken (3100/800)*95=368 Secs.

vyvyan_2

Thanks mr grumpy. I'll do a test against yours for comparison.