Rusty microwave

Contains_Mild_Peril

Cheap modern microwaves seem to rust very easily. The last one I had eventually started making sparks around the food I was cooking, so I replaced it. I now leave the door open for a few minutes after use to allow moisture to dissipate.
The big old microwave we had before the rusty one lasted for many years before it was damaged in a kitchen fire.

rizla01 wrote:

Microwaves cook from the INSIDE out and are extremely painful. They damage tissue around the bone before you feel anything!!

Yes, I HAVE suffered a microwave burn.

Ouch. If you don't mind my asking, how did that happen?
In my experience (as an ordinary member of the public who uses the microwave a lot, not a technical expert of any kind), they only cook from the middle if the item cooking isn't very thick/deep: they seem to cook about an inch below the surface first. I remember when my dad first got a microwave and cooked sausages till the outsides looked just right, and found the insides burnt to a crisp!

bizzylizzy

I think I'll wait for some obvious signs that it needs replacing then. Thanks for all the replies!

CFC

Rizla, could you tell us how you got a microwave burn, please? It might be information that we should know as users in order to be careful to avoid.

I'm also interested in where you got the research conclusions quoted above, I think that it's something I would like to read more about. I keep an open mind on the subject, it's not a natural way of cooking and I'd be prepared to chuck mine if it really isn't good.

Edit -

I've found the link you got it from, it's all over alternative health sites and was written by someone with no medical or research qualifications, who also thinks that we should eat 30% of our food raw. He's probably right on the raw food bit, but I won't be doing it! I've also found the refutation and the refutation looks fine to me so I won't be chucking out my microwave at the moment.

Link to article saying that they're dangerous - click here

Link to a refutation of the microwave myths across the internet (pdf so allow active x controls)- click here

Link to an analysis of sources used in the 'theyr'e dangerous' article - click here

Then read them both and make up your own mind.

The second link gives official guidelines, microwaves can only leak with an actual hole in the cooking chamber, so if I were you I wouldn't worry about your rust.

End of edit



Back on rusty microwave topic:

I had a rusty microwave, and I used it till I got fed up of it. To keep it looking reasonable I think I'm recalling correctly that we repainted the rusty patch till I could afford to replace it.The ones that do it most are the ones where the turntable goes around on little plastic wheels under the trivet thing, where the moisture condensed and the wheels wore the paint off.

As far as my understanding goes, it would be safe to use until the metal actually had a hole in it, at that point just to be on the safe side I'd throw it. Cheap ones only cost around thirty quid so I wouldn't keep a holey one.

Pink.

CFC wrote:

I'm also interested in where you got the research conclusions quoted above, I think that it's something I would like to read more about. I keep an open mind on the subject, it's not a natural way of cooking and I'd be prepared to chuck mine if it really isn't good.

Hi CFC,

I think Rizla may have taken the research conclusions from this web page:

The Hidden Hazzards of Microwave Cooking

Pink

Bogof_Babe

You can get a basic new one for around £25, so I wouldn't take the risk.

My parents kept theirs going long after the entire back panel had burnt through (despite me warning them that it looked highly dangerous). In the end we physically removed it from their home and replaced it with a new one. But in the meantime my dad had contracted leukaemia and subsequently died last year.

I'm not saying the microwave was directly responsible for his illness, but he was the one who always used it, as he didn't think mum could manage it.

Don't take chances with your health folks.

ollyk

Ohh !!!!!! everyone if the inner panel rusted thru there is still an outer metal panel which the microwaves cannot penetrate and the associated electronics would die well before this the hazard generally lies in the door.
Also, if people think for a minute and look at the front door of the microwave IT IS FULL OF HOLES (don't look too close caus you will go blind apparently even when the microwave is turned off, residual energy i believe). You see, microwave energy likes big holes and the small things at the front aren't big enough to let it escape!

Queenie

Are you beginning to feel a tad frustrated ollyk?

Mine had rusty bits under the turntable ... I kept using it, didn't worry me sufficiently, especially as I used it rarely.
I did replace it recently, but that was because Mr T was extraordinarily generous (in terms of triple points and then compensation refunds, but that's another story!) and I decided it would be nice to have my own microwave instead of the one which had rusted that I'd inherited from dh's previous [STRIKE]w[/STRIKE]life

ollyk

yeah but the drink ain't helping :rolleyes:

Queenie

ollyk wrote:

yeah but the drink ain't helping :rolleyes:

[STRIKE]
Come and have a "virtual" one over in the Arms - no rusty microwaves over there to vex you
[/STRIKE]

Edited to add: forget I mentioned that - seems that microwaves are on the move!!!

shaamit

The energy in your microwave is the same stuff as what comes from a radio transmitter or your ceiling lights. It just has a different wavelength. The size of the microwave energy is about 12 cm, so it cant leak through the grid on your oven door. The size of the light we use to see is about 1000 times smaller and thats why you can see through the door grid.
Microwaves are strongly absorbed by water, and not so strongly by many other materials. That is why sometimes you heat your tea gets extremely hot while the cup stays much cooler (until the water content heats it up). Wet stuff will therefore heat much more efficiently than "dry" stuff.
There is NO residual microwave energy once the oven is switched off. Just like your ceiling light, it emits instantaneously. There is NO danger in looking through your door once the oven is switched off. However, I would not recommend being too close to ANY microwave oven when operating, just IN CASE it had a leak (which of course it shouldn't).
Residual energy ? Hmmmmm, Ollyk needs to learn some basic Physics before spouting nonsensical claptrap.