Paint suitable for inside microwave

[Chris Vowles]

The paint has flaked off the inside of the microwave door either as a result of slight rust on the metal (or the lack of paint has caused the metal to rust)

The microwave was stored in a damp garage for a while which is probably why it happened.

I know microwaves are very cheap to replace but it would be easy to remove the few lose flakes, but I assume bare metal in a microwave is a bad idea so I should repaint, I happen to have some white hammerite and some white radiator paint and I assume the radiator paint would be the better choice as it would cope with the heat better, anyone got any thoughts

Regards

Chris

[Lee Blaver]

I would think you would want to use something non-toxic, Hammerite doesn't seem a good idea... ;) There is a "proper" paint available, CPC part number MS0018266 don't know if there is anything "special" about it.

Lee

[Grunff]

Only in that the surface will rust quickly, but not for any other reason.

The hammerite would work fine. Make sure you give the surface a good degreasing first (meths/isopropanol/whatever).

BTW - we had a similar problem with our last microwave, so it was retired to the garage for... ahem... scientific research (what happens when you microwave X, X being pretty much everything). When we bought a replacement, we made sure the internal panels were SS.

It was interesting to note that it didn't correlate that the more expensive microwaves had SS panels. In fact, the one we ended up buying was a sub £100 unit, but the inside is a single SS sheet bent into shape (only one seam).

[Grunff]

The quantity involved means that for all intents and purposes all paints can be regarded as non-toxic. How many flecks of paint do you think it's likely that an individual could possibly consume in one meal?

[Lee Blaver]

It would, but it smells and it's toxic. I wouldn't want it anywhere near any food I was going to eat :) ;)

Lee

[Lee Blaver]

I was thinking more about the smell and the solvents used. Fair enough if it's only a tiny amount of paint, and it should be ok when all the solvent and smell has disappeared. IME though, Hammerite smells for weeks after it's "dry", especially when it gets hot. I made the mistake of touching up some chipped paint inside of a car with it once - never again :)

Lee

[Grunff]

Once it's hardened it certainly wouldn't smell (this does take an inordinately long time with hammerite, like 3 weeks).

As for toxicity, everything's toxic - or nothing is toxic - depending on dose. It's impossible to call something toxic without reference to dose.

[Grunff]

The solvent is xylene and dimethylbenzene. Both unpleasant, and you wouldn't eat food flavoured with them. But if you were to eat such food, it wouldn't harm you. Ugh... :-(

[Lee Blaver]

Ok my use of the word "toxic", was a poor choice, but the point I was aiming for was that the smell/solvent may taint the flavour of the food. I realise some "non-toxic" paints smell worse...

Lee

[Grunff]

That's why our old microwave is sitting in the garage doing useful experiments ;-) I just couldn't be bothered with painting and curing it when I could get a nice SS one.

[John]

Why Oh Why didn't I think of that!!! Ours did the same a few weeks ago and a new one purchased, the old one now in that great microwave store in the sky.

I could have had so much fun showing my 4 year old son what me and my mates did in his Nanna's new microwave, second thoughts maybe not!

John

[Ian]

Hi

Heres a few fun Experiments for you.

Old style BT phone cards. .. Result Very nice fire work display of the Text.

Now one for the biology student.

Take one large dead spider (not crushed) place in microwave set microwave on defrost. and start the microwave to observe the results. This should show the hydrolic action of the spiders legs.

Have fun

[Grunff]

Lit candle is still my favourite.

[Suz]

What does it do? I'm not risking our good microwave.

Suz

[Grunff]

You get balls of ionised gas rising to the roof of the microwave and moving around for a while before frizzling out. Quite a spectacle.