microwave oven

[Stephen]

Hello,

We have got a Panasonic combined oven/grill/microwave so I don't think it's necessarily cheaper to throw it away rather than get it repaired. The other day we saw some steam coming from under the door. I looked and I am sure it came from under the door rather than a vent under the oven. So my worry is, if steam can get out, can microwaves?

If I take it to a repair centre, what do I look for in the Yellow pages: small appliance repairs? What is the going rate do you think for a "check-up"?

There doesn't appear to be any damage top the door, so I am not sure what has caused the leak: a faulty seal perhaps?

Thanks.

[Owain]

I wouldn't have thought so, but I would suggest checking the instruction manual or phoning Panasonic

If I take it to a repair centre, what do I look for in the Yellow

There's a Panasonic service centre locator on their website, as well as instruction manual downloads.

Owain

[NT]

no, all nukes made since the early 80s use choke doors rather than seals, and aren't sealed.

There's nothing to check, other than for rust holes in the interior.

there is no seal, no microwave leak and no problem.

NT

[Alan]

Steam is a gas, microwaves are electro-magnetic radiation so they have nothing in common - unless we start talking quantum physics :-)

Steam coming out of a microwave oven is fine - after all they're not airtight and you wouldn't want a pressure build-up while you were boiling something.

Alan

[Graham.]

No, that doesn't follow at all. Wavelength of 2.4 GHz = 12.5cm. Size of a water molecule = well, considerably less! As long as there are no obvious gaps in the door seal, a millimetre or two is OK, and no rust holes in the cooking cavity, it will pass a leakage test.

[Lee Nowell]

On a similar vein....

We also have a microwave/ oven/ grill thing but the LCD screen stopped working years ago - luckily we only use it to warm food/ baby bottle so can operate it blindly!!!

We moved the microwave to another room the other week and all of a sudden it seems to be more efficient. A few times a day we warm water for my daughters bottle in the bottle itself. So each time it is the same volume of water and same size bottle. Anyway for the past 6 months, 40 seconds was fine (sometime 50 in the winter because the tap water is colder!!). A few weeks ago, this seems to have reduced to around 20 seconds!!! Whilst on the surface this seemed a good thing. Should I be worried????

thanks

Lee.

[Peter Parry]

No, a microwave oven uses a rather cunning trick to make it sealed to microwaves without requiring a precision fitted door with contact seals.

It is called a "choke seal" which is a non-contact seal and very tolerant of misalignment, gaps, and even dirt.. It depends on the relationship between the dimensions of the oven surround and the oven frequency (of 2.45GHz ).

The door's "microwave seal" should last forever if the door and the adjacent oven edge surface are not mechanically damaged and the door hinges and latch don't grossly shift position. A visual inspection is all you need to do.

[Harry Bloomfield]

It happens that Stephen formulated :

The seals are not designed to be steam proof, but only to protect YOU from the escape of microwaves. If you have concerns, get a microwave leakage detector. They are not expensive - probably Maplins will sell them.

[NT]

these are of no use in microwave safety testing. Many dont even work. Next time ask in an electronics group.

NT

[Graham.]

Wouldn't be a Sharp microwave by any chance (LCD issue).

The apparent increase in efficiency is odd, I can't think of a failure mode to explain it unless there is a volt-drop in the mains wiring. Is the turntable still rotating?

[Stephen]

What is a choke door? Even wikipedia is silent on that subject.

If there's no seal, that would explain how the steam gets out, so I am reassured, thank you very much.

[Stephen]

I've noticed we seem to use it more for convection than microwaves and have never used the grill. What about you?

It's a shame that only the back has the self-cleaning surface or is that because of the microwaves?

I hadn't thought about the pressure build up, that's a good point. Thanks for the reassurance. Strange it should come from the bottom though, not the top.

[Stephen]

That was my mistake, I was thinking of particles rather than wavelengths. I was thinking a microwave "particle" (photon?) was much smaller than a water molecule. Thanks again for the reassurance, I will save my time and money and not take it to a centre.

[Stephen]

Was it a Sharp? I had a Sharp microwave oven and the LCD broke twice: once under warranty and when it went the second time and the warranty was up, I bought the panasonic because I needed to see the display to see what I was doing. I made sure the replacement oven did not have an LCD! I read some web sites after the event and Sharp microwave ovens' LCDs had (still have?) a bad reputation for breaking.

Naughty! I thought you were not supposed to do that in case of uneven heating? That said, I know lots of people do ;)

You have already mentioned water temperature, so unless it is that, I don't know.

[Graham.]

If your policy was with Domestic & Genral AND the repair was 5-6 years ago AND you are in Gtr Manchester or Lancashire then it is highly likley I did the repair.

Microwaving is the ideal method for heating baby food due to the non invasive cooking method i.e. the food does not come into contact with cooking utensils. Whatever the cooking method, what sane person wouldn't thoroughly mix and taste-test before feeding an infant. (Yes I know but that's Darwin in action)

A Midwife friend of ours is convinced microwaves destroy amino acids or some such but I think that's bollocks.

[NT]

Microwaves do affect food a little, but nowhere near as much as conventional cooking

NT

[Man at B&Q]

So do I, and 3 healthy, intelligent teenagers who had their follow-on heated in the microwave backs that up. God knows how we would have managed without the m'wave steam bottle sterilizer. The house would probably still smell of milton.

MBQ

[Alan]

We originally bought ours S/H to use while the kitchen was being extended and we'd be without a cooker. If this one dies we'll be buying another.

It makes excellent baked potatoes on the programmed setting and does chicken portions really well (provided you don't get impatient and allow them to 'rest' for at least 5 min.).

I'll pass on one really good recipe - I chop up some leeks really finely and slap the 2 halves of a pheasant (breast side up) on them in a large pyrex flan dish and cook as 2 chicken portions. About 5 min before the end I cover the breasts with streaky bacon to stop them burning and finish the cooking. Allow to rest for 10 min - loverly, quick and easy :-) BTW Pheasant is (fairly) cheap in Norfolk during the shooting season.

Alan

[NT]

The perimeter of the door is shaped so that it acts like a choke at

2.4GHz. The general public seems wedded to the idea that nuke doors have seals, it was true in the 1970s but theyre long gone now. The choke design is much safer.

NT

[Lee Nowell]

Funnily enough, it is a Sharp microwave obviously a common problem. Is it easy/ cost effective to fix?

In terms of the bottles, we heat the water only in the microwave then add the powder afterwards - much easier than messing around with jugs of hot water etc.

thanks

Lee.