Microwave oven fire

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Gordy7

gordy7
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#257436 3-Oct-2019 09:09

My better half decided to dry a garden plant in the microwave oven.

Unusual humming from the oven and when the door was opened... smoke and a burnt plant.

Inside top panel of the oven was hot, burnt and buckled.

Cleaned up the inside top and the buckled panel relaxed (so did I).

Tested the oven heating a couple of times with cups of water and all seems ok.

Why is there no fire/thermal sensor fitted to a microwave oven?

Small 'Sharp' brand. Couldn't see any label on the back.

There wasn't enough smoke or other products of combustion to set off the dining room fire detector.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

Dratsab

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#2328783 3-Oct-2019 09:21

Just the ~~cannabis~~ plant or was there a pot/earth as well?

mudguard

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#2328789 3-Oct-2019 09:27

Don't put metal in the space oven!

PolicyGuy

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#2328795 3-Oct-2019 09:33

Have you tasted anything cooked in the "cooked" microwave?

In the past I worked for an organisation with an electrical service shop, and usually once a customer had nuked their microwave it was a write off, everything afterwards would taste just a bit of plastic smoke.
:(

Gordy7

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#2328927 3-Oct-2019 11:14

Dratsab:

Just the cannabis plant or was there a pot/earth as well?

Ha Ha... No

Was Dill... lying on a paper towel.

To me for the small amount it would have been cheaper and easier to buy some dried Dill from the supermarket.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

Fred99

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#2328984 3-Oct-2019 11:37

Gordy7:

Dratsab:

Just the cannabis plant or was there a pot/earth as well?

Ha Ha... No

Was Dill... lying on a paper towel.

To me for the small amount it would have been cheaper and easier to buy some dried Dill from the supermarket.

Kind of veering off topic, but dried dill from the supermarket is pretty hopeless in my opinion. When first opened from the sealed container, it's fine. Next time I go to use it, and all the flavour has gone. So it's no longer anything but decoration. The jar costs about the same as a bunch of fresh dill, so from my bad experience with the dried stuff, it seems hardly worth it.

I wonder what the reaction is that cause it to lose flavour. Maybe if it's with moisture, a sachet of silica gel desiccant could save it. Maybe if it's oxygen, one of those activated carbon absorbers could - though activated carbon would probably absorb the desirable presumably volatile flavour/aroma components.

Gordy7

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#2329015 3-Oct-2019 12:47

I thought I had better have a closer look at any damage to the oven to make sure the cooking chamber had no holes.

Found some loose flaking paint.... and also spotted what looks like a thermal cut-out above the magnetron.

Also a burnt patch inside.

I was curious about where the manufacturers label was.... looked all around the oven... then spotted an ultra small label lying on my bench...

Cleaned up the loose paint flakes on the metal and applied a coat of etch primer paint for protection.

and wait 24 hours for the paint to really dry.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

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MikeB4

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#2329027 3-Oct-2019 13:23

I would not risk using that anymore. Microwaves are not expensive.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.