Amana RadarRange: Ate It's Own Stirring Device?

[(PeteCresswell)]

Ancient and honorable Amana RadarRange.

Built like a tank. http://tinyurl.com/3yjuzf

Was heating some coffee and it emitted several flashes, made a
"zut" sound, and then the smell of burning plastic.

Pulled off the internal plastic cover to reveal a wheel that
seems to serve some sort of stirring function on the microwaves.

Found one paddle fused: http://tinyurl.com/2t66ud


Can anybody speculate on what's going on?

My kneejerk is that the tube that emits the microwaves is on the
way out... but I don't know enough to explain why that one paddle
got fused.

 

[Meat Plow]

Ancient and honorable Amana RadarRange.

Built like a tank. http://tinyurl.com/3yjuzf

Was heating some coffee and it emitted several flashes, made a
"zut" sound, and then the smell of burning plastic.

Pulled off the internal plastic cover to reveal a wheel that
seems to serve some sort of stirring function on the microwaves.

Found one paddle fused: http://tinyurl.com/2t66ud


Can anybody speculate on what's going on?

My kneejerk is that the tube that emits the microwaves is on the
way out... but I don't know enough to explain why that one paddle
got fused.

That's really odd. Maybe something collected there over the years where
the metal met plastic that absorbed microwaves rather than reflecting them
then finally was enough to start arcing? Might have started out very small
and once the plastic burned enough it made more contaminants that caused
more arcing and so forth.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Meat Plow:

Might have started out very small
and once the plastic burned enough it made more contaminants that caused
more arcing and so forth.

A vicious cycle... I like it.

But it begs a question that popped up as soon as I saw the
paddle: are some metals ok tb within a microwave oven?

I'm guessing the metal paddles are alu.

 

[Straw Man]

Per Meat Plow:

A vicious cycle... I like it.

That's my guess.

But it begs a question that popped up as soon as I saw the
paddle: are some metals ok tb within a microwave oven?

I'm guessing the metal paddles are alu.

Yeh I've seen stirring devices before. Some metal (don't suppose what
kind matters) can be tolerated as long as there is enough material in the
oven to absorb most of the energy. Not sure because I haven't torn one
apart but I've always assumed there was a bit of foil inside the cooking
side of a microwave popcorn bag to reflect the heat towards the popcorn.

 

[hr(bob) [email protected]]

That's my guess.



Yeh I've seen stirring devices before. Some metal (don't suppose what
kind matters) can be tolerated as long as there is enough material in the
oven to absorb most of the energy. Not sure because I haven't torn one
apart but I've always assumed there was a bit of foil inside the cooking
side of a microwave popcorn bag to reflect the heat towards the popcorn.

Not metal, necessarily, but a partially conductive material that gets
hot when energized by the microwaves. Sort of like carbonized paper.

H. R. Hofmann

 

[James Sweet]

Per Meat Plow:

A vicious cycle... I like it.

But it begs a question that popped up as soon as I saw the
paddle: are some metals ok tb within a microwave oven?

I'm guessing the metal paddles are alu.

Where you run into trouble is when two pieces of metal are too close
together, especially if they have sharp corners. A potential develops
between them and it arcs. Isolated pieces of metal are generally ok, so long
as they're not too big.

 

[BH]

Where you run into trouble is when two pieces of metal are too close
together, especially if they have sharp corners. A potential develops
between them and it arcs. Isolated pieces of metal are generally ok, so long
as they're not too big.

Pull the cover off the front panel and see if the blower motor is OK.
The stir fan is powered by the air from the blower.

 

[Chris Jones]

Ancient and honorable Amana RadarRange.

Built like a tank. http://tinyurl.com/3yjuzf

Was heating some coffee and it emitted several flashes, made a
"zut" sound, and then the smell of burning plastic.

Pulled off the internal plastic cover to reveal a wheel that
seems to serve some sort of stirring function on the microwaves.

Found one paddle fused: http://tinyurl.com/2t66ud


Can anybody speculate on what's going on?

My kneejerk is that the tube that emits the microwaves is on the
way out... but I don't know enough to explain why that one paddle
got fused.

I would say that the magnetron is just fine, since it evidently is still
producing microwaves.

You could leave the stirrer out and keep using the oven, but the food would
get heated unevenly. Alternatively, if you can clean or cut off all the
black carbon-looking burnt parts of the plastic on the stirrer, then you
should be able to put it back in without problems. The black carbonised
areas would get hot and lead to further burning if you don't remove them.

I can't think of a good reason why this problem would have occurred in the
first place, unless you had too little quantity of coffee in the cup, or
dirt was building up on the stirrer.

I think you have little to lose by continuing to use the oven, provided the
door fits well and it is not leaking microwaves.

Chris

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

Ancient and honorable Amana RadarRange.

I'm not sure you can even wear these out, for the most part. Well, those
and Litton ovens.

Found one paddle fused: http://tinyurl.com/2t66ud

My guess is that some gunk built up on it and finally resulted in its
getting "microwaved". You might be able to clean it up and use what's left
without further incident. Left alone for long enough, this might prove fatal
to the magnetron, but I think you've caught it in time and could still fix
it.

There have been some other comments on metal in microwave ovens, and how
certain arrangements or types can cause problems. I have a Sanyo microwave
oven from the 1980s that came with a large metal (wire bars) shelf to allow
the use of two plates in the oven at once. It works well and has never shown
any sign of arcing.

William