Sharp Carousel II microwave oven overheats platter and dishes

[gassyal]

Hi group:

My wife has advised me that our old Sharp Carousel II microwave is
behaving very strangely lately.

For example, when she cooks food, the rotating glass platter gets very
hot. The same thing also happens to other dishes that are placed on
the rotating glass platter.

Sometime it takes longer than normal to cook some foods...but this
seems to vary. She mentioned that it too quite long to cook a baked
potato the other day but this evening, she cooked some popcorn and it
cook in a normal time.

When the oven runs, you can see (using a flashlight thru the front
door glass) the glass platter rotating and you can hear the fans...all
this seems normal.

This is an old microwave...maybe it best to toss it and buy a new
one? But, this microwave has been a good performer all these years
and if the "fix" is reasonable, I'd go for it.

I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

Regards,
Al Gershen
Grants Pass, OR
[email protected]

 

[William Sommerwerck]

My wife has advised me that our old Sharp Carousel II
microwave oven is behaving very strangely lately.

For example, when she cooks food, the rotating glass
platter gets very hot. The same thing also happens
to other dishes on the rotating glass platter.

Assuming this is not a joke...

The common sorts of glass don't absorb microwaves. Therefore, glass cannot
of itself heat up in a microwave oven.

Of course, hot food heats the container it's in. Some of this heat flows
into the glass carousel, so it might get noticeably warm if the food is
being heated * for a long time.

My guess is that the carousel is dirty, and the food residue stuck to it is
absorbing the microwaves. (My experience has been that glass pot lids don't
get as hot if they're thoroughly clean.) Clean the carousel thoroughly --
dunk it in soapy water and let it soak -- and see if that doesn't help the
problem. Clean the inside of the oven, too.

* I wrote "cooked", then switched to "heated". Microwave ovens don't
actually cook food, they just heat it up.