Talking About Appliance Repairs

Posted on: 29 May 2019

It can be quite shocking to turn on your microwave only for it to start sparking. As it turns out, any fears that sparking inside a microwave is a serious issue are well founded. If the sparking issue is not addressed, there is a chance of a fire starting inside the microwave. This can easily damage the appliance, but even more importantly, this poses the risk of setting other things on fire as well.

Many people have no idea what to do when they see sparks in their microwave. Here are a few steps you can take to safely handle the issue.

Turn Off the Microwave

Before anything else, the first thing you should do is turn off the microwave. The longer the sparking is allowed to continue the more likely it is to cause lasting damage. Don't simply press the off switch on the microwave. This may stop the sparking, but if you're planning on inspecting the microwave afterward, leaving it plugged in may not be safe. Therefore, once you've switched off the microwave, you should also unplug it.

Inspect the Cause of the Sparking

If you remember exactly where the sparking was occurring, you can inspect the microwave to find out what was behind the sparking. Luckily, many of the things that are known to cause sparking in microwaves are well known. These include:

1. Metals of any kind

2. Food particles stuck to the waveguide cover

3. Damaged rack support (only in certain models)

If you used something in the microwave that was metallic or had metallic parts, this will probably be the cause of the problem. Sometimes, bits of steel wool may be left behind after cleaning the microwave. Don't turn on the microwave again so you can better identify the cause of the sparking.

Call a Professional

If the issue was the use of a container that wasn't microwave-safe or some steel wool that was left behind after cleaning, you can easily remove these and the problem will go away.

However, if you can't identify the issue, it will be safer to call a microwave repair technician who can correctly identify the problem. The food particles stuck to the waveguide cover may also damage it when they spark. If the microwave won't turn on even after you've removed the possible cause of the problem or if there is some damage to the inside, call an expert to assess the issue.