What causes this?

[nadogail]

My brother inherited my parent's Amana Radar Range. He used it into the '00s, when it was stolen in a break-in. Who the hell steals a 30+ year-old, 70 lb microwave?

But I sure did like the old dial settings and timer. I find no advantage and several disadvantages to digital microwaves. Not to mention, that microwave survived our childhoods--and two boys alone in the house after school can get up to some mischief... we loved watching the giant arcs jumping from a wad of aluminum foil... the way an egg in shell explodes... the way a kitten--oh, ****, did I say that out loud?

I had one of those Amana Radar Ranges with the two dials. They were very powerful.
When I received orders to a ship I crated it up and sent it to my mother.
She enjoyed it for a long time, once when she was following someone else’s directions she seriously overcooked something. When she discussed it with the person who gave her the recipe, they asked her what kind of microwave she was using. She told them that it was an Amana Radar Range with two dials; they said “Oh, one of those”.

 

[bluedog225]

Got the meter today. If it’s to be believed, we are at 0.09 mW/cm2. Sometimes bumping to 0.012. Depends on when you put it. And the reading bounces around.

Laptop is in same range.

Goes up to 1.94 when I make a call on my phone with the device right up on the screen. Then reduces.

A foot away from the phone it reads 0.00 when initiating a call.

Looks like the FCC specifies a safe exposure limit for the general public of 1 mW/cm² (milliwatts per square centimeter) for RF energy at 2.45 GHz.

 

[leadfoot415]

My brother inherited my parent's Amana Radar Range. He used it into the '00s, when it was stolen in a break-in. Who the hell steals a 30+ year-old, 70 lb microwave?

But I sure did like the old dial settings and timer. I find no advantage and several disadvantages to digital microwaves. Not to mention, that microwave survived our childhoods--and two boys alone in the house after school can get up to some mischief... we loved watching the giant arcs jumping from a wad of aluminum foil... the way an egg in shell explodes... the way a kitten--oh, ****, did I say that out loud?

I inherited a similar vintage Amana Radar range (with the purchase of my first and still current house) in 09 from the family of the original owner. This thing could really heat stuff up and still worked like new, but was gigantic and took up valuable kitchen space, so the whole room got gutted and re-done with a new over the range microwave to replace it; so, I took the old amana to work for the break room. It lasted another 2-3 years, but the knuckle draggers who were my coworkers let the magic smoke out and it got the heave-ho out the back door while on fire.

The scrappers really wanted this obviously smoked and burnt unit too. It didnt last the afternoon in the scrap pile. Must be something good in them.

 

[Bert_]

I inherited a similar vintage Amana Radar range (with the purchase of my first and still current house) in 09 from the family of the original owner. This thing could really heat stuff up and still worked like new, but was gigantic and took up valuable kitchen space, so the whole room got gutted and re-done with a new over the range microwave to replace it; so, I took the old amana to work for the break room. It lasted another 2-3 years, but the knuckle draggers who were my coworkers let the magic smoke out and it got the heave-ho out the back door while on fire.

The scrappers really wanted this obviously smoked and burnt unit too. It didnt last the afternoon in the scrap pile. Must be something good in them.

The transformer in them is 3x the size of a modern one. They have an magnetic contractor to control it, not a little relay on a circuit board like a modern one. The old ones used a wound electromagnet for the magnetron. New microwaves have permanent magnets and the transformers are sometimes wound with aluminum.

 

[rlitman]

Got the meter today. If it’s to be believed, we are at 0.09 mW/cm2. Sometimes bumping to 0.012. Depends on when you put it. And the reading bounces around.
...
Goes up to 1.94 when I make a call on my phone with the device right up on the screen. Then reduces...

If your phone registers,, it sounds like it's working, and since it's reading more than the microwave, then the microwave isn't leaking. Now you have a new tool to take to parties.

 

[Beerhippie]

The transformer in them is 3x the size of a modern one. They have an magnetic contractor to control it, not a little relay on a circuit board like a modern one. The old ones used a wound electromagnet for the magnetron. New microwaves have permanent magnets and the transformers are sometimes wound with aluminum.

That's what I figured. Those old things were heavy as hell and a lot of it was copper.

If your phone registers,, it sounds like it's working, and since it's reading more than the microwave, then the microwave isn't leaking. Now you have a new tool to take to parties.

Is it more fun at parties than a CO monitor? That's what I take. "Hey, look, y'all--we're dead!" Always gets a rise.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Got the meter today. If it’s to be believed, we are at 0.09 mW/cm2. Sometimes bumping to 0.012. Depends on when you put it. And the reading bounces around.

Laptop is in same range.

Goes up to 1.94 when I make a call on my phone with the device right up on the screen. Then reduces.

A foot away from the phone it reads 0.00 when initiating a call.

Looks like the FCC specifies a safe exposure limit for the general public of 1 mW/cm² (milliwatts per square centimeter) for RF energy at 2.45 GHz.

Hmm, I expected more. I assume you went around the seal and not just in front of the glass?

 

[PelicanPines]

So me pressing my face up against the glass of my 20 year old microwave might be bad for me for me for me for me?

Do you have cataracts yet?... The Mrs stares into the nuclear wave device and now she needs two eyes surgically decapitated with artificial lenses installed.

Ymmv

 

[Old Man Roger]

Do you have cataracts yet?... The Mrs stares into the nuclear wave device and now she needs two eyes surgically decapitated with artificial lenses installed.

Ymmv

No, but I noticed my second nose tends to run a little more than my first.

 

[bluedog225]

Hmm, I expected more. I assume you went around the seal and not just in front of the glass?

Around the seal, front of the glass, side bottom. I did a little research, and apparently these things are significantly over shielded compared to the standards. Why not since it’s pretty easy to do. The only thing left to do is override the safety lock on the door and measure it with the door open.

 

[rlitman]

... I did a little research, and apparently these things are significantly over shielded compared to the standards...

If they weren't generally well shielded, WiFi would have lots of problems.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Around the seal, front of the glass, side bottom. I did a little research, and apparently these things are significantly over shielded compared to the standards. Why not since it’s pretty easy to do. The only thing left to do is override the safety lock on the door and measure it with the door open.

We had one at one of the shops I worked at that failed miserably, it was only a few years old, but it was a Walmart cheapy.

 

[Milton Shaw]

As a repairman I ran into a lot of burned microwaves. The only ones repairable were the combo units with a stove or oven attached to the microwave. Most of the early ones had a microwave antenna that was turned with a servo type motor. These would have food buildup burn the paint around the opening and under the plastic covering. In shop repairs we cleaned and painted one day and then finished the repair after paint cured overnight. I got several microwaves that customers decided to replace rather than fix and repaired them for nothing. One lady that was a repeat customer could not believe me when I told her not to reuse plastic dishes from frozen dinners. Most of them had warnings not to reuse in microwave, but she did anyway. They had metal elements in the bottom of the dish to concentrate heat on what ever was frozen in them, such as mashed potatoes etc. These dishes with just a muffin in them would go to flames in just a minute or two of heating. Speaking of old microwaves I had one the customer knew it wasn't heating right as it took forever to warm something up. Her's had a removeable floor (Corning type glass) and had boiled it over so many times under the glass it was completely full of water. She was having to boil a cup or two of water in addition to whatever she was heating.