Hi Steve Norton, Just a brief comment (for me) "Before you open the microwave, let it set for 2 to 3 days unplugged to discharge the capacitors. BTW, TVs also have a high voltage capacitor on the versions with a picture tube." Uplugged Television Capacitors can carry High Voltage charges for longer than several days. As everyone may know, the first use of Capacitors was to store Electricity. I would worry about the Microwave Caps, too, although I haven't worked on any. Not all TVs and I can only guess Microwaves or not as the case may be have bleeder resistors across the high voltage capacitors to discharge them. Unfortunately Consumer Grade Appliances are dollar driven designs. A manufacture will leave out parts (sometimes call Munzting) to save a pittance. I can and have purchased resistors at a fraction of a penny for manufacturing. Bean Counters working for Mass Market Manufacturers seem to have more control in industrial design than engineers. That fraction of a penny multiplied by 500,000 parts comes to $3,500 at the end of the year for one design alone. In other words to save a few dollars, manufactures will omit parts that would make a design safer. They have consistently done this unless required by regulatory statute for safety concerns. When I work on anything with high voltage caps, I discharge them use using a "Snuffer Stick" (It has a 200K, 2 watt resistor in series with the nose probe and ground wire to large clip for ground on the other) and then use clip leads on the caps to ground. I haven't worked on Microwaves and bow to your experience in this area. I wouldn't have them in my house for years. I remember all the Pacemaker warnings. Best Regards, Steve Foss
