Kathryn, You should consider Malcolms suggestion about using bleach. It is a great disinfectant and does dissipate leaving no residue. It generally isn't used for electronics because it is an oxidant and can corrode metals but if you dry the microwave in a reasonable time it should be no problem. One approach might be to:
* Unplug the microwave for as long a time as you can but I wouldn't do less than three days. Longer is better. Anyone who has worked on TVs has probably been surprised by a charge still on the high voltage capacitor. Once burned you don't forget again and you make sure to discharge the capacitor after that. The capacitors are high quality and can hold a charge for a long time. I am concerned that you could shock yourself if you try and discharge the high voltage and you don't know what you are doing. * Vacuume what dust you can from the microwave. If you have a vacumme with an all plastic hose use it. If it has a metal pipe where you hold the hose, wear heavy rubber cleaning gloves. * There is a plastic duct and fan that is used to vent the microwave and it gets pretty dirty and may have a lot of grease. Esp. if anyone makes microwave popcorn. It is usually easy to remove and clean seperately. * Fill a spray bottle filled with diluted bleach. Use plain bleach - no thickeners or added scents. Have it set for a fine mist. Wear heavy rubber gloves in case there is still voltage on the capacitor. It If there is it could possibly arc up through the spray if you are not insulated. * Spray the insides of the microwave several times over a 15 minute period with the bleach solution * n. Avoid spraying the magnetron if you can. * Dry the microwave by placing it in front of a space heater, moving it occasionally to get all parts of the microwave dried. You want warm air on the microwave but not so close as to get thing hot. I would do this for at least 4 hours. Longer is better. * If you are uncomfortable with this approach don't do it. * If someone else in this forum feels that parts of this approach are not safe then don't do it. * Your safety is more important than saving the cost of a new microwave. - Steve N -----Original Message----- From: M. G. Devour [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 11:52 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: CS>OT: cleaning microwave guts Dear Kathryn, Malcolm, and group! Anybody tempted to do *anything* around the guts of a microwave oven needs to take all the cautions about high voltages and keeping yourself out of the circuit *VERY* *SERIOUSLY*, as we don't want to lose any of you. Until you know how and why things are dangerous and how to be safe, it's best to stay out of line powered equipment altogether. Back at one place I used to work, there was a fire-sprinkler flood in one of the labs full of racks of electronic equipment. Most stuff was powered off at the time and breakers protected a lot of the rest, but beyond the few things that were damaged, everything was soaked! They dried it all out by putting batches of instruments through one of the medium sized heat treating ovens at something less than boiling temperature overnight. Once everything was *thoroughly* dry it powered up and functioned again. I don't know if your microwave is small enough to fit into your regular oven, but that'd be one way to make sure it's completely dry inside before you try to power it up again. I've used this trick successfully on cell phones, calculators and digital watches that got wet. Just take out the batteries and either replace them or dry them out by hand. Lastly, you may want to read some of the materials on the alleged dangers of consuming microwaved foods. We use ours a lot less than we used to. Be well, Mike D. -- The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: [email protected] Address Off-Topic messages to: [email protected] The Silver List and Off Topic List archives are currently down... List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
