22/02/2016
Why spend when you can save more?
Bad habits cost you; good habits save you thousands. You hear it all the time. In as much as home appliances make our lives much easier, they also pose significant risks if not maintained properly. This therefore, calls for the need to provide them with a certain amount of care and maintenance. This would help extend its lifespan, improve its energy efficiency and cut down its costly repair bills.
Today, we shall focus on the care and maintenance of your microwaves.
Firstly, unplug your microwave and examine its cable for any signs of damage before cleaning. This will help prevent any form of hazard. If the cable is in good condition, clean it with a lightly damp cloth.
Next, open your microwave oven and examine the entire interior parts for stains and debris. If you discover any, wipe with the use of a clean damp cloth, a microwave oven cleaner (K2r Oven and Grill Cleaner Gel 200ml tube) and then dry, with a soft dry cloth. This will help prevent food spills and stains from absorbing some of the microwave’s energy while its unit is operating. Also, it will eliminate rotten smell.
Proceed to clean its exterior parts as well. Use a clean damp cloth to wipe the front, the door, hinges, and any angle you notice. Steadily move it to the back of the microwave oven where you might see lubricant or sticky debris. Wipe out and then dry with a clean soft cloth to ensure good ventilation. Nevertheless, do not allow water to drip into ventilation openings as this can cause damage to the operating parts.
Furthermore, remove and wash its glass tray in warm soapy water or in a dishwasher. Also, clean its control panel. In doing this, ensure that the microwave door is left opened so as to prevent it from accidentally turning on. If the control panel becomes wet, dry it with a soft dry cloth.
It is required of you to choose your dishware carefully. Hence, do not keep aluminium foil, metal and dishware with silver or gold inside the microwave. In contrast, flat thick glass or tupperware containers are ideal. Often, the bottom of a container also indicates if it is microwave-safe. It is important to always cover food with a lid or a movie microwave to heat food evenly.
For defrosting in the microwave, it is best to break food into small portions to ensure uniform heating. Besides, the smaller the portions are, the sooner they will be ready.
Moreover, do not slam the door of your microwave. Slamming the door can disrupt the order of the switches’ closing thereby, causing a gradual damage to your unit. This is due to the fact that latch mechanisms on this appliance generally have three switches that must close in a particular order. Again, do not pull the door open while the microwave is running. Doing so can result in a blown safety fuse. Therefore, endeavour to close the door gently.
Use your microwave presets (cooking times) always. This helps to heat food more effectively and saves energy. Do not run your microwave empty as this may damage the microwave oven and will cause the magnetron to overheat and fail; hereby, resulting into a very costly repair.
It is important to test your microwave for leakage whenever you observe a broken door seal or the door setting being tampered with. You can test for this by using some microwave leakage test kits provided by a professional or by contacting a repair professional for an inspection.
You can prevent surge damage by plugging your microwave oven into a surge suppressor. This will help protect its circuitry from damage during voltage spikes or surges caused by lightning and other power fluctuations.
It is wise to leave the repair and replacement of its electronic parts to a professional. This is as a result of the thousands of volts of electricity it stores in its high voltage capacitor, which is extremely risky. However, its non- electronic parts are economical and easy to replace.
