"HeyBub" writes:

A warning. Be very careful who works on your microwave. They are
essentially a powerful microwave transmitter (up to 1000 watts) inside
a metal box. With lethal DC voltages up to 5000 volts and the ability
to radiate energy, it can just as easily cook your hand as a piece of
meat!

"Voltage" is not "lethal;" it's "amps." Tasers run up to 200,000 volts. What
is hazardous about the voltage in a microwave (or a TV for that matter) is
the reaction when you get shocked. You're liable to drop the sucker on your
foot.

No, the electrical hazard is that there's a step-up transformer in there
that is designed to deliver about 1 kW to the magnetron at a couple of
thousand volts. There's also a charged HV capacitor in there. There's
plenty of energy to cause electrical burns, or stop your heart if the
current path happens to pass through your chest.

A microwave cannot cook your hand because YOU'D MOVE YOUR HAND when it got
hot! A slab of meat can't ooze out of the way. Same principle involved in
trying to microwave an ant (can't be done).

The major danger is electrical, not microwave RF. However, having said
that, an open microwave source is a good way to develop cataracts. Your
eyes are more sensitive to heating than the rest of your body (no blood
flow to carry away heat from the cornea or lens) and don't have much in
the way of nerve endings to warn you there's a problem.

Be careful; microwave ovens have sometimes been described as one of
the most dangerous household appliances.

Described by those who've never had an episode with an electric can opener,
a cheap electrical outlet, or a wringer washer.

It's quite difficult to kill yourself with any of these. An operating
microwave with the cover off just requires touching the wrong place to
kill you.

Dave