On 5/7/2011 12:15 PM, Art Todesco wrote:
Well, maybe the Subject line got your attention. I just wanted to vent a
little and warn others of this potential problem. My 2 year old
Whirlpool microwave oven started producing a burning plastic type of
smell. I didn't notice it at the time, but it was always when we did a
bag of popcorn. The oven has a "popcorn" button on it, after all. Well,
after a few weeks of sometimes smelling and sometimes not, the turntable
stopped rotating. I removed the glass turntable and attempted to remove
the plastic roller "spider" unit and it wouldn't come out. After doing
some Google searches, others said it may not come up easily, so a little
force in in order. I pried with a large screwdriver and it come out with
not too much problem. However, hole in the bottom of the spider was
definitely burned. So I proceeded to remove the motor. After more
Googling, I found that Whirlpool put in a cover plate at the bottom of
the oven which must be cut out with side cutters. Replacement was easy
as you flip it 180 degrees, put the tabs in the slots and add a screw at
the other end. Cute design! I removed the motor and its shaft end was
also burned. The motor was rated at 30 volts AC, so I bench tested it
with 30 volts AC and it rotated fine. I called my appliance parts guru
and asked about the 2 parts, the motor and the spider. He said, "Ah
making popcorn?" Together they were about $100. He said the bag
transfers so much heat through the glass to the spider and shaft causing
it to melt down and burn. Nice, Whirlpool, you put a popcorn button on a
machine that will self destruct if you try to use it to make popcorn. I
managed to moto-tool out the 1/2" diameter rotating plastic piece in the
motor, making a 1/4" flatted shaft hole. I then fabricated a 1/4"
flatted shaft from a piece of plastic and epoxied it in place. It was
still able to grip the flatted hole in the spider. All is fixed and
working now. When we do popcorn now, we put an old, I don't care if it
breaks, plate under the bag. The middle of the plate becomes too hot to
touch after just on bag. If this repair breaks, I'll probably get a 1/4"
nylon screw and form the shaft from that. Or, I noticed on ebay, you can
buy the exact oven for about $70 used .... basically, a boatload of
parts for future fixes. BTW, my previous microwave oven, a built in GE,
I think, never had this problem. It made 100s of bags of popcorn in its
life and is probably still going strong in my previous house.

Also, Whirlpool WILL NOT SELL YOU THE PART due to "safety concerns".
Thanks again Whirlpool for being a great company. I know there are many
places on line where you can get the parts, albeit at a premium price.
But I'm sure, if you had factory service replace the parts, they would
cost the same or more.

Unless you always happen to enjoy that toxic chemical factory explosion
smell from the fake butter an alternative is to just use one of these:

http://www.cookware.com/Nordicware-60120-NWR1271.html

Ours is probably 10 years old. It uses plain popcorn, doesn't heat up
the glass and no oil is needed.