On Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:07:37 +1100, "Phil Allison"
wrote:

The rated life for consumer magnetrons is about 2000 hrs. If you live
on 5 minute TV dinners, that's about 24,000 dinners.

** Hmmmmm.......
24,000 microwave dinners at the rate of one per day takes nearly 66 years
to consume.
I wonder if the consumer of the microwave will die first ?

Yes. Anyone that consumes a microwave oven is likely to die.

I've sometimes speculated on what causes an oven magnetron to fail.
Internal arcing will certainly shorten the lifetime of the device.
Same with overheating from extended cooking time. However, my guess
is some glass envelopes are badly sealed and fail from burning the
cathode coating. I can't see the getter from the outside of the
magnetron (without breaking the glass), but I suspect it is past its
prime.
http://www.google.com/patents/US4132921
Another guess is that the glass is insufficiently baked to remove all
the water and gasses dissolved into the glass.


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Jeff Liebermann
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