In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 13 Feb 2021 18:49:53 -0500, Ed Pawlowski
wrote:

On 2/13/2021 4:45 PM, chris wrote:
I see this blog is pretty old, but i thought i would give it a shot with
a question to you.
My microwave is making a rattling sound so i pulled the outside cover
off, because it sounds like a loose screw.* The cover is just sheetmetal
with no additional cover or shielding attached to it on the inside. Im

Yes, but a metal cover stops microwaves. It IS the shielding. There
is other shielding too, inside but it can become dislodged.

still skeptical about trying to turn it on without the cover after
checking all the internal screws.
Should i not try to turn it on to be safe?

Have you looked first without even turning it on? Did you find a loose
screw.

I think even 5 seconds ought to be enough to see if it's still rattling.

Or maybe 10.

If it rattles less than once ever 8 seconds, you can live with it. (or
even if it rattels all the time. Have you tried turning it upside down
to see what falls out?)

AIUI, microwave ovens are tuned to warm water without warming things
with a different resonant frequenecy. There is water in just about all
food so it works well. This part is true.

I'm not 100% sure I was ever told the truth** about the rest, and that
is that the biggest danger by far is the water inside your eyeballs.
Then hits I found were about heating the eye's lens and the retinal
nerve endings. Maybe that's because the water, the vitreous and the
humor aqueous humor, get hot. **It does look like I was basically told
the truth.

So if heat is the problem you can run it for 10 seconds and then wait
until the inside of your eyes cool off! Radiation strength decreases as
the distance from the source, squared, increases.

Radio Shack used to sell a maybe $10 microwave detector. I have one but
they don't sell them anymore. But I don't think you need one for 5 or
10 seconds and if you;re not taking it apart any more thhan the cover.



I had an Amana Radarrange model #2, which was for years the stereotype
of a microwave oven. When I got it one of the door springs was broken,
an easy repair. Later I thought I needed the schematic to fix it. I
probably didn't, but I called Amana and she was very reluctant because
she thought I'd hurt myself. I had to promise her up and down I knew
what I was doing. On that one, and maybe all of them, there is a cage
around the magnetron and where it attaches to the base is a metal woven
rectangular gasket. She insisted I position it exactly where it was to
begin with. But your rattle is not in there anyhow.

I just had crumbling insulation that I replaced with GE silicone. that
lasted 5 years or more and then it broke two more times for other
reasons and that last time they wnted iirc 300 dollars for the part.
Rest of our conversation for another time.

https://www.ebay.com/i/164373718692

Im smart enough to know not too touch anyhing inside that could be
holding a charge, but dumb enough to be attempting this


The potential danger is from the magnetron. It is not instant death but
long term not good. Fifteen seconds would not be so bad but a few
minutes, I don't know and would not risk it. What do you hope to see?

How old is the unit and how good is it? You can buy small ones for $79