When heating up small amounts of cooked vegetables (i.e. 10-20 peas or
10-20 kernels of corn, small pieces of carrots, broccoli), I almost
always notice "sparking" in the food after about 5 sec. And if I
continue heating, it will actually produce flames usually in 10-13
seconds.

I have an 1100watt Emerson microwave. It seems to do about the same
thing on all 10 power levels (although it may happen quicker on higher
power levels). I have only noticed it with vegetables.

Is this occurring just because there is such a small amount of food
being heated? Is it just getting so hot that it causes fire? When I
take it out, it doesn't feel that hot. Could the microwave have
something wrong with it?

Thanks,
JBreits

"JBreits" wrote in message
oups.com...

When heating up small amounts of cooked vegetables (i.e. 10-20 peas or
10-20 kernels of corn, small pieces of carrots, broccoli), I almost
always notice "sparking" in the food after about 5 sec. And if I
continue heating, it will actually produce flames usually in 10-13
seconds.

You have powdered metal in your food? Tried adding water?

Add a separate cup of water - not to the food.

N

ya, could be hard water...have seen old iron pipes that run underground make
the water hard because the rust gets into the water.

"NSM" wrote in message
news:7FZve.109962$on1.92810@clgrps13...
|
| "JBreits" wrote in message
| oups.com...
|
| When heating up small amounts of cooked vegetables (i.e. 10-20 peas or
| 10-20 kernels of corn, small pieces of carrots, broccoli), I almost
| always notice "sparking" in the food after about 5 sec. And if I
| continue heating, it will actually produce flames usually in 10-13
| seconds.
|
| You have powdered metal in your food? Tried adding water?
|
| Add a separate cup of water - not to the food.
|
| N
|
|

"Cobalt" wrote in message
...

ya, could be hard water...have seen old iron pipes that run underground
make
the water hard because the rust gets into the water.

And slamming 1100 W into 10 kernels of dry corn isn't going to work either!

N

my first thought is that is normal, I take it all is fine with a
regular amount of food ?

on side note, why you nuking 20 kernals of corn ?

When you say it does it on all 10 power levels, you are not seeing the
operation from the right viewpoint. You cannot control the output power of a
magnetron. It's either producing microwaves at full chat, or not at all. The
power setting is controlled by interupting the amount of time that the mag
is turned on for, so at 100% power, it's running all the time, at 50% power,
it's only running for half the time and so on. You will probably have heard
the transformer going KAWOMM as the mag cuts in and out.

This means that you are hitting those poor peas with 1100 watts of RF each
time the mag cuts in. Even if you are down on 10% power and you set the
timer for 1 minute, the 6 seconds that the mag would be on during that time
( probably three bursts of 2 seconds ), will probably be enough to make the
poor peas explode ...

The cup of water is a sound idea, as it provides a better load for the
magnetron. Very small quantities of food represent very little load, and
this can lead to rapid demise of the mag.

Geoff
"NSM" wrote in message
news:3m0we.110000$on1.93864@clgrps13...

"Cobalt" wrote in message
...

ya, could be hard water...have seen old iron pipes that run underground
make
the water hard because the rust gets into the water.

And slamming 1100 W into 10 kernels of dry corn isn't going to work
either!

N

Thank you for all the replies. I should clarify a little I guess. I
have a one-year old that eats cooked veggies (only the small ones). I
usually cook up enough to last a week and we put them in the fridge.
When it comes time for her to eat we put a little in the microwave just
to warm them up. This could be ~20 Kernels of corn and ~20 peas and a
couple pieces of carrots. We don't usually heat up a whole bunch in
case she is feeling like being a picky eater that day.

In response to other messages, we do have slightly hard water, but I
see no sparking or anything when heating the tap water. The vegetables
are boiled in a non-stick pan. Could that be a problem? Other things
that I have cooked in the pan microwave fine.

Last night I tried putting a small bowl of water in with the food and
there was no sparking or fire or anything. So perhaps it really is
just the fact that there was a small amount of food.

Does that sound reasonable?

Thanks,
JBreits

"JBreits" writes:

Thank you for all the replies. I should clarify a little I guess. I
have a one-year old that eats cooked veggies (only the small ones). I
usually cook up enough to last a week and we put them in the fridge.
When it comes time for her to eat we put a little in the microwave just
to warm them up. This could be ~20 Kernels of corn and ~20 peas and a
couple pieces of carrots. We don't usually heat up a whole bunch in
case she is feeling like being a picky eater that day.

In response to other messages, we do have slightly hard water, but I
see no sparking or anything when heating the tap water. The vegetables
are boiled in a non-stick pan. Could that be a problem? Other things
that I have cooked in the pan microwave fine.

Last night I tried putting a small bowl of water in with the food and
there was no sparking or fire or anything. So perhaps it really is
just the fact that there was a small amount of food.

Does that sound reasonable?

Absolutely.

It has nothing to do with hard water.

Probably, simply the fact that you have a very small amount of material
that absorbs the microwaves creating a very high field strength in that
area and that its dimensions are similar to a fraction of a wavelength
at 2.45 GHz.

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JBreits wrote:
Thank you for all the replies. I should clarify a little I guess. I
have a one-year old that eats cooked veggies (only the small ones). I
usually cook up enough to last a week and we put them in the fridge.
When it comes time for her to eat we put a little in the microwave just
to warm them up. This could be ~20 Kernels of corn and ~20 peas and a
couple pieces of carrots. We don't usually heat up a whole bunch in
case she is feeling like being a picky eater that day.

snip

Hi...

May I offer a non-technical suggestion?

(I raised one of the world's most picky eaters)

How about doing up a reasonable helping of veggies - perhaps
a half cup or so - and then having some with her?
I found it helpful to join mine, each with our own plate,
and as each of us had a "bite" I'd comment on mine.
(smile, say "good", "ummm", "hurray" and so on.) Didn't take
long before we were sort of taking turns, and each praising
it)

And just another thought; with no disrespect intended.
She may enjoy it more if she had them not previously
cooked but rather micro'd from frozen. I'm old now,
but still use the frozen in a bag ones. A half cup
in a cereal bowl, add a tablespoon or two of water, then
zap on high for 90 seconds is just right. (Of course
I'd feel them first before offering them to a baby)

Take care.

Ken