Make your microwave oven last longer

Microwave ovens have become essential to our busy lives. Here are some tips to get years of trouble-free use from yours.

• A microwave can last four to ten years. As microwave oven prices drop, so do their life expectancies. It's not unusual for them to simply stop working after four or five years of heavy family use. But sometimes microwave ovens hang on for a gradual death.
• If your microwave is more than ten years old, you may be noticing that food is still frozen in the middle after cooking for the time recommended on the box.
• Here's a test: For a 600- to 1,000-watt oven, place a 250 millilitre (eight ounce) cup of water in the microwave on high power for three minutes.
• If it doesn't reach a rolling boil in that time, it's time for a new unit. A microwave that's given more than a decade of service is not worth repairing.

• Most parts of a microwave oven are not user-serviceable.
• If you haven't priced microwave ovens lately, make sure that you do before you pay someone to fix yours.
• It's usually smarter to buy a new one than to fix one that's got several years of use under its belt.

• Your microwave needs to vent the heat it generates when you use it.
• If you own a countertop model, the most important thing you can do to make it last is be sure that the vents have about five centimetres (two inches) of clearance.
• When you set up a new microwave, be sure to check the owner's manual to find out where the vents are and exactly how much clearance they need.

• Everybody knows that you shouldn't put metal in the microwave.
• If you do, you'll get a great mini-lightning display as you damage the magnetron tube that shoots the micro-waves.
• Still, if we're not careful, little pieces of metal can sneak in.
• For example, if you like to warm your maple syrup bottle in the microwave, remember to remove not only the metal cap, but the metal taper-proof ring that remains when you take the cap off. And remember not to use metal twist ties in the microwave.

• A microwave oven works by agitating the water molecules in food.
• Since the container itself — whether plastic, glass, or ceramic — doesn't contain water molecules, the microwaves don't heat it. The container gets hot because the heat from the food is transferred to it.
• The bigger the container, the more heat it will suck out of the food and the longer the food will take to get hot.
• The appliance will cook quicker and last longer if you always use the smallest container that will hold the food.

• You pop something into the toaster while the microwave is running. When you push down the toaster handle, you notice the microwave's noise becomes lower in pitch. Or the lights dim when you turn on the microwave.
• These are both signs that you are overloading an electrical circuit. This taxes the microwave and shortens its life. It's best to give your microwave its own circuit.
• Or failing that, don't run other big energy-users such as toasters, toaster ovens, or electric griddles at the same time as the microwave.