Heard on news of fires even when off

Dear Joe,
As a retired fire fighter, I can give you a good answer.
You have a problem that should likely require a new microwave.
You have an electrical short inside it, an if you keep trying, it will soon catch fire, and burn.
Sorry for the bad news.
Some cities & towns have shops that repair microwaves, you may wish to see if your does, remembering to ask the cost of the repair first.
God bless your efforts.

I haven't heard of such a thing. You must have cooked it until there was no moisture left in the potato. That would also account for the failure of the oven. It would be the same as no load in the oven.
A thermal protect part is your current problem.

You have a Beko model which may have the fire risk fault as the serial number begins 06.

The story has been going for a while now, but as it was widely reported yesterday then you will definitely have problems calling the Freephone line as many other owners will also be worried.

You only have two options:-

1. Continue to try and call the helpline, or;

2. Visit the Beko recall website and click on the link at the bottom of the page. You'll effectively get exactly the same response as for the phone number.

You may also wish to read the BBC News report which gives details of the fault.

you should deffinatly fix that

This is a very common fault on all makes and models of microwave ovens, and most of the time the cause is a failed magnetron. This is the part which produces the microwaves and it's usually the single most expensive component in the oven.

Magnetrons are a bit like light-bulbs: they can blow at any moment from the day they're manufactured and once they blow they cannot be fixed. Replacement is usually straightforward but does require that the oven has the outer casing removed (disconnect from the power supply first!) and there is some simple disassembly. The new magnetron must be fitted with a new microwave gasket (it's a crushable copper wire mesh collar which cannot safely be reused). The bad news is that unless the machine is still under warranty, the high cost of a new magnetron usually means that it's cheaper to replace the complete oven.

That one is made by LG for Whirlpool and rebranded Galaxy to be sold by Sears as a Kenmore.

(Confused yet?)

The majority of shorting keypads I've heard have been in Samsungs and Samsung-made ovens, especially GEs.

You can find recall information at each manufacturer's Web site, or visit recalls.gov.

We're happy to help you with free advice and we'd appreciate your thoughtful rating of our answer.

Hello, W/D here.

Sparks shooting out of anything is bad news. The good news is that the price of microwaves has fallen quite a bit, and the technology has actually improved, even since 2003. Making even a service call to repair your microwave will likely cost you more than it is worth. Your money will be better spent in placing it towards a new microwave. This is just my opinion, but I have worked on a few of them.

Best regards, --W/D--

There is a GE/Kenmore recall: http://injurylaw.reganfirm.com/2007/12/articles/defective-products/cpsc-notice-ge-ge-profile-kenmore-microwave-ovens-recalled/. I don't know if your relative's models are involved. I suggest that you file an incident report with the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Why is this even a question?

Of course a paper towel can get hot enough to catch fire in a microwave. In addition, anything not specifically identified as microwave safe can melt, deform, crack, chip, spark, catch fire, explode, etc...
This is not a microwave problem.

I have replaced the main fuse on this model. Though blown main fuses are common in this model, it will not even turn on when they blow, so your problem is most likely NOT a blown fuse. I had heard of your problem so, when replacing the main fuse inside one, I looked for additional fuses and saw none. The store was wrong. Even if it were a fuse, the security Torx screws mean that you couldn't replace the fuse anyway.

This microwave seems to have been haphazarly been recommended by Consumer Reports, but it is terribly unreliable. The turntables break when popping popcorn, the main fuse repeatedly blows, and they also stop heating.