My microwave's turntable seems to be problematic. It is beginning to burn popcorn (every time) and does not seem to be heating very consistently. The turntable goes around but seems to stop at the quarter mark instead of turning continuously. Please advise. Thanks

The microwave burnt it. It will be a bit of trial and error with using your new microwave and will also depend (in this case) the brand of pop corn you've cooking. Check the recommendations on the pop corn packaging for time and heat range. Happy popping!

Popcorn is a low-moisture food which can cause a microwave to overheat, as can a failure of the cooling fan or blocked vents.

You should always turn a paper plate upside-down on the turntable (slightly off-center for better heating) and place the popcorn container on top of that.

The paper plate elevates the popcorn for better exposure to the energy and protects the turntable from excessive heat.

Placing food off-center instead of in the center increases exposure to the energy and prevents the same spot on the turntable from being overheated repeatedly, which leads to material fatigue and cracking.

It's also a good idea to put about 1/2 cup of water in a 1-cup microwave-safe container in the corner of the oven when cooking low-moisture foods like popcorn, bacon, and potatoes.

The microwave's magnetron has a thermal protector (thermostat, TCO, or thermal fuse) attached to it.

If the magnetron gets too hot, it can be damaged or destroyed, so the thermal protector opens and disconnects the power to the whole oven.

If it is a resettable device, the power will be restored when the device cools. If it is not resettable, the device must be replaced.

FixYa does not directly notify us experts of responses, so if you have other questions, please contact me directly.

- William E. Miller, AS-EET
[email protected]
http://www.microwavecontrol.com
Microwave Oven Control Panel Repair Nationwide
"Recycling by repairing since 1982"

The turntable motor will need to be replaced, a common issue.

Replace the turntable motor, it is defective and will only get worse.

Does this MW oven have a platter on a turntable?

You can order a turntable of off eBay and as for the other tais a trial and error thing you will just have to mess with it microwaves vary

Because the microwave energy is beamed into the interior of the microwave and then dispersed by a metallic "stirrer," the pattern of the energy can be fairly consistent, rather than completely random. But this pattern sometimes causes certain portions of the food to overcook (creating tough spots) and others to undercook. A microwave oven with a carousel is far better at cooking the food consistently--the pattern becomes quite random while the carousel is turning.

Assuming the line voltage, turntable and stirrer are okay, low heat will be a bad magnetron.

Sounds like the magnetron has failed. That gutteral sound is a classic symptom. I've described it to my customers as sounding like gurgling into a coffee cup. Dry popcorn is a very dry food, so not as much of the energy is absorbed. When that happens, more microwaves can reflect back to the magnetron and damage it. I'm surprised they don't mention that if and when you don't use butter. But if this is an older microwave, it may have been on its way out already. Not too many parts seem to be available for this Welbilt model, but your best bet if you want it repaired is to call their nuumber in your owner's manual. If it's older or a fairly simple counter-top microwave, then it would probably be more economcial to replace the oven.