Microwave Sparking Normal

Hellibut · 06-13-2007, 03:34 PM

Just got off the phone with my daughter who moved in a new home a few months back. She said her GE Profile microwave sparks when she heats certain kinds of food like Green beans or Sweet Potatoes. The repair guy was dismayed that it sparked. This happens no matter what the food is placed in. A call to GE and they said it was normal. I advised her to call the Oregon Consumer protection agency. Guess what... they looked it up and said it was normal

. Apparently GE has it somewhere in their literature that this happens in food with a high mineral content. To me this is quite UNBELIEVABLE! I have never had a microwave do this, well except those couple times I forgot to remove the foil.
Any of you ever heard of this?

ORrinker · 06-13-2007, 03:50 PM

Tell her to take the green beans and sweet potatoes out of the can first

6wapiti6 · 06-13-2007, 03:50 PM

I was heating lima beans for my son, and one sparked and caught on fire. I happened to be standing at the oven at the time, it scared the hell out of me! The flame went right out though. This was a Kenmore model.

suckerfish · 06-13-2007, 04:02 PM

mine sparks when I nuke diced carrots.

suckerfish

Hellibut · 06-13-2007, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ORrinker

Tell her to take the green beans and sweet potatoes out of the can first

Good one:smile:. The first question I asked her was if she took them out of the can. She did laugh, but I'm not sure she found the humor in that I did.

D-tangle · 06-13-2007, 04:08 PM

Ours sparked blue sparks once. When we examined the bowl, it had a very light line of gold plating around the rim, hardly noticable.

I wouldn't stand too close to the MW while it is working.

Swamp Puppy · 06-13-2007, 04:12 PM

i've seen it happen...freaky. i prefer my food didn't spark when i cook it. lol.

tnj8222 · 06-14-2007, 10:55 AM

i got a cheapy wal-mart microwave. it has sparked a few times. it scares the crap out of me. i actually have a friend that wont use a microwave and doesnt eat at fast food resturants because they use them. he thinks they cause cancer.

Chris61182 · 06-14-2007, 10:58 AM

I know for a fact that raisins spark in the microwave, they also make a really horrible smell as well. So I guess there's no reason that other foods couldn't.

Hellibut · 06-14-2007, 11:06 AM

Thanks for all the info on this. It sounds like this could be normal in some cases and she has nothing to worry about. If it wasn't for the fact that she noticed it when heating food for my 11 month old Granddaughter she probably wouldn't have thought a thing about it. I tried a few things in my micro but no sparks. Oh well.. onward and upward!

Chris61182 · 06-14-2007, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hellibut

If it wasn't for the fact that she noticed it when heating food for my 11 month old Granddaughter she probably wouldn't have thought a thing about it.

Not to be preachy but I hope she's being careful with that, microwaves can superheat parts of the food while leaving others warm or even cold.

I'm not saying don't, just to be aware of the potential dangers, and stir the food thoroughly and possibly let stand for a few minutes.