17' Series Microwave Fire

[michelle menzel]

This morning l was woken by the smoke detector, l couldnt see any smoke but there was a horrible burning smell... I couldn't find anything that was burning inside or out, then i thought l saw a slight bit of smoke from the top of the microwave, when i opened it the polystyrene foam was smouldering, l took it outside and hosed it, and turned the power off. Has anyone had anything like this happen? We've never used the microwave, we use it to store our bread normally, and l was up at 4.30am rolling the awning in because the wind had picked up and didnt notice anything wrong.

 

[Smirke]

Wow, thank goodness your smoke alarm was working. We've only ever had the burning popcorn in ours.

 

[BigSkiddy]

Lucky you got it out of the van in time. Seems odd it would combust on it's own, unless someone turned it on.

 

[bigcol]

curiouser and curiouser
very strange indeed.....

and as you said in a different post - the kids were still asleep.............

 

[michelle menzel]

I'm wondering if theres a timer so you can delay cooking? That could explain it, and i just haven't heard it going, l know that i'll never store stuff in it and will take the styrofoam out because if that wasn't in there nothing would have cooked!

 

[bigcol]

ahhh, yes, I think ours has a delayed timer on it as well.............
good call @michelle menzel something for ALL to be aware of..

 

[bigcol]

l was up at 4.30am rolling the awning in because the wind had picked up and didnt notice anything wrong.

you didnt "stumble" out the door did you?

if it was through the day id be saying the kids had touched it but it was through the night!

too true, kids can be blamed for most things, but (drat) they were sleeping, so innocent.........

you are indeed a very lucky Girl........

 

[michelle menzel]

New microwave on its way courtesy of Jayco! Yay

 

[BigSkiddy]

You said that the awning was flapping around. Did you notice any strange lights in the sky??
Perhaps an electro magnetic pulse working in reverse from an alien space craft caused the microwave to turn on.

 

[Flossymk1]

Wow - scary stuff! Reminds me of what happened to our old microwave in our previous house -

We went away overnight & came back home the next day to find the microwave was ON, and must have been on for a significant amount of time, as the door was half melted away and the house absolutely stunk! It wouldn't turn off with the buttons either so we reefed it out of its cavity and pulled the cord from the power point!

It definitely was not on when we left the house the previous day, so it had somehow managed to turn itself on (there was nothing inside it either, apart from the glass plate). Anyway it was very scary to think about what could have happened to the house had we been away for more than 1 night...

LG replaced it, but could not explain why / how it could have happened, and we were very jittery about leaving it plugged in for a long time after that!

 

[Meanderthals]

Live in the tropics for a while and you get used to unplugging things that aren't in use to avoid surges, especially in the Wet Season when the sound of thunder has you running to unplug anything you don't want blown up. Best overload/zapping protection is a big open circuit. Very little in our house is plugged in and powered up 24/7. Recently though my Computer UPS went crackle/flash/bang/smoking right in front of me which was similar to the MIG welder a few years back that went in to meltdown.

Have never had a microwave do that though and makes me glad we removed it from the van. Who knows if it was a voltage surge though but must check if it had a delay timer in it as it's now in the Sons workshop.

 

[Bushman]

:eek-53: Scary stuff, must be the reason I tend to leave ours turned off if not using it.

 

[relgate]

A good warning. Maybe best to turn it off at the powerpoint when not in use

 

[michelle menzel]

I will definately be turning it off at the powerpoint from now on! We always free camp so mostly dont have power, but the kids and l are camping in mum & dads backyard so were plugged in for a change... Sounds boring but they do live on the beach

 

[jeff]

You were lucky to get it outside so quickly, ours is well & truly bolted in

 

[ShaneT]

You were lucky to get it outside so quickly, ours is well & truly bolted in

I think Michelle took the polystyrene out and hosed it, not the whole microwave.

 

[michelle menzel]

You were lucky to get it outside so quickly, ours is well & truly bolted in

I just took the polystyrene out, the microwave is bolted in

 

[carpanda]

Aww that would have been scarey, glad u guys are okay!

 

[Griffo]

Learned something the other day when I had a RCD that continually tripped.

When you switch something off at the power point, the device can still be live as you only isolate the active with the neutral wire still being live. The only way to ensure the device is not live is to unplug it. Any sparkies out there care to expand.

 

[michelle menzel]

Learned something the other day when I had a RCD that continually tripped.

When you switch something off at the power point, the device can still be live as you only isolate the active with the neutral wire still being live. The only way to ensure the device is not live is to unplug it. Any sparkies out there care to expand.

I unplugged it as well, hubby used to be a sparky so thats probably why he told me to turn it off and unplug it