(Bob Ladbury) writes:

My wife just toasted a couple of rice crackers and cheese (on a
regular plate) in our Samsung microwave oven. The thing seemed to have
caught on fire inside the oven, but as there was no metal on any of
the food or plate, I don't think that caused it. There was a wild
flash, buzzing noises, then before I had the chance to run to the
circuit breaker, things died down... Well, the light in the oven is
still working, but the right side of the oven is charred so badly
(just above a small panel on the side wall), that it caused a rupture
in the panel. I am of course assuming the oven doesn't work any
longer, and is probably not repairable, due to the small hole in the
side panel. Does this sound familiar to anyone? The oven worked
perfectly earlier today, and since Ive never seen this happen before,
I'm wondering what went wrong with this device?

If by "side panel" you mean the mica/plastic waveguide cover, damage
to that isn't a serious problem. In fact, you can remove that panel
and it will work fine - it just prevents debris from getting into the
waveguide.

You had a very small load in the oven (the cheese on a couple of
crackers). Feeding 1000 W into that load it's not surprising
there were fireworks.

Without seeing it, now ay to know if there is more than cosmetic
damage but it probably won't hurt to clean up the charring as best
as possible and do a water heating test to see if the oven is still
working.

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