Have I killed my microwave?

And will it still kill the steenking cat (Sebastian) who just broke into the cupboard where the rubbish bag is and chewed through it AGAIN!

Do you mean you made a hole in the microwave door? That's the only place I can picture having a relative bit of opaque glass on it. As for being delicate? I never heard of anyone cleaning a whole in a microwave before. Can you clarify where the hole is with a photo?

I think you are in good shape. The portion of the oven that shields against stray microwaves is too tough to break while cleaning. If it works, it works. Just to be sure, you might want to park a hamster next to that side, with the setting on high. Hamsters are easily killed, as we all know. If it survives, all is good.

As for the exploding sauce sachet, well, how else are you supposed to know when the stuff is done?

You didn't kill it, but you might kill it if any more splatters go through the hole you made in the mica window. What you broke is a sheet of mica which covers the waveguide port where all of the microwave energy from the magnetron enters the oven.

Microwave waveguide cover

You should be able to replace it yourself. ebay has lots of them for a few dollars or you may be able to get one from a local appliance store if you are in a hurry.

if you start to glow in the dark, shut it off...

(also, you might pre-open a few cans of cat food, so if something bad does happen, they will have something to eat besides you until they are found)

Mica! THAT'S what it felt like.

So I can use it? The imploded mica bit is still hanging in.

I'd better measure the bit of mica before I go off to get a new bit.
Thank you alland especially Mesquite! You're a Mesquench!

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Give a cat an open can of food and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to open a can of food and you'll just run out of a week's worth canned food in a day. All cans will be opened at once. The cat will have too much fun opening metal cans.

I'd say you can still use it so long as you take precautions that anything you put in the microwave is covered so that it cannot splatter into the hole in the mica. The sole purpose of the mica cover is to keep food and moisture out of the waveguide

In the tradition of have I killed my microwave, I bring you Am I Going Mad!?

My apartment just began to emit a high pitched squealing sound. At first, because of my high tones deafness, I wasn't sure it was real, but, upon putting on my hearing aids, I was assured that it was.

After rapidly getting dressed, in case the squeal meant some kind of external response was imminent, I explored.

As far as I could hear it was coming either from the top of my bedroom wardrobe, or from the ceiling near there.

Upon inspection I could see nothing.

Closer inspection brought yet more nothing.

The squeal continued unabated.

I began to think I would need to Call Somebody. The first somebody I could think of was my building's notoriously unhelpful strata management company....which has a totally untested, by me at any rate, emergency maintenance number.

I picked up the phone to call said number...and the noise stopped!

It appears to have something to do with the phone! I haven't figured out what, precisely, it has to do with the phone, but at least it has stopped.

mmmmmmmmmmm is it possible that the kittens were interrupted while placing a long distance call and failed to hang up correctly?

phones can eventually make a squealing sound in situations like that

Can they throw their voices?

I think you should read the book which is given with that before you start using it !

It didn't come with a book!

Why not take the phone off hook for a bit and see if the problem replicates. High pitched sounds are sometimes hard to home in on.

Did you ever find a replacement mica cover for the microwave?

Haven't looked for a new mica cover so far, to be honest. We are kind of limping along, my microwave and I.

You reminded me though!

I wouldn't put it off too long. It could be bad news for the microwave if another incident such as the one that prompted the cleaning should occur while the cover has a hole in it.

Once while on vacation in San Diego, a hotel that we were staying at had free continental breakfasts. They had some peeled refrigerated hard-boiled eggs that I thought would be better warmed up. I knew that you shouldn't put a whole egg in a microwave, but I thought that a peeled one would be fine. Wrong! After about 30 seconds in the microwave that egg went off like a grenade. I bet there wasn't a square inch of the interior of that microwave free of egg splatter.

If you have trouble finding a cover, here is a link to some on ebay Australia.
Microwave mica waveguide cover

hooboy, that sounds kinda spectacular. had no idea eggs did that. may have to keep it in mind next time there's a slow day.

Sure they do that. How else you gonna know when they're done?

To be honest, I kind of want a new microwave. I bought mine secondhand....had it for 12 years now....and it's HUGE! And WHITE. All my splashbacks and stuff are stainless steel. I want a smaller one made of stainless steel.