The outer glass on our microwave shattered recently. The part can no longer be purchased. Two related questions:
- Is it still safe to operate?
- Can the shattered glass be replaced with plexiglass? It won't look as good, but it'll be an improvement.
Electrical – is it safe to use a microwave with the outside glass missing
electricalmicrowave-ovensafety
Related Solutions
"Don't do that"
I'm not saying that you should not repair your microwave, but as a general rule, I would not recommend it:
Careless troubleshooting of a microwave oven can result in death or worse. Experienced technicians have met their maker as a result of a momentary lapse of judgement while testing an oven with the cover removed. Microwave ovens are without a doubt, the most deadly type of consumer electronic equipment in wide spread use.
The power supplies for even the smallest microwave ovens operate at extremely lethal voltage and current levels. Do not attempt to troubleshoot, repair, or modify such equipment without understanding and following ALL of the relevant safety guidelines for high voltage and/or line connected electrical and electronic systems.
We will not be responsible for damage to equipment, your ego, county wide power outages, spontaneously generated mini (or larger) black holes, planetary disruptions, or personal injury or worse that may result from the use of this material. -- http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/micfaq.htm
"Try this instead"
For most people, replacing the unit or professional repair is a more reasonable risk.
You could consider attaching a thick acrylic or other plastic panel that covers the interior of the glass and is firmly screwed to the door. The edges can then be covered with molding.
Such plastics are shatter resistant. While they can be broken, they will not yield to the tools of most casual home intruders (unless they carry sledge hammers or blow torches).
No entry is totally burglarproof, but this would substantially reduce the risk (although many would consider it overkill).
An alternative is the use of double cylinder deadbolt. This replaces the interior deadbolt thumb turn with a keyed cylinder.
While this increases security, it poses a significant risk in case of emergency such as fire. If the key is removed from the interior cylinder, the occupants cannot get out of the house through that exit quickly. Some people using double cylinders leave the key in the cylinder when at home and remove it when they are away. Some also hang a key near the lock, but out of reach of the door window.
Images and links are illustrative only, not an endorsement of goods or sources.
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Best Answer
DANGER, WILL ROBINSON
The glass doesn't stop the microwaves. The mesh does.
However, without that glass in place, the chance of something else going wrong - e.g., that foil coming off or some other part coming loose, is drastically increased.
As far as replacing with plastic, I definitely don't recommend it. I'm not against plastic for certain repairs - e.g., quick fix for a broken taillight cover. But for a microwave oven door where the risks are really high if something goes wrong, absolutely not.
This falls into the "what you don't know can really hurt you" category. Unlike a conventional oven (just "heat", which you can feel as it melts the plastic you put in there, producing toxic fumes, etc.), with a microwave oven you could undergo serious bodily injury and not know it is happening until it is too late.
No. Just no.