Electrical – Microwave outlet sparked while running, draws 17 A from 15 A plug

electrical

My second-hand 1300 W microwave oven worked fine for years, but a few weeks ago, while running, it blew a fuse (with nothing else turned on on the same circuit). Landlord replaced it, I tried the microwave again, and it worked fine.

Continued using it normally for a few weeks, and then yesterday while running it, sparks and burning smell came out of the back, presumably from the outlet itself, since I don't see burn marks anywhere else, and plug is slightly melted.

Is this just because the outlet is old and not making good contact with the prongs, causing arcs when high current is flowing and the connection breaks? (But why would that blow a fuse?) Or could there be something wrong with the microwave itself?

Edit:

I replaced the melty plug, connected it to a different outlet with a Kill-A-Watt in between, and cautiously tried to heat some water. The microwave sounded a little weird, and the current ramped up to 16.7 A and the Kill-A-Watt started beeping.

Soooo I guess it's time for a new microwave.

Edit:

The brand-new microwave also draws 16.7 A, voltage drooping to 114 VAC. 😒

Similar discussion: "Panasonic inverter microwave drawing more current than it should"

I found manuals for both, and they say:

The oven must be plugged into at least a 20 A, 120 V, 60
Hz GROUNDED OUTLET.

I don't understand how they are allowed to use a 15 A plug for a device that draws 16.7 A, while claiming it requires a 20 A outlet. Shouldn't they be required to use a 20 A plug? Maybe because the power level is selectable?

This FCC document says

7. EQUIPMENT SPECIFICATIONS:
Electrical Power Requirement: 120V, 60Hz, 12.7A

REPORT OF MEASUREMENTS
Supply Voltage: 120 Volts, 60Hz, 16.7A

But I guess the FCC only cares about emissions, not power draw.

Best Answer

You will have to do some troubleshooting but I would not use that outlet again until it is replaced/fixed. You have basically 3 possible issues.

  1. Microwave is having an issue and drawing more voltage during a certain phase causing circuit/outlet to be overloaded. I had a microwave in college that fried 3 outlets before I realized... maybe I don't plug this thing in anymore (and maybe that is why some dorms don't allow microwaves in rooms.

  2. You have a bad outlet or connections at the outlet level.

  3. The circuit you are running this one isn't big enough to handle it or you have introduced other things on the circuit (could just take a couple lights) to overload it.

The problem is the fuse should have blew again before the outlet was fried - I really hope the landlord didn't just replace the breaker to a larger size so it didn't trip. If you are in a jam where this is really the only outlet you can plug the microwave into I would suggest a first step is replace the outlet with a GFCI.