Microwave

[philr]

I've been searching for a glass touchpad for my GM Frigidaire RCM-10 Touch-N-Cook microwave oven as the one on mine has been replaced a newer WCI RCM-10J glass (essentially the same MW but with start/stop/light buttons moved to the same location as those on Amana Radaranges). I finally found one. But I don't think I'm going to use it as it came with another microwave...

It works great but just like it did in my other one, the stirrer doesn't turn so I'll need to fix that! Any Amana Touchmatic owners experienced the same problem? The white plastic guard under it seems to distord a bit over time and that causes the stirrer blades to touch it and it stops to turn. But that's was quite an easy to fix in my other range!

 

[philr]

Just fixed the stirrer... Really a 5 minute job! It will cook more evenly now.

 

[washer111]

Stirrer?

What is the stirrer?

Its not the motorised "lazy suzan" you put your food on that rotates, is it?

 

[cfz2882]

stirrer

the "stirrer"is a metal piece,of many different designs(depending on mfg.)that
scatters the microwaves in the oven chamber of microwaves without the turntable
-several different methods of rotating the stirrer have been used;seperate timer
type motor,belt drive from the magnetron fan motor,air blast from magnetron fan.
Some stirrers resemble a fan blade,while a commercial amana microwave i saw had
two pyramid shaped aluminum stirrers.

 

[combo52]

Stirrer Blade

Is a metal fan blade looking thing that is above the plastic splatter shield in the ceiling of the MW oven cavity, it is there to deflect and mix the MW energy to help make he oven cook a little more evenly. These stirrers are air driven on these Amana built MW ovens and the splatter shields tend to sag and warp with time. I replaced the shield of my old RR4 years ago when you could still get new ones.

These older Amana MW ovens were very well built and quite reliable, in addition to making Frigidaire s MWs Amana also made some of the Westinghouse counter top units in the 1970s. The only thing I didn't like about these Amana built units was that they were much harder to repair than almost any other brand, mostly because of limited working room.

 

[philr]

I'm wondering how many people still use their microwave ovens with a non working stirrer? Since I don't have any replacement shields for mine. I just used a pair of scissors and cut a very small part of the 4 blades. I did that on my two ovens and the stirrers now work! I don't know if the tiny parts of the blades I removed could change anything in the distribution of the microwaves but it certainly is a lot better than with a stuck stirrer!

 

 

[combo52]

Stirrer Blade

I can't imagine that cutting a bit of metal off the stirrer blade would ever make any measurable difference Phil, I would call that a clever and good fix.

 

[philr]

I didn't like the idea at first but since I don't have access to NOS splatter shields, I figured it wouldn't hurt anything to do that!

 

And since all what's required is to remove 4 Philips screws (and I used a small flat screwdriver to do that last night!) and a pair of scissors (the blades are thin, so easy to cut, and you don't even have to remove the stirrer to trim them!). I didn't even have to open my toolbox...

 

My advice to all old Radarange users (at least the "newer" ones without the motor-driven stirrers) would be to check for the good operation of their stirrers. It's easy to see if it turns while the MW is cooking something, you can see it's moving shadow at the back of the MW (with the light turned on!) without removing the splatter shield. The most time consuming thing while doing this operation will probably be cleaning the splatter shield (in and out) and the stainless parts it hides when it's in place...

 

[combo52]

Amana MW Oven Splatter Shields

I take mine out and run it through the DW along with a load of dishes every once in a while to keep it really clean.