There’s a little-known secret in the world of microwave ovens that even manufacturers don’t want to tell you in their instructions. And once you know that, you’ll never go back to your microwave like you used to.
Some microwave owners figured out this “hack”on their own, just by carefully observing some of the foods or liquids they nuked. However, you will never see this mentioned in the fine print in the device’s documentation. I should know as I have looked through over 50 manuals for various microwave ovens available in the US and have not found it in any of them.
So what is the secret everyone should know?
The turntable of your microwave oven rotates once every 10 seconds.
Image via Giphy
Okay, so what? Why is it so important?
Why 10 seconds is important for your microwave
You won’t notice the speed of rotation if you follow the microwave instructions on any food package. This is because a microwaved lunch or similar meal or snack may require a large tray or plate on which you place your food. When you put it in, it most likely ends up in the middle, or near the center, of the glass turntable, so there isn’t much noticeable change from when you put it in and when you take it out.
The RPM measurement for your microwave oven’s carousel is most obvious when warming drinks in cups or mugs. If someone puts a mug of water or coffee right in front of it, between the center and edge of the turntable, after 15 or 25 seconds it will be in the back of the microwave and harder to reach.
Use a heating time ending in 0 or 5
Knowing that it takes 10 seconds, you can start thinking about reheating food and drinks using multiples of 10 or 10 second intervals plus or minus 5 seconds.
- If you want the reheated item to return to where you put it in the oven chamber, make sure your time ends in zero (10, 20, 30, 40, etc.).
- To get it on the opposite side of the oven chamber, make sure the seconds end in 5 (5, 15, 25, 35, 45, etc.).
Let’s say you heat water for tea or coffee. To make it easier to reach and less likely to burn your hand or fingers, place the mug with the handle facing you and enter 20, 30, 40, or another number ending in zero. The mug should return with the handle towards you, the coldest part of the mug and therefore the safest to touch.
Image by Gadget Hacks / Giphy
On the other hand, you can place the mug at the back with the handle facing away from you and use the time ending in 5 to heat it up. It will return to the front with a pen pointing towards you.
For example, I found that heating my baby’s milk for 30 seconds was too cold for her and 40 seconds too warm. So when I heat up the mug I use 35 seconds. When the mug starts at the back with the handle facing back, it will end up at the front with the handle facing me. While 35 seconds doesn’t necessarily make the mug too hot to touch, it’s much more convenient to grab the handle as you take it out to pour it straight into the cup.
You can also put the mug in the center of the turntable (not the best place even for cooking) with the handle pointing away from you or towards you, and then reheat for x5 or x0 seconds so that the handle is pointing at you, respectively.
Image by Gadget Hacks / Giphy
So, do microwave oven manufacturers have some kind of unwritten rule that every full revolution should be 10 seconds? No, but they use similar parts.
The turntable motor determines the number of revolutions per minute
There’s a good chance that the synchronous motor driving your microwave turntable will be rated for 5-6 revolutions per minute at 50 or 60 hertz (cycles per second). This is not a specification that your microwave manufacturer will provide, but it is obvious when looking at the many replacement motors available for repair online.
In the US, power plants use 60 Hz as the mains frequency rating for the alternating current (AC) you use in your home. So the motor will use 6 rpm and 60 seconds divided by 6 revolutions make 10 second intervals.
If you are not in the USA, the mains frequency in your area may be 50 Hz, which would use 5 RPM, and this does not comply with the rule for numbers ending in zero or 5. One full revolution will be 12 seconds, so you you have to think in terms of 6 second intervals for full (12, 24, 36, etc.) or half revolutions (6, 18, 30, etc.).
Image RepairClinic/ YouTube
However, some microwave ovens do not use 5-6 RPM motors.
For example, some GE microwave ovens use 3 RPM, 60 Hz motors. That’s half that of 6 RPM, so it takes 20 seconds to complete one turn of the turntable, not 10. Instead of using numbers ending in zero or 5 to get the timing right, you should only use alternating multiples of 10, where 10, 30, and 50 seconds place the items opposite where they were placed, and 20, 40, and 60 seconds to return the items to the same spot.
Some microwave ovens also use 10 rpm motors at 60 Hz, but this is not common.
TL;DR
Most microwave ovens in the US will follow the rule that a time ending in zero is one full revolution, and a time ending in 5 is half a revolution. But it all depends on which motor in your appliance is used to drive the glass plate that spins your food and drinks. If you can determine the power of the engine, you can determine the number of revolutions per minute. If not, you can at least run some tests to determine the rotation speed.
Microwave trick everyone should know. https://gthx.app/z8xrd #lifehacks