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The worst part about this article for me is that there is a reason for some people to buy new microwaves. Inverter microwaves (yes, these have been around a whi
by ericpauley 3y ago
The worst part about this article for me is that there is a reason for some people to buy new microwaves. Inverter microwaves (yes, these have been around a while) have become far more broadly available. This is a worthwhile upgrade for many users.
- solardev 3y agoWhat do they do exactly? Just operate on a variable power level, without cycling on and off?
- lazide 3y agoCorrect
- solardev 3y agoI don't understand why that is dramatically better than cycling? Isn't the overall energy input into the food roughly similar over time? It's not like microwaving gives great texture or browning to begin with?
- ericpauley 3y agoThe cycle time is too long for sensitive items like butter. Even at low power it will bubble over before it fully melts.
- solardev 3y agoAh, gotcha
- thfuran 3y agoA lot of electric ranges do the same thing, which is incredibly annoying. I mean, the 60 Hz is right there; why are they blasting in 10 second intervals?
- lazide 3y agoI suspect for electric ranges they've historically used relays instead of solid state triacs or the like? [https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/279752/why-are-relays-still-used-in-electric-ovens https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/279752/why-a...] If so, relays have significant switching times and limited cycle counts due to arcing - especially under load. Enough that sub-second switching times will wear them out pretty quickly, and also be annoyingly loud. At the power levels we're talking about for a resistive stove, solid state is expensive. At the voltages we're talking about, it's also not trivial to do in a reliable way using solid state techniques (240V RMS =~ 340V peak).
- thfuran 3y agoSCRs are used for industrial stuff with much larger loads than a consumer stove. Regular relays definitely are the wrong thing to use for high speed switching though.
- lazide 3y agoThanks for the pointer - a quick google showed SCRs in the 30+ AMP 240 volt range (minimum useful for even a small range) at well over $1k. That sound about right?
- dalyons 3y agoAnecdotally it seems to heat much more evenly, without the lava and ice pockets my old microwave left.
- Nursie 3y agoSeems to work better for defrosting evenly without risking cooking the item, which is one of my main use-cases for a microwave.
- zeroonetwothree 3y agoExcellent for things like melting butter or chocolate
- chongli 3y agoIn addition to everything else people mentioned, high power microwaves tend to cause pockets of steam inside food which explode and make a big mess all over the interior. By dialing down the power level on an inverter microwave, you eliminate the chance of that happening. This did not always work on the old cycling microwaves due to the long duty cycle.
- pornel 3y agoIt's a good keyword to search for a microwave that isn't the same $15 hardware as all of the other ones. I don't care about the variable power, but found an "inverter" microwave without the rotating plate, which cooks evenly without it of course. It has more internal space and is easier to clean.
- Nursie 3y agoYep. We moved house recently so do fall into the articles “no reason to buy one except…” But when we started shopping we were pleasantly surprised that there had been at least two major developments in the tech since last time I bought one. First, an inverter gives you actual power-level control instead of the old-fashioned on-off modulation. Second, flat-bed models have rotating emitters so you no longer need that rotating glass plate to get even application of heat to the food, and can even use square dishes that would be too large to rotate, without risking the usual hot-spots. Maybe this market isn’t progressing at a rapid pace, but there is some progress.
- aerophilic 3y agoWhat was the model/brand you went with?
- Nursie 3y agoWe ended up with a Sharp flatbed inverter, I think it's a "SM327FHS" I still wouldn't routinely cook much food in it, but it's been pretty good so far for a microwave, and does defrost better than my old one (more even, less cooking stuff at the edges that you don't want cooked). Also it fit pretty perfectly in the microwave nook that was already in the kitchen!
- jacknews 3y ago"Second, flat-bed models have rotating emitters s" Now that's interesting, how do they work - is it a rotating waveguide? I see an hour or two of web 'research' ahead.
- Nursie 3y agoHehe, do report back, I don't think I know myself! From what little I do understand, there's some sort of rotating emitter arrangement under the flat bed on the bottom of the microwave. Panasonic say - "In the case of Turntable style microwave ovens, the microwaves were emitted from a fixed antenna that is located on the side of the cavity. These emitted microwave will then bounce around the cavity. With microwave ovens that use flatbed technology, the microwaves are emitted from a rotating antenna located underneath the ceramic base of your microwave oven."