# Help! My microwave stinks! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2007, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-microwave-stinks/395161 "2007-03-08T21:07:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-microwave-stinks/395161/1 "2007-03-08T21:07:45Z")
Really, really stinks! We had a heat bag that you warmed up in the microwave and then put it on a sore muscle for soft gentle heat. The bag was cloth, and it was filled with grain, so that each time you microwaved it the grain warmed up. Worked like a charm - until we got a new microwave. Turns out the new one is much more powerful than our old one. So the same amount of time on “high”, instead of just heating up the grain - well - it burst into flame. Still in the microwave. Burning through the cloth bag. And it stunk! Imagine an entire bag of Orville Redenbacher popcorn burning inside a cotton bag, and you’ve pretty much got it. :eek: It was so hot that even once I got it out of the oven and extinguished the flames and tossed it into the garbage, the garbage bag started melting. So I had to run it out through a snow storm to get it in the garbage bin in the alley before it all melted. :eek: Great. Now we’ve got burning plastic added to the mix. :smack: That was on Sunday. And even though I’ve cleaned the microwave several times, every time we open the door we get a horrible stinky smoky smell. And it gets worse if we actually use it. I think it must have smoke inside the vents where I can’t get at it, and each time it heats up, the smoke smell re-apppears. ☹ So do any of you smart Dopers have any suggestions for how I can clean it? Is there any product or cleaning agent that I can use? Or do I just have a big stinky microwave forever? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-microwave-stinks/395161/2 "2007-03-08T21:13:49Z")
You could try wiping it out with a baking soda and water solution, but if your problem is in the vents or whatnot, this probably won’t help much. Mostly I wanted to pat your arm and say, “there, there.” _Peee - yoo!_ ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-microwave-stinks/395161/3 "2007-03-08T21:35:02Z")
Clean the innards out with formula 409 or similar kitchen cleaner. That should get the tars off the parts you can reach. Put a big bowl of water in the microwave, and boil it for half an hour. That should get some of the smoke compounds off the parts you can’t reach. Clean the innards again. It’ll probably stink pretty bad while you’re boiling the water, and it won’t get it all out, but it _might_ get enough out that you no longer notice the smell while warming a microwave pizza. Left to it’s own devices, the odor will eventually go away. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-microwave-stinks/395161/4 "2007-03-08T21:36:54Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] Put a big bowl of water in the microwave, and boil it for half an hour. [/QUOTE] Put a chopped lemon in the water, too. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-microwave-stinks/395161/5 "2007-03-08T21:39:05Z")
And leave the door wide open when you’re not using it. That will help it air out. As **Squink** said, the smell will go away on its own eventually, odor is just a bunch of volatile compounds–once all the volatiles are gone, the smell’s gone, too. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-microwave-stinks/395161/6 "2007-03-08T23:11:23Z")
You could take the cover off and clean the electronics and insides. Just make sure it’s completely dry before pluging in. It might be even easier to use a contact cleaner (because it’ll dry quicker) sold in Home Depot or Radio Shack but make sure it’s safe for plastics. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-microwave-stinks/395161/7 "2007-03-09T01:29:17Z")
thanks for all the suggestions, everyone, and the sympathy, **Ellen Cherry**. it’s a built-in, so I’ve taken it out and cleaned the walls around it, plus the vents on the built-in frame. I’m not comfortable taking the oven itself out of its casings - just have a feeling I’d do something wrong at some point (which, based on the evidence presented in the OP, seems a fair bet…) Mrs. Piper has a recollection of seeing some product or other at Canadian Tire that you put in the microwave and let run for a while. Off to Canadian Tire…if can’t find it, I’ll try the lemon and water. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-microwave-stinks/395161/8 "2007-03-09T02:33:31Z")
so based on the comments, I’ve not ruined it, right? with time and cleaning, it will stop stinking at some point? (I’ve got the lemons bubbling away in it right now - kitchen is smelling better.) ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-microwave-stinks/395161/9 "2007-03-09T13:45:55Z")
Sometimes something with oil or grease in it will cover the smell. Heating bacon might get enough oil into the air that it coats the molecules of burnt yuk, you smell. I works on a stoove top also. You hate that fish smell, fry up som bacon. They both stink, but the smell that you hate is gone. Lemon rind has oil and I like the smell, so I would have tried it first. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-microwave-stinks/395161/10 "2007-03-09T16:38:12Z")
Don’t they make those microwave wipes or something that you put in the unit and turn it on and it is supposed to break all the gunk and crud up? Like it steam cleans the microwave? Anybody know what I am talking about? Easy-Off Microwave _something_?? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-microwave-stinks/395161/11 "2007-03-09T19:52:50Z")
I’ve heard that microwaving a bowl of vinegar will do wonders for microwave odors. It’s also said to loosen any nuked-in scunge for easy cleaning. Never had to do it myself, so I can’t speak as to the effectiveness. Still, vinegar’s cheap, so what the heck.