# 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:** 1\ **Showing post:** 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: --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-my-microwave-stinks/395161)._