Why do some microwave turntables rotate in both directions?

Many (most?) microwave turntables rotate both clockwise and counterclockwise.

Is this for some cooking efficiency?
Or would it somehow reduce wear?
Or maybe it’s to automatically free stuck wheels.

All of these sound unconvincing to me (simply not a big enough problems to be worth fixing) but I can’t think of any other possibilities.

The reason is solely one of cost. The turntables are driven by a two-pole synchronous AC motor, which is a cheap type of motor which will essentially start in a random direction (it actually depens on where in the AC cycle the power is applied initially). It can be used because it doesn’t matter one bit which way the turntable rotates.

That’s one I’d never have guessed. Some brands list it as a feature, and it’s really a cost saving with no benefit to the user? Well, the pitch worked on me.

I have noticed that if I turn the oven off and restart it, it will ALWAYS turn in the opposite direction than before, not random directions.

Keep trying. I’ve never seen one that would always reverse every time. There wouldn’t be any point whatsoever in designing in such a feature.

I’ll do! :smiley: