A Linux-powered microwave oven

Posted Feb 12, 2016 19:13 UTC (Fri) by bronson (subscriber, #4806)
In reply to: A Linux-powered microwave oven by jnareb
Parent article: A Linux-powered microwave oven

The stirrer is cheaper than a rotating turntable (just a stamped piece of cheap sheet metal and a tiny motor) but it's also less effective.

Don't most microwaves have both? Just looked, our crappy Frigidaire has both. Sample size of 1.

turntable vs microwave scatterer in oven

Posted Feb 15, 2016 0:11 UTC (Mon) by giraffedata (guest, #1954) [Link]

I read once that the stirrer is fully effective and the only reason for the turntable is that it seems to customers to be helpful.

That makes some sense. Customers are acutely aware of uneven heating problems in microwaves, so will pay more for something that seems to address that. But that uneven heating is actually caused by uneven composition of the food, so the turntable doesn't help.