You're not supposed to take the microwave cardboard out!!!

[AskAClerk]

I bought a new microwave, took off all the packaging including the silver rectangular bit of cardboard they put on the right-hand inside wall to cover the hole, read the instructions...and you're not supposed to take this bit of cardboard out!! NO-ONE HAS EVER TOLD ME THIS.

Apparently it is made of mica and covers the "waveguide". I checked the instructions for my old model and they make no mention of this whatsoever, but looking inside the old microwave it definitely has four corner slots for the mica piece to fit into.

Except I binned it 10 years ago because it looks like packaging and the old instructions just refer to an "air vent" on the right-hand side, no mention of the mica bit at all.

DID YOU ALL KNOW THIS. Is adult life going to be a long series of learning things too late that all other people know and feeling stupid.

(The old microwave lasted for 10 years so I am dubious about how important this mica cover actually was, but if there is a correct way of doing things I wish to know about it and if an important piece of the microwave looks like cardboard packaging this should have been MENTIONED.)

It's never occurred to me to remove that in any of the microwaves I've owned. I've just checked the one I've got at the moment and it's actually screwed in (and doesn't look much like cardboard)

Mine is not screwed in, just slotted in loosely. Instructions from Samsung say "On many Samsung microwaves, the magnetron cover may look like a piece of cardboard and you might wonder why it's there."

Never occurred to me to remove it either. It doesn't look removable in any of the microwaves I've owned, but I don't buy Samsung products.

Mine is just slotted in and looks like cardboard (swan microwave) but it is still in place. Probably because I never noticed it in the 6 years we have owned the microwave.

I'd never peered inside... mine looks like a screwed in piece of plastic. Which needs a clean.

Teach you to read the instructions first, not afterwards.

Although the only person I know who does that is dh.

I just had to check my new microwave and I can see why you thought it might be cardboard. But it definitely isn't and seems like it should stay. Although it does seem to be held in in a way that seems confusing as to whether it should stay or go.

I'd contact the store or manufacturer and say it's not there and can they send you the part to put in yourself. I probably wouldn't mention I'd removed it myself and it's unlikely to cost them much to replace it.

I did actually read the instructions cover to cover though mainly because I didn't have a clue how to use half the buttons on my last microwave.

All those microwaves zooming round your kitchen, you must be half-cooked OP.

"Teach you to read the instructions first, not afterwards."

I did!

The instructions for the old microwave make no mention of it at all, they just include a diagram that refers to the hole as an "air vent". On the same page they also say that air vents should not be covered. No mention whatsoever of a mica cover.

I haven't binned the mica cover from the new microwave by the way, because I read the new instructions that came with it. I binned the old one 10 years ago.