Posted By John Murgatroyd Don't bother. Just inspect the door seal to make sure it is a good fit. All m/wave ovens have detectable leaks. If the door seal is damaged, junk the oven and buy another. Problem solved.

Posted By Crim Microwave radiation is known to cause cataracts, birth defects, cancer, and other serious health problems including nervous system damage, headaches, and pacemaker interference. This is the opening comment from a leak detector supplier on the internet. I post this as I firmly believe micro wave radiation is a potential killer. Please have a re-think about your initial comment and do take it more seriously! I do mean well and point you toward google - just type in micro wave leak detector and you will get loads of companies to try.

Posted By ian mcnally Hi Guys, I guess you just can’t win can you! I tried to demonstrate to my fellow practitioners that I’m not a complete clipboard saddo by suggesting the problem was not much of a health risk. Thanks to Ritchie for your views, I suspect these may have also been helpful to others viewing, I will check out the Apollo route. I must add that in response to my request one comment suggests I do a visual inspection of the seals, unless you have bionic eyes I doubt this is going to help much when you turn the thing on and trying to demonstrate the latter as an acceptable control to an Auditor could be interesting. Crim tells me I should take it more seriously and proceeded to raise my awareness of the hazards, thanks for that Crim! just as well I’m not too sensitive. Perhaps the risks are better documented than I first thought, could you refer me to your source of recorded incident rates so I can bring myself up to speed on this. To suggest I goggle it was perhaps less useful, obviously I have Internet access and I did mention “on checking the website” What I was looking for was advice on types not where to find them. I guess you must have scanned it too quickly to make that connection. Just after posting the email I left to attend an IOSH South Downs Branch Health care specialist group meeting that was being held locally. The meeting was attended by friendly and knowledgeable safety people. I found it very useful and during which two members kindly offered to provide me with different brand names and models that they use and can recommend. That was really all I needed. If anyone would like the information I collect do email me. Keep the good work Ian

Posted By ian mcnally Hi Jack, Thanks for your posting, useful info and tip. I didn’t really get into safety until the early 90’s and remember even then the lecturers saying the only real risk of MW leakage was due to door seals so I do accept user checks would be sensible in principle. We will be incorporating such visual checks as part of our standard safety inspections as these will only take seconds to carry out. The main reason for the sudden desire to be able to demonstrate leaks checks has arisen from an audit that failed us on the grounds we could not demonstrate we had leak tested the equipment. I won’t tell you my initial comments since the vast majority of microwaves used are nearly all less than 12 months old and after each project is completed the microwaves normally find other homes rather than skipped. Big on the 3 R’s, yes I’m sure there could be a risk even when brand new! On reflection the poor old auditor had a process to follow so there it is. Next call my local friendly EHO! Have a good weekend all Ian

Posted By ian mcnally Hi Jack & Jim, Thanks for your posting, useful info and tip. I didn’t really get into safety until the early 90’s and remember even then the lecturers saying the only real risk of MW leakage was due to door seals so I do accept user checks would be sensible in principle. We will be incorporating such visual checks as part of our standard safety inspections as these will only take seconds to carry out. The main reason for the sudden desire to be able to demonstrate leaks checks has arisen from an audit that failed us on the grounds we could not demonstrate we had leak tested the equipment. I won’t tell you my initial comments since the vast majority of microwaves used are nearly all less than 12 months old and after each project is completed the microwaves normally find other homes rather than skipped. Big on the 3 R’s, yes I’m sure there could be a risk even when brand new! On reflection the poor old auditor had a process to follow so there it is. Next call my local friendly EHO! Have a good weekend all Ian

Posted By John Murgatroyd Most of the m/wave testers you will buy for less than 20 quid consist of nothing more complex than a probe connected to a diode and a capacitor.....display of the "signal" is by a cheap moving-coil meter, or an led "bar". Equally cheap. These will confidently show you that your m/wave oven is bombarding you with dangerous radiation.....they will also tell you the same when put near an operating mobile phone....and a television crt. They will tell you this even when the amount of leaked radiation is so low that it would take a month to warm a drop of water. In fact, try as I may...and I can be very trying....I can find nothing on the net about the thousands of people rendered blind, deaf, dumb, sterile or dead from domestic m/wave ovens....noted a few cats, hamsters and mice...but no people. Another storm in a H&S teacup (temperature regulated to a constant and harmless (and undrinkable) 34 degress centigrade )

Posted By Bill Elliott Ian Check this out from WHO http://www.who.int/peh-e...microwaves/en/index.html