For those with microwaves over the stove...

[ilovepcot]

There's a built-in microwave over the stove in my kitchen. It was placed there by the former owners and didn't work when we acquired the house. When I boil water, the microwave literally drips water and gets really steamed up. That can't be good for the electronics of the microwave. I'd like to replace it but can't believe with all the steam that it could last very long. (This isn't the reason for not working now...former owners had an electrical problem.) Anyway, has steam caused a problem for any of you?

 

[mamacatnv]

I've always had one over the stove, mine does have a vent fan that is on the bottom directly over the stove top. It occassionally drips when boiling a lot of water but its never seemed to be an issue. I've had 2 over the range micro's in 16 years so they have held up well

 

[sunshine1178]

There's a built-in microwave over the stove in my kitchen. It was placed there by the former owners and didn't work when we acquired the house. When I boil water, the microwave literally drips water and gets really steamed up. That can't be good for the electronics of the microwave. I'd like to replace it but can't believe with all the steam that it could last very long. (This isn't the reason for not working now...former owners had an electrical problem.) Anyway, has steam caused a problem for any of you?

Not a problem, but mine isn't directly over the stove the way you are describing. There's a vent and light under it.

 

[monkeyboy]

Not a problem, but mine isn't directly over the stove the way you are describing. There's a vent and light under it.

Some vent outside some vent inside

never had a problem with the vent inside

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Ours had a vent and we always ran it when bowling water to redirect the steam.

How narrow of a gap between the stove and stove top did you have? We had Installed cabinets at the time we made a space for the microwave, so there was a decent space between.

Running the fan will help to mitigate any moisture problem, I would think.

The vent and light were part of the unit, mounted On the bottom.

 

[Nolcrest]

Ours too has a hi/lo vent fan and hi/lo light built in under the microwave. I use both accessories all the time and have never had an issue w/excess dripping moisture.

 

[ilovepcot]

Ah...now I understand better. It is vented to the outside (just went and checked it out) and does have an exhaust fan built in on the under side of it. It's just hard to believe an exhaust fan can remove all that moisture but you people have experienced this and know. Based on this, I'm going to replace this dead one.

 

[MsPeggySue911]

I have a microwave over my stove and it gets kind of steamed up and drippy but I have had it for 5 years and have never had a problem with it. The microwave is sealed when you shut the door so it really doesn't get inside the microwave like you would think it might.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Forgot to add ours is about 7 years old. Tenants use it now. Thus far, not a peep about a problem.

 

[AKL_Megs]

We also have one, never have had a problem with steam, no.

 

[klmall]

We also have one, never have had a problem with steam, no.

Same for us! Ours is 3 years old and the words "GE Profile" eroded away though!

 

[RNMOM]

Well I am the exception. We had one put in when we redid our kitchen and I hated it. It also had an inside vent but our electronics kept getting messed up from the moisture. I make a lot of soups and pasta. The keypad was unreadable most of the time and after an 89$ repair I decided to take it out, put in a plain vent hood with lights and use my old counter top microwave.

I am also only 5'1" so putting heavy things in and out of the unit sucked. Leaning over the stove to do so made it worse.

 

[ilovepcot]

Well I am the exception. We had one put in when we redid our kitchen and I hated it. It also had an inside vent but our electronics kept getting messed up from the moisture. I make a lot of soups and pasta. The keypad was unreadable most of the time and after an 89$ repair I decided to take it out, put in a plain vent hood with lights and use my old counter top microwave.

DH insists this will be an ongoing problem for us as well. I make a lot of pasta also and that's when I see water dripping off the unit. Maybe it's because our microwave is lower than most ...I just don't know. Your solution is *exactly* what DH has in mind. I just wanted to free up counter space. Oh well...we'll see.

 

[msjprincess]

I've never had that happen. The vent on mine turns on automaticaly when I'm boiling water on the stove.

 

[momof1princess]

hmmm...i have a microwave over my stove, but i usually boil water on the front burner, and i don't have an issue with water dripping off the microwave, but it DOES steam up the front of the microwave. mine has an exhaust fan, but it's loud and i don't like to use it. i use the light a lot though.

 

[bumbershoot]

Ours has issues. It's about halfway over the front burners and so anything on the stove that has steam makes it steam up, even with the fan running FULL blast.

The light under the microwave burned out early in our rental, and the landlady's husband says there's no light at all (he also managed to replace our fridge's water system with a wrong, doesn't fit, filter and wouldn't listen to me about it, so we don't get filtered water through it and who knows how ice is being made but it is).

A few months back, something happened in the microwave where the fan was on ALL the time when it was closed. I'm really sensitive to that sort of noise and it was keeping me up at night. We had to start taping the front of it open (can't just have it wide open because one of us would smash into it I'm sure).

They got some maintenance guys out here to fix it (the washer went floopy at the same time), but just 2ish months later it has happened again. We're so disheartened about how it was taken care of the last time that we're just living with it for now...it happened just after paying rent in June and we only told her about it in July (we've been tenants of hers for years now, she knows that we normally report things to her immediately, we all adore each other...so I feel that she isn't going to hold the delayed reporting of this ONE thing against her). Alas she's on a nearly month long vacation (to WDW I believe) and can't do anything about it until she's back. So we're back to taping it open.

And now the light in the washer, which is part of the thing they changed out, has burned out. It stays on and heats up if you leave the washer door open, which you have to do with the HE front loader b/c if you leave it closed it grows mildew... Can't win!


Anyway, I think it's a problem. I want to rip it out and put in a proper fan (I don't even know where this vents to...I think it just blows right out the top front of it actually, and I don't get the point of that) and just use some counter space or just not have a microwave anymore. It's peeving me THAT much.

 

[tvguy]

Well, they are designed to be over the stove and humidity, so it shouldn't be a problem.

They call the vent/microwave combinations Microhoods.

Our first one was all one unit, so you couldn't remove just the microwave. Since they don't make those anymore, we had to replace it with a seperate microwave and stove/oven combo.

 

[golfgal]

We have one here that has been here for 15 years, knock on wood, no problems. The one at our old house, same thing, installed 11 years ago, still working. They ARE designed to be used over the oven. Looking at mine the fan unit is a couple inches thick and deflects the steam away from the actual microwave.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

There's a built-in microwave over the stove in my kitchen. It was placed there by the former owners and didn't work when we acquired the house. When I boil water, the microwave literally drips water and gets really steamed up. That can't be good for the electronics of the microwave. I'd like to replace it but can't believe with all the steam that it could last very long. (This isn't the reason for not working now...former owners had an electrical problem.) Anyway, has steam caused a problem for any of you?

Do you mean you boil water in the micro or on the stove. I had a microwave that used to make steam and it leaked out the door. Then the inside stared to rust so I got rid of it.

 

[ilovemk76]

There's a built-in microwave over the stove in my kitchen. It was placed there by the former owners and didn't work when we acquired the house. When I boil water, the microwave literally drips water and gets really steamed up. That can't be good for the electronics of the microwave. I'd like to replace it but can't believe with all the steam that it could last very long. (This isn't the reason for not working now...former owners had an electrical problem.) Anyway, has steam caused a problem for any of you?

They should have a built in fan. There are two kinds. One blows the air back into the room the other blows it outside. Remove the microwave and see if it is possible to put in an external vent. Do that before installing a new model.