Uneven Heating, Revisited

There is a secondary cause of uneven cooking in some models of microwave ovens. If your microwave oven has an old air gasket, it can contribute to uneven cooking by preventing good air flow to the chamber where the microwave antenna is located. This microwave part is blown around by the air flow to give an even stream of microwaves over the cooking area. If the gasket is bad, the air flow is affected, and the antenna won't rotate properly. You can replace this microwave part with simple weather stripping. Check your owner manual to find the location of the gasket in your particular unit and replace accordingly. Often times you must also replace the grease shield at the same time as these two microwave parts can fail concurrently due to age. When replacing the grease shield, be sure to use brand-specific microwave parts. Do not attempt to replace a Whirlpool microwave part with a Sharp microwave part, etc.