One of the important characteristics of any electrical appliance is power. Do you know what the power of a standard microwave oven is, what does it affect and what does it depend on? Consider this issue in more detail, in order to intelligently choose microwave ovens.

Usually, the larger the volume of the microwave, the more it consumes electricity. The maximum value and modes of operation can always be read in the manual.

The more power, the more dishes you can warm up or cook in microwave ovens at a time and the less time you need to spend on it. However, with high power, more electricity is consumed per minute, which means that the cost of paying for it increases.

Having a certain power, each furnace can operate under different heating regimes. At the lowest level of heating the device works only by 10% or even less, at an average level - by 50%, and at the highest level is switched on full.

There are also intermediate values ​​that are indicated on the instruments. Looking at this value, you can immediately understand which mode you should choose to warm up the porridge, cook the sausage, make hot sandwiches with cheese or unfrozen fish.

About the device

Recall that any microwave oven heats food by volume, that is, inside. This is its advantage over all other ovens and therefore it is so loved to use for defrosting products. Warming up is due to the fact that electromagnetic waves swing the water molecules.

Let us not go into the jungle of physics now, and explain why water interacts with electromagnetic waves. Just say that the device that generates them is called a magnetron. In its essence, it is a lamp emitting ultrahigh-frequency waves (microwave or microwaves).

Magnetron - the most important part of the microwave, and its power largely depends on the power consumption of the furnace.

Radiated waves are transmitted along the waveguide from the magnetron to the chamber. If you turn on an empty microwave or place an object that does not absorb waves, the device may be damaged.

Possible values ​​of energy consumption

In connection with this fact, the purchase of a high-power microwave oven does not make sense if you prepare a small amount of food in it. Even, kW is enough to cook some dish, only to prepare it will be slower.

For those who are interested, what is the power of the furnace is necessary for this or that degree of heating, say:

• cooking in a fast mode - about, kW;
• warming up and leisurely cooking - about, kW;
• defrosting kW;
• light heating - about, kW.

Of course, the speed of heating is affected by the volume of the dish. A small bowl with soup is heated completely in the oven always faster than a large one.

Cooking Modes

If, in addition to the magnetron, the microwave is equipped with a grill, it will also consume electricity, hence the capacity of the furnace will increase.

It is known that the grill "of the" type "type, in which the electric spiral passes inside the tube, consumes more energy than the quartz grill. On average, the grill will pull on itself again, - 2 kW.

We advise you to choose a quartz grill to save on electricity. With the grill you can roast foods and achieve a crisp on baking. Thus, the microwave becomes more like an oven.

Even more is the total capacity of the microwave oven, in which both the grill and the convector are present. The convector provides intensive movement of warm air and is essentially a fan. It takes up a lot of space and consumes pretty decent electricity, so the furnace with its presence is more bulky and expensive. Use a convector to evenly distribute the heated air in the space when baking pies and baking large pieces of meat.

Even if your stove has additional functions, you can turn off one of them or two and use, for example, only by heating due to microwave waves or by electrograve.