Just FOUR days into 2026 – and I managed to blow up my microwave using potatoes

I am being completely serious about this, steam can be both powerful and dangerous in certain circumstances.

The expansion ratio for water into steam is 1,700 – that’s quite a lot.

Bear in mind, steam catapults are used to launch aircraft from carriers, and have to (in conjunction with the aircraft’s engines) get them up to flight speed in an extremely short distance.

All I had to was blow the door off my microwave oven 😲

While the side with the metal hinges was not affected, the side with the door latches was wrecked, and the plastic latch hooks were left inside the body when the expanding steam from the potatoes decided to make its bid for freedom.

If you’re not familiar with tinned, peeled potatoes, then you need to be aware that they behave like tiny steam powered bombs if not heated carefully. I decided to have a quick to prepare meal this evening, after spending longer than planned working in the cold outdoors, so dropped a few of these things in some boiling water (they’re already cooked), and set things up as usual, to heat them gently, to avoid the sort of explosive mess I learnt about years ago.

What went so dramatically wrong?

Normally, about five of these potatoes goes with whatever else I may be having.

However, the potatoes in tonight’s tin were TINY, meaning there were at least a dozen or more to be heated in the bowl.

Clearly, these came up to temperature MUCH faster than the usual larger examples, meaning the water inside began turning into steam sooner.

They don’t just release this steam, or gently vent it (the way a microwave baked potato does), but seem to trap it inside until they can’t hold it any longer – AND THEN THEY BLOW!

I think all but three exploded at the same time, creating enough pressure inside the oven to blow the door out, shearing the two door latches and leaving the hooks inside the body.

On a positive note, I discovered a new way to make mashed potato, something the microwave oven was filled with, as was the floor in front of the oven.

There’s more fun to come

I hadn’t noticed the latches had sheared – until I tried to close/latch the door and discovered it wouldn’t lock, then saw there were no latch hooks to be seen.

That ended that, as a microwave with no door latches or means to lock it closed is not even going to turn on.

Handily, I have a spare. Not used for years, this was added because it was also a conventional oven, and was used for items that wanted browning/grilling. Sadly, that didn’t last long. One of the radiant elements was poorly formed inside its silica tube, developed a hot spot, and burnt out. The ‘good news’ about that was that the manufacturer did not supply the elements as spare parts, leaving me with just the microwave part operational. I did try to fit some similar silica sleeved elements, but even those close to the right size developed hot spots as they could not be aligned perfectly, and always failed quickly.

I fired it up only to find it was apparently completely dead after sitting unused for years. Unlike the other microwave, which is analogue and infinitely variable, the newer one is digital, and the steps are TOO COARSE to allow fine power settings. I found it was either really slow compared to the ancient analogue unit, or too fast, leading to everything boiling over if I raised the power setting by just ONE step.

After trying to find out why the spare oven did not appear to be powering up…

I noticed EVERY electrical item in the kitchen was dead – it was actually in perfect working order once the breaker was reset.

When the door had been blown out of the old oven, and the latches sheared, this triggered one of the safety systems built into microwave ovens.

The two latches on the door act on two microswitches.

So long as the latches are in the correct positions, the microswitches do not connect anything.

HOWEVER, if the latches are NOT in the correct positions (which may indicate the door is not properly closed, so activating the magnetron to generate microwaves would be hazardous) the microswitch contacts are arranged to short the mains supply to the microwave, and blow the fuse immediately, ensuring it is not powered when the door is possibly not closed and latched correctly.

When the door was blown out, and the latches sheared, this created such a scenario, not blowing the fuse in this case, but tripping the (faster) breaker for the kitchen sockets.

And tomorrow’s job is…

I suppose I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow.

There are NO spares for my nice old analogue microwave – it’s just too old

I’ll have to fabricate new latches from scratch – no 3D printer here ☹

That should be all.

Oh well.

I was going to have to dig it out soon anyway, having noticed the turntable belt drive was occasionally juddering.

Is this the end of my ‘fun’ until April? Good job I reassembled my camera lens!

I never forget the year I enjoyed a brilliant day at a meeting in London, warm and sunny, after which I had to drive back to Glasgow that night, and then drive back down the next morning (for work).

The meet had been on a Sunday, which happened to be March 31 that year, so easy to remember the next day was April 1st, and no fun!

As I hit the A/M74 and headed south again, I couldn’t see a single motorway road sign thanks to the blizzard which was blowing the snow near horizontally, and coating all the signs with a thick layer of snow.

A little more mundane, I now tend to give up trying to sit at my freezing workbench and play with delicate electronics once the freezing weather hits.

In fact, I now generally close the door and give up until April.

That said, I was lucky, and managed to fix one of my lenses yesterday, after it apparently decided to start dismantling itself a few days ago – I might try to post a note later, just to remind me when it did this.

Christmassy Forge panorama

I never cease to be amazed by whoever wrote the software behind the panorama stitching software I use.

I also wonder why they were ‘cancelled’, and the project was deleted. I’m only grateful I found it before that happened.

I took this view as two side by side shots, and had anticipated a message to the effect that the software couldn’t find a match in the two adjoining edges in the centre, which can happen when you’re very close to the subject, and the relative perspective of the two views means the edges are very different due to the camera movement.

The star in the centre looked VERY different in the two views, but the software didn’t care, and altered the geometry in both shot to provide a third, different, view.

The view should probably be brighter, but I’ve taken to altering the exposure with very small, but bright, lights like this included, as it helps prevent them from being overexposed and running together, looking like a bright line, instead of individual light sources, or points of light.

Did these brave little green shoots appear too early?

The weather has turned decidedly chilly since 2025 became 2026.

I may have to concede last year’s summer has finally ended, and this year’s winter may be arriving.

It’s not unusual for brave little green shoots to poke their noses out too early in the year, and have Jack Frost bite them off, and I think the relatively mild conditions (up to now) may have fooled these examples to making an appearance, spotted while I was wandering around the woods behind Daldowie Crematorium.

I thought I’d run some charts off, to see how things have chilled noticeably, just in the past few days.

I also spotted someone posting snow charts for areas north of Glasgow, and they’re not good news for anyone up there.

We’ve not seen snow, but the frost is arriving, and the days aren’t gaining enough heat to melt most of the ice that’s formed.

Max/Min has a different time scale.

I added the rain chart not because there was a lot of rain, but because it shows how the rain carefully and selectively chose its time to cause the most misery (aided by a chill wind) – Around 7 pm evening, to catch everyone heading home, and then again around midnight, to catch all the First Footers.

None before, and none since.

I’d say there’s now a definite downward trend developing now.

🧊 🥶

Although it’s by no means a definite rule, I have taken to watching the late evening/night sky, and a clear sky with great views of the stars unfortunately tends also to mean frost and freezing conditions, while the sight of a nice insulating layer of cloud generally helps keep them away – but not always.

☹

Tollcross Salvation Army Nativity

I hadn’t expected to see this, so it was a nice surprise to catch this pic as I was passing their Nativity scene.

They always seem to attract a celebrity guest appearance 😀

I must have been a lot earlier than usual – I don’t recall suffering those sky reflections on oast occasions.

January 1st Daldowie Crematorium walk – seems strange without any problems

It really did feel a little strange/odd to make the annual January 1st walk there without any sort of problems.

Ranging from the fairly serious one of Yours Truly not being fit/well on the day, to the more mundane limitation of some sort of truly dreadful weather making going out an insane choice, recent years seem to have managed to come up with some reason to fail to make this simple outing as planned on the appointed day.

Not that I’m complaining, the ease with which it was completed this year was welcome, and even gave me a chance to find the ice house in Chuckie Hill, located near Daldowie House, one of the many ‘Big Houses’ that once lined the banks of the River Clyde in this area, but which have long been lost. Unrelated to the crematorium, I’ll make a separate post about this.

I had expected some potentially negative weather to arrive, having suffered a really cold start to New Year’s Eve, and a getting a soaking on the way home the same evening, but that had also brought a significant rise in the temperature, and New Year’s Day was the same. I was better dressed today, but had been so over dressed yesterday (having wrapped up for the temperature when I left home) I returned home not only soaking on the outside from the rain, but on the inside as well, because I had overheated and broken into a major sweat!

But for a chilly wind that had also sprung up in the morning, I wasn’t expecting to see the crematorium pond frozen, but that was decidedly icy when it encountered in the open.

The crematorium saw a lot of work as it was changed and refurbished in recent years, and I developed a habit of checking the noticeboard, but that’s not produced much in more recent times, other than this notice making it clear on how dogs are expected to behave – I hope they can read. 🐶

This might look a bit odd, the glazed noticeboard was suffering from condensation, but I can usually clear that in processing, and sharpen up the lettering to make it legible.

I don’t think I have a decent pic of the EV charging stations added as part of the refurbishment and upgrade of the place, but maybe I did.

I took this pic more as a reminder that they ‘forgot’ about cyclists who may visit the place, as there is no provision made for them to leave their bicycles in a secure area of some sort.

I discovered this a few years back when I decided to save some time by cycling there instead of walking.

I didn’t even get off the bike, after cycling around the place a few times and failing to find any provision made for securing bicycles.

In retrospect, that might be slightly unfair or inaccurate, as I was looking while I was round the rear, at the gardens and remembrance areas, where casual visitors will tend to be.

At the front of the building there are substantial handrails along the ramps and steps leading to the building, and these could be used, although such use may be frowned on when the place is in use by funeral parties.

Christmas Casualties of 2025

I was beginning to think this tradition had all but died, as scenes of carnage such as this were becoming harder to find in recent years, but found this mass graveyard yesterday.

Surely the time of year toys fear most.

When they get… REPLACED!

Best Wishes for 2026

I almost never manage one of these posts at the start of the New Year.

Suffice to say some minor disaster generally manages to time its arrival to divert my attention, and by the time it’s been dealt with, it’s too late.

The opposite happened this year (that should probably be ‘last year’ although it was only yesterday).

I passed this little creation in a local window, and decided I WAS going to have one of these this year.