SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20190711-80CAA-2147379961. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Whirlpool WMH31017AS-3 (Whirlpool household microwave oven, stainless steel, Model # WMH31017AS-3. Microwave was installed by builder in new home development - Oak Meadows Phase 2 - Battleground, WA by Osprey Homes.). Incident: We had just placed 2 potatoes in the microwave to begin cooking them. After about 3-4 minutes of cooking, my wife noticed some odd sounds coming from the microwave, while it was still running. She was 5-6 feet away, and didn't think much of it. Around 10 seconds later, smoke began billowing out the front top vent of the microwave, and out the back vent to the outside. I quickly recognized the smell as an electrical fire as I have smelled that many times due to the nature of my job. I stopped the microwave, shut off power to the microwave, and called 911. The fire department was there within 5 minutes. They shut off the breaker to the microwave circuit, and began checking the temperature of the microwave. Their FLIR camera found the location of the arcing and burning was from the top right side of the microwave where the electrical components were, so they began removing the top front vent panel of the microwave to access that location. Once that was removed, and the metal cover that blocks the electrical compartment, they could visually see (with the naked eye and with the temperature of components with the FLIR camera) locations on the top and side panels where the components had experienced arcing and slight burning. The Fire Chief said we were very lucky that the event stayed contained and did not spread to the cabinets around it, as the wood cabinets directly next to it were very hot as well when they arrived. Description of Risk or Harm � Electrical fire originated inside electrical component bay on top of microwave. Two sources of oxygen are present to this area 1) re