Microwave condensation?

Naio wrote:
The windows in the van do not fog up.

Well that proves that steam venting into the air is NOT the problem......because excess humidity will condense of single pane glass BEFORE anything else (well maybe except a thin piece of un-insulated metal).

If there is that much steam presenting itself in one place, the odds are great that you are boiling your food and hot liquid water is splashing out somewhere.

"Cooking" the food for a longer period on a lower power setting might solve the problem. Or maybe stopping the heating as soon as the steam appears and then letting it sit for a couple of minutes.

Thanks, everyone. I have been trying to figure this out for months, and posted to see if anyone else had run into the same sit, but I guess not.

For clarification, my frozen meals are home-cooked, the van is small so 'half the carpet' means a few square feet, and I have no AC. I can feel warm steamy air venting out the bottom front of the microwave when it's in use, but have not yet tried moving it to a tray to see if there is also dripping going on. The windows in the van do not fog up.

I'm glad to hear this is an uncommon problem.

My Half Pint vents a lot of steam out its bottom. Enough to saturate the carpet in half the van, after a few uses.

I would not think this is possible on the face of this statement. Although, "saturated", "half the van",and "a few uses" are all variable.

I'd suggest to put a bath towel underneath the microwave to confirm how much water is involved with it's use.

It's a very small MW, people don't normally use those in sticks and bricks. Maybe power output is too low if it runs water. Should be steam only, and most of it should be dripping from the cover (with few tiny holes) down into the bowl with meal. Poor ventilation in the camper, need more fans maybe.

Living off store-bought frozen meals will get you an ulcer, will drain your batteries and your wallet too. A pot of cooked meat or poultry can sit at 40F for at least 3-4 days, just reheat it. Cooked rice - 5 days or longer. Reheating these things can be done without a MW, though the convenience is hard to beat.

the only time i get steam from cooking anything in the MW, is when i bake a potato

frozen meal stuff, i slice the top wrap but leave it in place, just to keep it from popping off

i want to keep the moisture in the food,

we do a fair amount of frozen food, not three meals everyday, but at least one, and sometimes two
we do bake potatoes 3 or 4 times a week, and never get any water puddles or wet counter top or anything

im not sure what is going on in your situation to get so much water to wet the carpet

Naio wrote:
I used the microwave for 3 meals, and voila, soaked carpet.

I still think you are jumping to an invalid conclusion.

Even IF the microwave boiled off ALL of the water in the food you are heating, a significant portion of it should NOT condense on the floor covered by a carpet.

For the carpet to get wet, the water would have to condense on EVERYTHING ( walls, cabinets, furniture etc) and run down onto the floor. I doubt that is happening but if it IS, then your little living unit is just sealed against the weather too well and you need to vent while cooking.

You also could be "cooking" this stuff WAY too long.

Does not compute. If the same microwave was in a sticks and bricks water would be running out on the floor. Your vents aren't working. Nor is your AC removing moisture from the air.

If it's warm open your windows and get some air moving?

Liquid water shouldn't be coming out, it's water vapor and steam. If you have some good circulation it shouldn't have time to condense into liquid.

edit: fixed a typo

wildtoad wrote:
What are you doing in a microwave to cause so much condensation?

Just normal stuff -- heating frozen meals.

In the desert, the past two years, I had no problem! This year, I thought I had a water leak. But yesterday I started with dry carpet, there was no rain, I used the microwave for 3 meals, and voila, soaked carpet.

wildtoad wrote:
What are you doing in a microwave to cause so much condensation?

This is a critically important question.

I've been using microwaves since the day they first came out (almost literally) and have NEVER seen enough steam created to cause anywhere near that amount of condensation. NEVER.

This leads me to believe that the source of his moisture is something else.

What is this "Half Pint" that you mention ??