We all generally have Microwaves in the Workplace and we’d all hope that they are clean & hygienic places to heat up our food, however, microwaves don’t clean themselves! In most offices the cleaning is left to the staff to practice good microwaving techniques. We’ve all seen the signs requesting all staff to cover food, clean up after themselves and the old your mother doesn’t work here message.
Some offices have a scheduled cleaning system, like a cleaning task list for the staff to perform minor duties. However like most things Microwave Cleaning seems to fall under the category of no one wants to do it. So it’s definitely a task that should be outsourced to the office cleaning contractor.
If it’s not part of the contract cleaner’s task, this simple tip will make cleaning easy and simple and something that a staff member can do every day in the time it takes the Kettle to boil.
It’s simple:
1. Just squeeze some Lemon Juice into some water in a Microwaveable Safe Container
2. Run the microwave for a minute or two.
3. Simply wipe the inside of the microwave with a Paper Towel or a Cloth
As the liquid starts to heat up to boiling temperature, it condenses on the sides and roof of the microwave and magically loosens all the Spaghetti Bolognaise and Sunday Dinners by slightly dissolving them. The lemon juice acts as a natural cleaning agent and then all you need to do is wipe the inside of the microwave with the Paper Towel or a Cloth.
What You Need
1 Lemon or some Lemon Juice
A Microwave-safe Bowl or Cup
Clean, dry cloth or Paper Towel
If you don’t have Lemons, White Vinegar will be a more than suitable alternative. The process will be the same, a little white vinegar in water and the same procedure. Of course as Commercial Cleaners we see some pretty filthy Microwaves at times. While many of our clients choose to have us clean their Microwaves regularly, there are others that aren’t so concerned, which usually ends up with microwaves like this one below.
In most instances you feel like just telling the client to throw it out, but this just means we need to up the power from lemons to a stronger chemical. All we do differently is we use “Spray & Wipe” inside the microwave first to dissolve the stubborn stains even more before we Agitate/Wipe with Microfibre Cloths to remove all stains and build up.
This uses the rules of TACT to ensure we have Temperature, Agitation, Concentration and Dwell Time.
We use Vinegar instead of lemons as it is easier for our staff to have vinegar in their cleaning kits than lemons for obvious reasons. We still use a Cup of Water with Vinegar to help loosen the buildup which aids the Spray & Wipe too as its temperature is increased during the microwave process.
Sometime this requires multiple cycles, but eventually microwaves come up sparkling. It’s important to check though that while Microwaves in this state can come up nice and clean, the built up food can rust and deteriorate the inside lining of the microwave. So if there is any rust inside the microwave after you’ve cleaned, it’s time to get a new one and start a maintenance program today.
