Use Your Microwave Safely. Cut Hole in Cargo Trailer for AC Plenum.

"Contrary to popular belief, microwave ovens do not cook food from the "inside out."

Microwave Ovens and Health

Manufacturers must certify that their microwave ovens comply with strict FDA emission limits. The emission limits are well below the threshold for risk to public health.
Most injuries related to microwave ovens are the result of serious thermal burns from hot containers, overheated foods, or exploding liquids.

How Microwaves Cook

Microwave oven safety begins with understanding how these time– and energy–saving technological wonders work.
Microwaves—the actual waves produced by these ovens—are a type of electromagnetic radiation. These waves cause water molecules in food to vibrate. These vibrations, in turn, produce the heat that cooks the food.

• The waves are produced by an electron tube within the oven called a magnetron. They are reflected within the oven's metal interior; can pass through glass, paper, plastic, and similar materials; and ARE ABSORBED BY FOOD.

Safety Tips for Operation

• Follow the manufacturer's instruction manual for recommended operating procedures and safety precautions.
• Don't operate a microwave oven if the door doesn't close firmly or is bent, warped, or otherwise damaged.
• Never operate a microwave oven if you have reason to believe it will continue to operate with the door open.
• Refer to the instruction manual for your oven. Some microwave ovens should not be operated when empty.

What Else Should You Know?

Microwave-Safe Containers: Use cookware that is specially manufactured for use in the microwave oven. Glass, ceramic containers, and all plastics should be labeled for microwave oven use. Generally, metal pans or aluminum foil should not be used. The microwaves reflect off them, causing food to cook unevenly and possibly damaging the oven.

Erupted Hot Water Phenomena: Hot-water eruption can occur if you use a microwave oven to super-heat water in a clean cup. ("Super–heated" means the water is hot beyond boiling temperature, although it shows no signs of boiling.)
A slight disturbance or movement may cause the water to violently explode out of the cup. There have been reports of serious skin burns or scalding injuries around people's hands and faces as a result of this phenomenon.
Adding materials such as instant coffee or sugar to the water before heating greatly reduces the risk of hot-water eruption. Also, follow the precautions and recommendations found in microwave oven instruction manuals; specifically the heating time.

Pacemakers: Today's pacemakers are now designed to be shielded against electrical interference. Consult with your physician if you have concerns.

Checking For Leakage: There is little cause for concern about excess microwaves leaking from ovens unless the door hinges, latch, or seals are damaged. If you suspect a problem, contact the oven manufacturer, a microwave oven service organization, your state health department, or the closest FDA office."
More at:    http://www.everydayhealth.com/fda/use-your-microwave-safely.aspx?xid=nl_EverydayHealthinCoordinationWithFDAFoodDrugandMedicalProductSafety_20101027

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Now it is the "ABSORBED BY FOOD", that bothers a lot of people.
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"Microwaves significantly decrease the nutritional value of the foods up to 60 to 90% of the normal level. There is reduction in vitamin B 12, that is necessary for red blood cell formation and building up nervous system. The flavonoid content of the food decreases by 97% when cooked in microwave oven. Flavonoids contain anti cancer, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties. There is significant decrease in vitamin C, vitamin E, essential mineral and lipotropic factors in food. Glucosides, nitrilosides, alkaloids present in the vegetables are damaged significantly.

Heating expressed breast milk in microwave oven destroys the enzymes that help digest food, absorb nutrients and protect babies from pathogens. Infant milk formulas also lose some of their vitamins when heated in microwaves. The amino acids in baby formulas are converted to synthetic isomers that are not active biologically. Amino acids like L-proline was converted to its d-isomer, that is found to be harmful for the nervous system and the kidneys.

The 19th issue of the Journal Franz Weber has an article which stated that microwave cooked food had cancerous effects on the blood. The violent deformations that can occur in human body when exposed to microwaves, are also seen in the food molecules cooked in microwaves. Studies have been conducted on food that have been thawed, cooked and heated in microwaves. The results showed that many food molecules were converted into carcinogens. The glucoside and galactoside present in frozen foods gets converted into carcinogenic substance. Plant alkaloids in vegetables were converted into carcinogens. Milk and cereals heated in microwaves also had some of their amino acids converted into carcinogens."
From: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/dangers-of-microwaves.html
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Some people, namely Hertel and Blanc were issued a gag order on their findings:

"The results were published in "Search for Health" in the Spring of 1992. How was this research greeted? A powerful trade organization, the Swiss Association of Dealers for Electroapparatuses for Households and Industry somehow made the President of the Court of Seftigen issue a `gag order'.   Hertel and Blanc were told that if they published their findings they would face hefty fines or up to one year in prison. In response to this, Blanc recanted his findings. Hertel, on the other hand, went on a lecture tour and demanded a jury trial.
FINALLY, in 1998 the Court `Gag Order' was removed."    
From: http://www.relfe.com/microwave.html
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THE HIDDEN HAZARDS OF MICROWAVE COOKING
Here: http://www.aaimedicine.com/jaaim/apr06/hazards.php
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CHASING A STORY


"Researcher Quan, in a phone interview, said that he believed the results of research so far warranted further detailed study of the effects of microwave cooking on nutrients. The summary sentence in an abstract of the research paper is very clear:
"Microwaving appears to be contra-indicated at high temperatures, and questions regarding its safety exist even at low temperatures."
The final statement of the study conclusion reads:

"This preliminary study suggests that microwaving human milk could be detrimental. Further studies are needed to determine whether and how microwaving could safely be done."

Unfortunately, further studies are not scheduled at this time.

If there are so many indications that the effects of microwaves on foods can degrade the foods far above the known breakdowns of standard cooking, is it not reasonable to conduct exhaustive studies on living, breathing human beings to determine if it's possible that eating microwaved foods continuously, as many people do, can be significantly detrimental to individual health?

If you wanted to introduce a herbal supplement into the American mainstream and make any health claims for it, you would be subjected to exhaustive documentation and costly research. Yet the microwave-oven industry had only to prove that the dangerous microwaves could, indeed, be contained within the oven and not escape into the surrounding area where the radiation could do damage to people. The industry must admit that some microwaves escape even in the best-made ovens. So far, not one thought has been given by the industry to the possibility that the nutrients could be so altered as to be deleterious to health.

Well, this makes sense in a land that encourages farmers to poison crops and soils with massive amounts of synthesized chemicals, and encourages food processors to use additives that enhance shelf-life of foods regardless of the potential for degrading the health of the consumer.

How many hundreds of pounds of microwaved food per capita is consumed in America each year? Are we going to continue to take it from established authority, without question, on the premise that they know best?"
More at: http://www.all-natural.com/microwa1.html
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So you have to decide if you want to use it for cooking foods, or just re-heating your coffee!
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Yesterday:

I tried out my new 4GB flash drive.   It worked, so I removed 101.215 KB of pictures out of my computer onto the flash drive. Not all of them, but a good start.   All of my pictures are in Picasa Web Albums anyway, but this flash drive is for a back-up.  
Now, maybe my printer will not be so slow, as one of the trouble-shooting tips was that I might not have enough room on my hard drive for it to operate properly.   I am getting better and better with this darned computing machine, but I don't know why it won't recognize my external hard drive.  The man at Radio Shack said to try it in a different USB port.

Today:

Ray and I moved the new-to-me air conditioner out of my van, and after taking measurements, we stored it in Pugsy, (the vintage motor home).  Pugsy hasn't been locked for such a long time, that I had to oil the lock!

The AC will not be able to be seen from the outside of the cargo trailer, but we still had to cut a hole for the venting and intake that it requires.
 












We marked the height inside on the metal siding, also the width between the studs, drilled four holes so we could see where we needed to cut, and drew lines on the outside.  Ray cut that out with a jug-saw. 

Now we will line the hole with white metal flashing, before we build the metal plenum.

We measured that we need 5-1/2" of the white metal flashing for trimming out the back door, so we cut that off, and will use the other 4-1/2" for the AC hole.  This hole will be covered by soffit vents, for venting.  Then a snap-on vinyl cover for winter.

We cut a bit more of the spare lino for the floor, but as we didn't get it all done, we didn't stick it down.

The weather has been lovely for working outside today.