Do american microwaves not have heat/wattage settings?

27 comments

1. All microwaves are different and any that are above the basic versions have wattage/“heat” levels you can choose from along with other functions and the extremely useless popcorn feature!

2. Yes there are heat settings. If a video says to microwave it for x minutes, that means on high which is the default. Anything other than high will be noted in the recipe or video.

3. They do but i never use 😂. I just hit the +30 seconds button as many times as I need. Most still have the setting. There is a standard base setting.

4. There’s a typical max wattage, and then you can set a relative power level from 1-10.

   With that said, I don’t know anyone who does like… *actual cooking*, in a microwave. It’s just for warming stuff up quickly.

5. They do, most people keep it on “high” as the default.

6. I’m not changing the settings every time I want to hear something out of the norm. I just heat it up for a little longer and it’s fine.

   Also, American microwaves are the same microwaves you have, made usually in China and Korea.

7. They do generally have a heat level setting, but it does not explicitly correlate to a wattage. More of “Hi – Med – Lo,” or a 10-grade scale from low to high.

8. >If you have the ability to change the heat settings, do your microwaves come with a standardized default setting?

   Standard for mine is PL 10 if I am just pressing a default 1-9 or +30S button.

   Power Levels vary from 1-10, and also depend on the weight of the item. I have a Toshiba.

   —-

   Chances are your microwaves are exactly the same ones internally as ours. They’re mostly all Midea.

9. The one I got from AliExpress does

10. From what I’ve gathered from your informative comments is that we have the same microwaves and we all put it on high. The difference is that you dont specify that youre heating it on high, you take it as a given or something. Thank you all, this microwave question has puzzled me for a bit but I always forget about it before I could ask you people.

11. There aren’t any heat settings on microwaves, lowering the setting just changes the duty cycle of when it is actively heating. A setting of 5 for 3 minutes might do something like 30s on/30s off 5 times.

    You sometimes see instructions that gives separate directions for > and < 1000W microwaves. But even the cheapest microwaves are >1000W, you have to actively seek out the weak ones, or maybe they’re for RVs and such.

12. Just to clarify every microwave comes with a default wattage rating usually around 1000 W for a kitchen unit.

    Most people intuitively know if their microwave is stronger or weaker than normal and adjust accordingly.

13. high or max wattage is default, some microwave food has instructions on cooking it at a certain wattage or percentage as well

14. The default setting is full power, which is perfect for heating water for tea.

15. They do, though in my experience most people don’t use them much if at all.

    If a setting isn’t specified you’re just running it on max.

16. You can, but most of microwave “cooking” here is just warming something up.

    It’s stuff we aren’t feeling very fussy about.

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    The only time I change the setting is for defrosting.

17. The settings exist but most Americans don’t bother.

    In our homes, microwaves are for reheating stuff or cooking quick things. Most just stick something in there set a time and walk away.

    Personally I would add extra time instead of increasing power level

18. Typical American microwaves are between 800 and 1000 watts because that’s all you can realistically pull from our weak asthmatic plug circuits while still leaving room for other things on the same circuit like lights or a toaster.

    You can usually select a power level in 10% increments if you have to.

19. Sort of. There’s no standard wattage. Brand A could be 750 watts and Brand X 1750 watts.

    All have the ability to adjust percentage of power from 30-100%. So it’s a learning curve with a new to you microwave especially for reheating leftovers without drying them out.

    I have had microwaves that take 7-8 minutes to boil water. My current one takes about 3( but I am civilized. I use an electric kettle to boil water for ‘real loose leaf’ tea).

20. While most have a 1-10 power setting, it usually is relative to the amount of time the microwave is heating and resting as opposed to lowering the wattage output itself.

21. They do. We just don’t mess with it.

22. you can but I have literally never heard of anyone bothering. I dont even bother hitting actual time to cook, the only button I ever even touch on the entire microwave is the +30 seconds button.

    Generally you just learn through trial and error how strong your microwave is and adjust your cook time accordingly.

23. They do, but I have never once changed or witnessed anyone change the settings. Most Americans will just heat it up for longer rather than turn up the heat setting.

24. The default is high.

    Occasionally recipes (or instructions for frozen foods) call for a lower setting. It’s very easy to adjust, especially if you read the manual

25. My microwave does have power settings, but I leave it on 10 (high) all the time. It’s also just a little button next to all the others, not a dedicated dial like I’ve seen in the UK

26. Pretty much all microwaves in the entire world are always on the highest setting.

    The “lower” settings are just a little trick to make people feel better. When you put the power at 50%, all that means is the microwave heats for half a second, stops heating for half a second, heats again for half a second, etc.

27. Most instructions assume default of High Power unless they specify otherwise.