Do microwaves still screw up other electronics?

March 9, 2015 2:49 PM

My current house room setup doesn't make sense, and I'd like to move the media room to a different location. However, the only available wall for for TV/Xbox/Etc, is the wall that divides the kitchen and the living room; so the TV would be hung on the same wall as the microwave and stove, but on the other side, in a different room. (If that makes sense.) Is interference still a thing, or is most equipment shielded enough that this idea isn't a problem?
posted by dejah420 to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

Microwaves can cause interference with radio communication on the 2.4 GHz band which is used by many cordless phones and wi-fi devices, and some other wireless gadgets. The newish 802.11a Wi-Fi standard uses the 5 GHz band instead, so you can avoid Wi-Fi interference if your access point and all your devices support 802.11a.

Devices that don't send wireless signals are unlikely to be affected, as far as I know, but you should probably test them to find out.
posted by mbrubeck at 2:55 PM on March 9, 2015 [2 favorites]

Just anecdotally, I have an AirPlay speaker that I've put in several different locations around my apartment, and proximity to the microwave doesn't seem to affect its performance. It's sitting on top of the microwave right now. I do have trouble with the speaker dropping out, but this happens reliably in the evening when my neighbors start to crowd all the 2.4GHz channels, so I'm pretty sure it's the network traffic.
posted by clavicle at 3:05 PM on March 9, 2015

Are they on the same circuit? I had problems in the last place I lived (which, granted, had the shittiest wiring) with signs of power fluctuation when the microwave turned on. Lamps dimming momentarily, that sort of thing.

Before committing, I'd take a smaller TV or monitor in there and plug it in and have someone microwave a bowl of water a few times while I watched the screen. You're going to want all that stuff plugged into a good surge protector anyway, but just to know ahead of time.
posted by Lyn Never at 3:06 PM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'd guess the oven is properly shielded. The other issue would be RFI introduced back into the wiring circuit. I'd think modern-ish entertainment components are also similarly protected from RFI and modern-ish electrical circuits would be properly grounded. If not, you can usually control the worst of that sort of RFI by use of toroid cores--basically a highly inductive magnet that clips around the power cord. Those lumpy bits on the ends of most computer peripherals are toroid cores.

I had some issues with a microwave oven and my ham radio on the same circuit but it was easier for me to run a dedicated circuit for the radio than to try fiddling with other solutions.
posted by Fezboy! at 3:19 PM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have a speaker with both 802.11 and Bluetooth about 3 feet from my relatively recent microwave. Streaming wifi audio is just fine but Bluetooth gets very wonky when the microwave is on.
posted by Candleman at 3:34 PM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Interference for wireless signals is/can be a thing, yes. The wifi in my mom's kitchen drops out whenever the microwave is on.
posted by phoenixy at 5:15 PM on March 9, 2015

Wireless Xbox controllers use 2.4 GHz frequencies, so you should test whether running the microwave interferes with gameplay (if you expect to have both in use at the same time).
posted by mbrubeck at 5:52 PM on March 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Our microwave causes interference with our cordless phone system.
posted by Andrhia at 7:17 PM on March 9, 2015