I often warm up food items in certain microwavable containers. One I use to just defrost some frozen blueberries on low power for 1.4 min. Twice, now (after doing this dozens of times), it suddenly arched and I quickly turned it off. However, I could not locate any metal in the dish of blueberries where the heat appeared to be coming from or anywhere else for that matter. So, don't walk away from it right away no matter what kind of food or non-metalic container. It's not a GE, but I've seen this happen with other brands besides the one here.

My Kenmore AKA Whirlpool unit is 20+ years old. I replaced the Magnatron about 12 years ago for $60. Sounds strange that a microwave could flame out just sitting there. You only have low voltage present on the control panel running the clock and such. The 120VAC is fused and would blow if there was a major short in the electrical system. This would make you think that the fires are originating in the cook chamber via improper materials (metalic objects). I guess anything is possible.

Isn't JiffyPop the one with the aluminum bottom that allows you to cook it on the stove top? If so, that shouldn't have been put in the microwave anyway!

Thank god whirlpool or Jen Air doesnt have this problem yet! At least I know they make a better product!

Hopefully nobody will be seriously hurt or worse due to this defective product.

His microwave was 7 years old? Mine was less than 2 years old when it shorted andflamed. They wer going to charge me $75 for the service call, but after technician looked at it, he determined the short in the magnatron tube was the cause. He calle service department, who told me a customer relations representative would be calling me. Got the call and was told I wouldn't be charged for the service call (nice!), but if I wanted a replacement, I would pay the shipping (around $75, conincidence?). I looked at the model on their internet site for the model they offered ($285) which included more features. I accepted the offer and got the $285 model for about $75 shipping costs. Hope this one doesn't flame out! Thanks to GE for backing the product with a better replacement. After reading the article, I can see why they did. I wouldn't have said anything had I not seen this article. Thanks to reporter Joe Ducey and the rest.

Try putting a bag of JiffyPop in there for about 3 minutes too long. Guarantee it will activate the smoke alarms. Thats what my grandkid did and he learned a valuable lesson, after the house was evacuated and the oven set outside. It took forever to get the smell out too.

I think Hassan is a shyster.anyway,you really need an open flame to roast a marshmallow.