🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <C0Is05.Fst@ve7frg.ampr.org>, doug@ve7frg.ampr.org (Doug Collinge - VE7GNU) writes:
> Why don't you waste some of the power by boiling some water
> away or something like that?  Shouldn't be hard to get rid
> of 350W worth of steam...

Many people have suggested this, and actually it's one of the first things I
tried. I put in a beaker of water and tried adjusting the amount of power by
varying the amount of water.

Unfortunately though, if you put in too much water, it seems to kill the
plasma. If you back off a bit on the amount of water, then the plasma/gas combo
is still too hot. It behaves in an either/or manner: either too much power, or
no plasma! Maybe there is a way to overcome this problem.

Since I had nothing to loose, I tried John's suggestion of lowering the value
of the capacitor in series with the magnetron. So far, this works, but I'm not
sure if the magnetron is being damaged in some way. 

My question is: what is the nature of the damage  by operating the
magnetron in this way? Barry? Although the tube (claimed 60% efficient) may
dissipate a greater percentage of its input power as heat, it should also 
be drawing less total power due to the lower capacitance. ????

If nothing else, I've learned quite a bit about microwave ovens! Thanks!

Ed