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Old 05-16-2014, 09:34 PM   #1
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Microwave oven in Escape 21

Did anyone order their Escape 21 with a microwave oven? If so, what make/model did ETI put in your trailer? I'd like to retrofit one into mine.

thanks,

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Old 05-16-2014, 10:25 PM   #2
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ETI uses the Dometic CDWM07 - black. It is not clear whether or not you can currently buy one at retail. The white one does appear to be available.

Several months ago both the white and black were readily available and on Dometic's web site. It *looks* as though they may be discontinuing the CDWM07.

Dometic Countertop Microwave .7 cu. ft. 700W White - $109.99
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Old 05-16-2014, 10:37 PM   #3
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Wow, that's a little bitty thing. It will definitely fit into the space allocated for it.

thanks Doug.

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Old 05-17-2014, 07:48 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Lewis View Post
Did anyone order their Escape 21 with a microwave oven? If so, what make/model did ETI put in your trailer? I'd like to retrofit one into mine.

thanks,

Mike Lewis
We took our microwave out and ordered a door for the cabinet in our 19. We would sell you ours if you were closer.
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Old 05-17-2014, 09:33 AM   #5
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I just added an microwave to my already built Escape 21. Fortunately it is still sitting on the lot at Escape so the addition was relatively easy. I think I will be getting a door with the deal, as it was built without the microwave. John, like you, I can "have it my way".
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Old 05-17-2014, 10:08 AM   #6
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Be interesting if they leave the flip up door and still mount the microwave, there is a lot of storage behind the microwave that is wasted.
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Old 05-17-2014, 02:10 PM   #7
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We took our microwave out and ordered a door for the cabinet in our 19. We would sell you ours if you were closer.
Us too.
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Old 05-17-2014, 05:27 PM   #8
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I saw this thread and asked my wife if she thought we should get a microwave in the 21 and I was told absolutely no . We have never used on in other trailers that have had them so the storage space for food more important .
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Old 05-17-2014, 06:16 PM   #9
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Dave,
We have not had one in the past either so this is an experiment on our part as well. I think some has to do with the type of food you eat and how you purchase it. It also depends on where you camp. I did a calculation of how many nights we will have electricity during the three weeks after we pick up, I come up with 10 nights.

Since our trailer is a bedroom we tow along while traveling this may be representative of how much opportunity we will have to use it. We spent about 182 nights in our Escape 19, we survived without a microwave. But having one makes food prep a bit easier.

I think the low cost makes for a minimal downside risk, especially if you order a cabinet door for the opening. I know that several members have chimed in that theirs is for sale, but a lot of the photos I see coming out show a microwave. Some people must be using it.
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Old 05-17-2014, 06:47 PM   #10
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No microwave in our 17B. It has a cupboard door that opens sideways and is fitted with a mirror rather than an oak panel in the door frame.
The AC receptacle is wired in should we want to put a microwave in there but at this time, the storage space is more important. You can pick one up at for $80 almost anywhere.
I did have one on our boat, used it when tied up at the slip and plugged into shore power. Mostly for snacks like nachos, etc.
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Old 05-17-2014, 07:45 PM   #11
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I will confess to using the Microwave in our 17b. Mostly when we are feeling lazy, for frozen veggies, a quick bag of popcorn, or boiling water in the morning. I know we could use the stove to boil water, but if one of us is still in bed, it is really easy to just boil the water for my tea.
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Old 05-17-2014, 08:05 PM   #12
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Our microwave at home bounces back and forth between the attic and the kitchen counter.
Most I can say for it is that I got to use one of my toys when I made a label that said 'broccoli maker' and stuck it on the front of the door.
That said, I am going to use it tonight to cook the carrots, since the Old Bag insists on veg with her meat and potatoes.
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Old 05-17-2014, 09:10 PM   #13
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No microwave for us either. We decided on a cabinet with door and keep our toaster oven stored in there, which is about the same size as a microwave.
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Old 05-17-2014, 09:41 PM   #14
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I'm still on the road, and currently not near a Camping World or anywhere else I can buy the Dometic microwave, so today I went to a Walmart and bought a $50 700-watt microwave small enough to fit in the cavity made for one. I wedged it in so it can't bounce around when traveling.

Tonight I tried it out. My batteries were at 100% capacity; it was past sundown so I had no real input in the solar panels, and I had a parasitic draw of 400 milliamps on the batteries before I turned on the 1500W inverter and then the microwave. I let it run for six minutes.

During cooking, the battery monitor showed a > 100 amp draw at times, which made me stand near the trailer door. When I was done the battery capacity showed 95%. The microwave worked okay; I shut off the inverter and ate my food. Everything seems okay.

A bachelor's gotta have his microwave.

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Old 05-17-2014, 09:51 PM   #15
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We ran the microwave on the inverter after Moab for 6 minutes - the low voltage warning kept beeping, but it reheated the left-overs quite nicely.

Camp the way YOU want to. It's your ___ (fill in the blank - money, amps, microwave, trailer, camping style, propane, ... .)

That is the beauty of North America - we are free to be different. And I sure am glad that not everyone likes what I do, if they did I couldn't afford it or it would be too crowded.
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Old 05-29-2016, 12:35 PM   #16
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We are testing our inverter. When we try to run our microwave on the inverter the microwave kicks off even at 50% power. The inverter is powering the circuit because we can set the clock on the microwave We would just like to use the microwave for something other than telling time
Any suggestions on how to run a microwave on the inverter?
thank you
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Old 05-29-2016, 12:53 PM   #17
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What size inverter and is the ETI option microwave?


I have the 1500 watt inverter and have run the ETI microwave successfully... for the six minutes I needed it. Hummmm....
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Old 05-29-2016, 01:53 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Take_a_hike View Post
When we try to run our microwave on the inverter the microwave kicks off even at 50% power.
...
Any suggestions on how to run a microwave on the inverter?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Donna D. View Post
What size inverter and is the ETI option microwave?
This is a good start: look at the specifications and see if this inverter is supposed to be able to run this microwave oven.
Also, is the inverter getting enough voltage from the battery? The inverter should complain if the voltage is really low, but it might still produce inadequate output if the battery can't quite provide enough input power.

The power level set on the microwave may not matter. The way a microwave oven runs at less than 100% power is to run at 100%, but only for part of the time. For instance, 50% power may mean cycle of 10 seconds at 100% power, then 10 seconds at zero power (but the light, fan, turntable, and electronics keep running). This means that unless the problem is a matter of not being able to sustain high power, changing the oven's power level probably won't fix it.
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Old 05-29-2016, 04:53 PM   #19
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We have the Samlex 1500 inverter and the ETI installed RCA 700 W microwave. I do not see an option for turning off the turntable. Thanks for letting me know the power level would not effect it. Does the surge protector have anything to do with the inverter? We have turned everything else off just to see if we can get the microwave to run off the inverter
Thanks for your insight
Mary
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Old 05-29-2016, 05:19 PM   #20
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We have the Samlex 1500 inverter and the ETI installed RCA 700 W microwave
Okay, now read the Samlex specifications to see how much power in watts (or current, in amps... whichever is shown) the inverter can continuously provide. For the microwave, 700 watts will be the microwave power it puts out into the food, and the input power will be much higher (but should be well below 1500 watts); the label on the microwave or the manual should show this. It does seem like a reasonable combination, which of course makes sense because Escape chose these components knowing that they would be used together.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Take_a_hike View Post
I do not see an option for turning off the turntable.
There won't be a way to turn off the turntable, but that's okay because (like the light) it only uses a tiny fraction of the power needed when it is cooking.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Take_a_hike View Post
Does the surge protector have anything to do with the inverter?
Although the options list shows it as just "surge protector", the Electrical Management System is more sophisticated than that... but it won't matter to operation with the inverter because it is wired so that it handles the power from the shore power cable, and is not involved with power from the inverter.
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