Are you using the microwave wrong? TikTok hack could burn your house down

A MICROWAVE hack shared on TikTok could lead to a “serious risk of fire”, safety experts have warned.

Spondifferous, a musical duo with more than 88,000 followers on the platform, revealed a time-saving tip designed to stop people faffing with cooking instructions.

Spondifferous/TikTokTikTok star suggests entering “9999” into your microwave to save time but fire safety experts don’t agree[/caption]

In a clip apparently mocking popular TikTok-style life hacks, the pair say: “Don’t waste time typing in the numbers on your microwave. I’ve got a life hack for you.

“You just type in 9-9-9-9, and then hit start whenever you wanna cook something. Whenever you’re done cooking, you just open the thing and it pauses.

“Whenever you wanna cook something else, all you have to do is hit start again.

“Magic. Efficiency. Optimised living.

“Pro tip, don’t forget your loaf while it’s heating up – if you were to start it, walk off, take a nap or something you might just burn your whole house down.”

But safety experts do not see the funny side, warning that microwaves were linked to hundreds of fires in England alone last year.

Martyn Allen, Technical Director at the Electrical Safety First charity, told The Sun such dangerous hacks should “almost certainly be ignored”.

“Misusing electrical appliances can lead to a serious risk of fire,” he said.

“We strongly advise consumers against leaving cooking appliances unattended or needlessly prolonging the time an appliance is on for.

“Microwaves were linked to hundreds of fires in England alone last year and TikTok hacks that could put consumers at risk should almost certainly be ignored.”

According to Home Office fire data analysed by the charity, 674 accidental electrical fires were linked to the misuse of microwaves in England alone between 2020 and 2021.

This is the equivalent of almost 13 fires a week.

Getty ImagesThere were 674 accidental electrical fires linked to microwave misuse in England between 2020 and 2021[/caption]

In other news, A Tiktok tech guru has showcased some neat iPhone tricks that you probably didn’t know about.

A workaround for WhatsApp’s deleted message feature was also recently revealed, allowing users of the chat app to read retracted messages.

Another also shows how to scroll videos without using your hands.

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