I was chatting to a customer yesterday about his combination oven. He mentioned that whenever he used the oven with the enamel tray on top of the wire rack the oven started arcing. As I then explained, the reason is that the metal tray was touching the wire rack and this was causing the arcing. The accessories as supplied with most UK Panasonic combination ovens as shown in the photo should be used as follows.
The glass tray and roller ring must be used all of the time on any function. The enamel tray and wire rack should not be used on microwave only. The enamel tray should be placed on top of the glass tray on grill, convection or combi settings. It serves 2 purposes. To catch spillage as the food cooks and to reflect heat from the grill element away from the glass tray. The wire rack can be used on grill and microwave/grill combi settings. Its job is to raise the food either nearer the grill element in the roof of the oven or to keep it off the tray to allow hot air to circulate. The wire rack will sit inside the enamel tray and will operate ok because the rack has insulated silicone feet to prevent metal to metal contact. The enamel tray should not be used on top of the wire rack because there is no insulation between the metal items.
If any of the parts become damaged they may well arc. If they have already arced they may well arc anyway especially if the enamel coating has become chipped or burned.
All of the accessories are available for current models of Panasonic and we also sell the packs of 3 silicone feet as a spare.
Microwave Service Company Ltd 
where can I purchase a replacement enamel tray for my Panasonic combination oven
The Panasonic microwave instructions state that you can put metal tray on top of wire stand for doing say oven chips but I have that it will cause arcing, so are the Panasonic instructions wrong. Model no nn ct552w
If you put the metal tray on top of the rack it will only spark if you use the microwave function. For items to be grilled such as oven chips you would only use the grill function, not the microwave function. It is the microwaves that will cause arcing.
the instructions for oven chips are using combination ,so it uses grill and microwave
if the microwave oven function is used then the tray would need to be insulated from the rack. Panasonic ovens would allow you to use the rack on top of the metal tray by providing insulating silicone feet and not allowing the microwave to operate at 100% power on grill/microwave combination settings, however I would suggest that to put the tray on top of the rack on microwave function would let them short and arc which will in the long term damage both the enameled finish tray and the chromed rack. I think therefore, that the instructions would be incorrect. It does say on page 46 of the manual that it is ok to do so but if you do look out for signs of arcing between the 2 accessories. Panasonic may have designed the enamel to be enough of an insulator when used on combination.
If you use the rack upside down to support the tray then the feet on the rack insulate it from the tray – no arcing.
Thank you very much for this post! I purchased my very first convection microwave a few years ago. It came with a rack and tray, but there was no info in the instruction manual regarding their use. As they are both metal, I knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to use them with the microwave option! So I’ve never used them. Perhaps not surprisingly, my attempts at using the convection and grill options have been disappointing so far. Here’s hoping the rack and tray will make a difference — I’m planning to try them out on dinner tonight!
Many thanks from Canada,
Laura
Hi! Thanks for your helpful post! Your photo shows the enamel tray raised above the glass turntable. Is that just for demonstration purposes? Does the enamel tray normally lie directly on top of the glass tray? I have seen some enamel trays on the kitchen warehouse website you linked to, but they don’t seem to have feet that raise it off the glass turntable…. can you please confirm?
So are you not suppose to use the metal tray for microwaving at all? My Solar DOM only came with an enamel tray and wire rack.
Hi Wendy, Your Solardom was supplied with only an enamelled tray so by design that is fine. The Panasonic ovens had one as an addition to the glass tray and part of its function is to reflect some of the heat away from the glass tray on combination settings. Yours is ok to use on all functions.
Can the enamel tray and the wire basket go in the dishwasher?
Can you put the enamel tray in the wire tray rack in the dishwasher
Yes. All of the accessories we’ve seen here have been ok in the dishwasher. occasionally the little rubber feet on the rack are not very tight so if thats the case then you would be better off not risking losing the rubber feet in the dishwasher.
I just wanted to leave a review,
This microwave is efficient and the best ever I havd cooked beef joints in it to rare perfection so easy to use and so economical must in today’s world fantastic product
Can I use kitchen foil instead of the metal/enamel tray? I’ve recently bought a used Panasonic combi microwave and had to spend £20 on the wire rack but the tray is ridiculously expensive and I can’t understand why. I paid £40 for the microwave so £50-£70 for the tray is out of the question
As long as the foil doesn’t touch the sides of the oven
Thank you, I’d only be using the grill or convection, not in combi with microwave anyway. Saves me a lot of money so I really appreciate your response.