Melted plastic in dishwasher

[Anonymous]

Ugh, melted 2 plastic Tupperware lids in my dishwasher. Washed dishes in baking soda and removed plastic from the heating element per online how to's. I feel relatively comfortable with glass and ceramic dishes now that they no longer smell, but feel pretty suspicious of anything else plastic that was in there. I have gone 'on the safe side' and chucked my daughters plastic bowls and spoons but am wavering on the coffeemaker parts. If I chuck them we have to buy a new coffeemaker. My concern is ingesting plastics that were deposited on these items. WWYD?

[Anonymous]

Did you see evidence of plastic melted onto other plastic?

I've had several things melt in the dishwasher, unfortunately, that fell from the top rack to the bottom heating element. But it was a melted mess at the bottom. I never thought about anything getting on the clean dishes. But then again, I never smelled anything, either.

How about running them through another wash cycle? If one wash cycle was hot enough to cover them in fumes, another one should be hot enough to remove residue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you see evidence of plastic melted onto other plastic?

I've had several things melt in the dishwasher, unfortunately, that fell from the top rack to the bottom heating element. But it was a melted mess at the bottom. I never thought about anything getting on the clean dishes. But then again, I never smelled anything, either.

How about running them through another wash cycle? If one wash cycle was hot enough to cover them in fumes, another one should be hot enough to remove residue.

Thanks but evidently this was considerably worse than what you experienced. Fumes filled the whole house...The thing is melting plastic in a contained environment ensures some level of deposition on everything in there. Unless I heat the items to the temperature of the coil (I have considered boiling them) the plastic will not be lifted away by the heat. Scrubbing the glass and the ceramic has hopefully removed the layer, but I can still smell it on the plastic items...I don't know, nobody else seems concerned by this. Maybe I'm over-reacting.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure I see the issue. Melting plastic is definitely gross and toxic, but once it's already melted and cooled, I don't see the harm to your coffeemaker parts. They're already made out of plastic that once was melted itself (in order to be formed.) If you scrub them you'll get off any loose plastic bits; anything that doesn't come off with a good scrubbing and another pass or two through the dishwasher isn't going to come off while making coffee.

[Anonymous]

I'd call the manufacturer's support line and see if they have any recommendations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you see evidence of plastic melted onto other plastic?

I've had several things melt in the dishwasher, unfortunately, that fell from the top rack to the bottom heating element. But it was a melted mess at the bottom. I never thought about anything getting on the clean dishes. But then again, I never smelled anything, either.

How about running them through another wash cycle? If one wash cycle was hot enough to cover them in fumes, another one should be hot enough to remove residue.

Thanks but evidently this was considerably worse than what you experienced. Fumes filled the whole house...The thing is melting plastic in a contained environment ensures some level of deposition on everything in there. Unless I heat the items to the temperature of the coil (I have considered boiling them) the plastic will not be lifted away by the heat. Scrubbing the glass and the ceramic has hopefully removed the layer, but I can still smell it on the plastic items...I don't know, nobody else seems concerned by this. Maybe I'm over-reacting.

10:54 again. I have no clue if you are overreacting or not because I'm not a chemist. I've never heard of something this bad before. Remind me to never buy Tupperware. ! If it's something that will concern you for quite awhile, it's probably best to replace all the parts you are talking about. You can buy new coffee pots for your coffee maker, depending on the brand. So look into that before trashing the entire thing.

[Anonymous]

I had the same thing happen last week. I don't think you are overreacting at all. It was ghastly, the fumes, the smoke. I am never putting a plastic lid in the dishwasher ever, ever again.

I did throw out all the plastics that had been in the dishwasher. Once I finally got the dishwasher not stinking (have you managed that yet?), I washed everything again. The smell came off everything but the plastic plates/cups, so I tossed them. Who wants to eat off of disgusting-smelling plates? It wasn't worth the risk of them being possibly contaminated -- they're inexpensive, so I'll just buy new ones. I sympathize with you on the more expensive coffeemaker parts. I think I, personally, would err on the side of caution. Hot water/coffee presumably rests against those plastic parts when the coffeepot is working, and that seems like a bad idea if the parts are still smelling like noxious fumes.

[Anonymous]

You may be able to buy replacement parts for your coffemaker.

[Anonymous]

I'd use them as long as they didn't smell like melted plastic. But maybe I don't react enough.