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I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

jdstillwater.blogspot.com

21–30 of 331 posts

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#21
R&D electrical engineer here! I have to do this sort of thing all the time and can confidently tell you it's pretty normal.

The real risk isn't really to the toaster (who cares, it's just a toaster, and even if it starts on fire when you plug it in, you're probably watching it pretty closely).

No, it's that you leach lead or other such nasties (sealing rubbers, PCB epoxies, what-have-you) into your dishwasher and start eating them when they get redeposited onto your dishes. Lead isn't that harmful... except when you eat it. Don't eat lead.

In fact, if you have a dedicated dishwasher for this (or ultrasonic cleaner! those are pretty awesome, most of the time, for most things!), I'd say it's perfectly reasonable to do this! You know what we call those kinds of things where I work? Parts washers. You know what we wash in them... circuit boards! It's fine! Circuit boards are cleaned with aqueous solutions all the time as part of normal manufacturing! If you don't have a dedicated dishwasher... well, I wouldn't do it then, but if you must, you'll want to run the dishwasher a few more times, empty, with a strong detergent, preferably a lead-chelating one. (You might also make one of those runs with dishwasher cleaner, and strike the whole "yearly dishwasher cleaning" task off your to-do list for the first time this... uh, decade?)

You will, of course, want to dry things well. This is both easier and harder with a toaster. Easier because, well, toasters get hot, and this will get any nooks and crannies dry. Harder because one of the tricks to get things dry faster after they come out of a parts washer is to rinse them in alcohol, because alcohol dries very fast. You, uh, don't want to do that with a toaster. At least not one you intend to run any time soon.

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#22
post #19

I have a similar but less extreme experience. I have a Tommee Tippee prep machine for baby formula milk. The part it has water coming out got so dirty after months of use. Due to lack of sleep like any father of newborn does, I flip it upside down and clean it with running water, and then I found out all the water finds its way into the machine. Then I completely disassemble it, I use a dehumidifier to blow dry air d…

I've owned the same machine for five years. I haven't inspected the bit where the water comes out. Maybe I should. Though neither of my two kids seem to have been harmed!

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#24
post #6

The anecdote of walking into a flooded band room to unplug a submerged power bar is uhh.... "shocking" to say the least. I would never walk over to a live, submerged power bar to unplug it. Especially with your feet in the water. Very risky.

Personally I think that it is how you finish with a Darwin award. Being overly confident. Same kind of thing as driving a bicycle without a helmet because you are used to and never had a problem or like working on fixing your wall power plugs without stopping the electricity because "it is ok, you will not touch the metallic part of the live wires"

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#25
post #17

I often run my (PCB) boards through the dishwasher after soldering components to them. To clean off any flux that might be on them.

A small health PSA from a previous poster [0]:

    The real risk isn't really to the toaster (who cares, it's just a toaster, and even if it starts on fire when you plug it in, you're probably watching it pretty closely).

    No, it's that you leach lead or other such nasties (sealing rubbers, PCB epoxies, what-have-you) into your dishwasher and start eating them when they get redeposited onto your dishes. Lead isn't that harmful... except when you eat it. Don't eat lead.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41242348

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#26
Jewish law requires some new utensils to be ritually immersed in water before use[1]. There are differences of opinion around electrical appliances, but I have successfully dunked toasters, cheese toasters, and many other small appliances, let them dry for a few days, and never had any issues.

In fact, had OP found this[2] article, they would have seen that

> Practice has demonstrated that immersion generally does not harm most equipment if allowed three days to dry out.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tevilat_Kelim

[2] https://oukosher.org/blog/consumer-kosher/tevilas-keilim-a-p...

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#27
post #6

The anecdote of walking into a flooded band room to unplug a submerged power bar is uhh.... "shocking" to say the least. I would never walk over to a live, submerged power bar to unplug it. Especially with your feet in the water. Very risky.

I can't get over the irony of doing this because one was previously wrong about something they thought they were right about.

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#29
post #22
post #19

I have a similar but less extreme experience. I have a Tommee Tippee prep machine for baby formula milk. The part it has water coming out got so dirty after months of use. Due to lack of sleep like any father of newborn does, I flip it upside down and clean it with running water, and then I found out all the water finds its way into the machine. Then I completely disassemble it, I use a dehumidifier to blow dry air d…

I've owned the same machine for five years. I haven't inspected the bit where the water comes out. Maybe I should. Though neither of my two kids seem to have been harmed!

It looked like the water going down splashed some milk back to there repeatedly and dried and formed some sort of crystallized milk powder that looks quite disgusting. I would recommend a wipe.

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#30
On a related note, I wonder if people around the world are familiar with electric showers. Essentially, it's a resistance similar to the one found in a toaster, placed right inside the showerhead. It heats the water as it flows through. People hearing about it for the first time are usually shocked that we don't die from electrecution.
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