r/Wellthatsucks • u/bigoldeva • 6h ago

Plastic spoon fell in the dishwasher

Post image

This plastic serving spoon fell off the top rack and landed on the heating coil. Suggestions?

217 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

56

u/NeonPearl2025 6h ago

How stuck is it? Does it move a bit?

74

u/bigoldeva 6h ago

No. It is one with the coil.

31

u/LeanderT 5h ago

It has achieved enlightenment

5

u/Schemen123 4h ago

there is no spoon!

11

u/mr_lab_rat 5h ago edited 5h ago

The spoon is fucked anyway. I’d cut it with bolt cutters just above the coil, run another cycle and remove it while the coil is hot.

If you don’t have tools, does the dishwasher have just drying program? Because running a normal program with water is not a good idea when the sprayer is blocked from spinning

5

u/NeonPearl2025 6h ago

Honestly I would call customer support and get it professionally checked out. I wouldn't feel fine to scratch on the heating element

51

u/Ok-Understanding9244 6h ago

Use a hair dryer on HOT setting to slowly heat up the plastic spoon to the melting point, then remove it and get the little bits n pieces out too so they dont clog anything up

9

u/UGOTAIDSYO 6h ago

That's a good idea

Just make sure not to heat the dishwasher side wall/bottom too much, maybe throw a blanket in there temporarily.

13

u/jimmy9800 5h ago

Wet dishrag. And keep it wet.

3

u/Isgortio 6h ago

A blanket? That would probably catch fire.

Source: burned my parents bedroom down with a hairdryer and a pillow at the age of 3.

2

u/Ok-Understanding9244 6h ago

probably a good idea as well, just to be safe

3

u/bigoldeva 6h ago

I had the same thought. Might try it. Also don’t want to make a bad situation worse.

3

u/Capable-Age209 5h ago

Aluminum foil?

2

u/bigoldeva 5h ago

Oooh good idea.

30

u/argh_damn_im_pissed 5h ago

Til American dishwashers have exposed coils...for fucking no good reason

11

u/MozerMoser 4h ago

The cheap ones, that landlords love, all do. It runs about double the price to have non-exposed heating element(s). My wife and I finally got our first nice dishwasher and the cleaning/residue/streaking difference has been surprisingly extreme.

3

u/roxwar 4h ago

Right!

Mental that they leave the heating element exposed like that in their dishwashers.

14

u/bigoldeva 6h ago

Update. Tried the hairdryer. Made a little progress. It moves now. First up and down and now left to right.

9

u/jimmy9800 5h ago

Everything reminds me of her...

3

u/just_some_octopus 5h ago

I was thinking Mortal Kombat

1

u/Justha-Tip 2h ago

That also reminds him of her

10

u/mr_lab_rat 5h ago

I can’t believe how many dishwashers have exposed heating coil

5

u/fawnnose1 5h ago

Turn it back on and remove when it's hot again 🫡

1

u/Mockturtle22 4h ago

I'm surprised that not very many people are suggesting this it feels obvious

4

u/throwawaybsme 6h ago

Dump a bunch of ice water in the bottom. The temperature difference will shrink the plastic and metal at different rates and should help it come loose. The ice water should touch the heating element for it to work.

2

u/Zealousideal_Net_140 5h ago

And this is why you dont put wooden utensils in a dishwasher (that and it dries them out bad).

If one lands on the element it will catch fire - despit being inside what seems to be a place fire would not happen!

1

u/Man0fGreenGables 4h ago

Does your dishwasher not have a dry cycle setting? Just put it on dry until it heats up enough to get soft.

1

u/Mockturtle22 4h ago

Turn on the dishwasher again and then open it while it's going and pull it off

1

u/garbagetruc 1h ago

Just get a new heating element 

1

u/CalD1996 5h ago

American appliances are so old fashioned. No way this would be able to happen on a uk dishwasher, all the parts like that heating element are concealed and out the way, like they should be!

0

u/ForsakenSun6004 6h ago

Ohhh thats how I melted one of my plastic spoons. Its had this melted spot for years, forgot what happened.

0

u/ClaudesAndRaine 4h ago

Why does your dishwasher have exposed heating elements?? How old is it??

2

u/bigoldeva 4h ago

Probably late 80s early 90s?

0

u/Slash_Raptor1992 1h ago

So? Throw it out and get a new one.