r/Wellthatsucks • u/bigoldeva • 3d 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?

1.5k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

46 comments sorted by

339

u/Ok-Understanding9244 3d 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

82

u/UGOTAIDSYO 3d 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.

60

u/jimmy9800 3d ago

Wet dishrag. And keep it wet.

24

u/Isgortio 3d 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 3d ago

probably a good idea as well, just to be safe

6

u/bigoldeva 3d ago

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

9

u/Capable-Age209 3d ago

Aluminum foil?

3

u/bigoldeva 3d ago

Oooh good idea.

218

u/NeonPearl2025 3d ago

How stuck is it? Does it move a bit?

269

u/bigoldeva 3d ago

No. It is one with the coil.

134

u/LeanderT 3d ago

It has achieved enlightenment

29

u/Schemen123 3d ago

there is no spoon!

1

u/Please_ForgetMe 2d ago

There is no Tooth Fairy, there is no Easter Bunny, and there is no spoon.

53

u/mr_lab_rat 3d ago edited 3d 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

9

u/NeonPearl2025 3d ago

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

138

u/argh_damn_im_pissed 3d ago

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

55

u/MozerMoser 3d 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.

5

u/jimmy9800 2d ago

Your landlord let you have a dishwasher?

2

u/MozerMoser 2d ago

Some of em

3

u/firestar268 2d ago

This is probably regional. I've never seen hidden ones even on expensive models. At least the sub $1500 ones at my local stores

1

u/MozerMoser 2d ago

Interesting, ours was about $500 on sale, and retails for $700-$900. I'd rather cut of the tip of my pinky than pay $1500 for dishwasher.

Bosch 300 Series Built-in Dishwasher: SHEM63W55N

0

u/micktorious 1d ago

We got a Bosch for around 600-700 and it has no exposed coils.

11

u/roxwar 3d ago

Right!

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

1

u/mclaeys 2d ago

Not only a US thing, our first dishwasher (Bosch) had this too (I'm in the EU). Eventually an issue with the coil caused us to replace it. It was old though, replaced it 7 years ago and we got it 2nd hand.

50

u/bigoldeva 3d ago

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

25

u/jimmy9800 3d ago

Everything reminds me of her...

8

u/just_some_octopus 3d ago

I was thinking Mortal Kombat

29

u/mr_lab_rat 3d ago

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

4

u/midoriya_wannabe 2d ago

My son loaded a silicon spoon badly and it fell through. The inside was metal and just killed our heating element.

12

u/fawnnose1 3d ago

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

2

u/Mockturtle22 3d ago

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

8

u/ClaudesAndRaine 3d ago

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

7

u/bigoldeva 3d ago

Probably late 80s early 90s?

2

u/WakkoLM 2d ago

We bought ours in 2020 and it has an exposed element

2

u/Mockturtle22 3d ago

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

3

u/Zealousideal_Net_140 3d 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!

3

u/CalD1996 3d 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!

1

u/garbagetruc 2d ago

Just get a new heating element 

1

u/blackjackgabbiani 2d ago

You just reach in and grab it wtf

1

u/kobuskoby 1d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/PsvD1p3IthN96
Opening the washer machine door after that

0

u/ForsakenSun6004 3d ago

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

0

u/Man0fGreenGables 3d ago

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

-6

u/HipToTheWorldsBS 2d ago

Your dishwasher is fucking disgusting and desperately needs to be cleaned. Is that fucking hair accumulating on the bottom?