How to clean up broken glass in a dish-washer

[domtam]

Hi all,

Last night after I had finished loading dirty glasses and dishes to my Whirlpool dishwasher, I closed the dishwasher door and heard glass breaking sound. I opened the door and realized that a small glass was broken inside the dishwasher. I tried my best to pick up most broken glass pieces inside the dishwasher. However, it's really hard because some of those broken pieces were very tiny and they looked like water drop inside the dishwasher. I then ran two full cycles of dishwashing in an attempt to rinse all those broken pieces out from dishwasher.

Still, I'm a bit worried if there are still any remanining pieces of broken glasses inside the dishwasher. Even though the remaining pieces may be small , the result will be very bad if any of them got into the dish or cup in the future.

What's the best way to ensure that all of the broken glass pieces have been cleaned up from the dishwasher? Do I really need to call a professional technican to do this job?

Thanks in advance for any advice / suggestion Dom

[Vox Humana]

If your Whirlpool is like my Kitchen Aid (probably exactly the same motor), take out the bottom rack. You should be able to remove the bottom wash arm by unscrewing a nut on the top of the arm. You can lift it out, and then there should be a removable rubber strainer that encircles the wash arm. Remove that. You should be able to use a shop vac to suck up any broken glass. The solid waste disposal in the dishwasher will probably just grind up the bit you miss and pump them away.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Vacuum cleaner. be sure it is dry inside so nothing sticks.

[v]

What would the professional technician do???

Open door.

Leave open overnight so inside is dry.

Remove dishes so there is room to work.

Dump out the screen around the drain, and vacuum the bottom of the dishwasher.

If you were nearby, I'd come over and do the vacuuming part for say $100 so that you could feel it was done professionally, that is, for a fee. Heck, I'd even remove the dishes.

You are not the first person who has broken a glass inside a dishwasher. Happens all the time.

If you broke one in the sink, would you get a professional for that too!

Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.

[Tracey]

Try turning off all the lights in the room (at night) and looking inside with a flashlight. Any glass specks should show up quickly in the light of the flashlight. You can then just wipe the whole inside (after you take the racks out) with a wet paper towel. I think that would get all of them out.

[HeyBub]

Small bits of glass won't hurt you. There are people who eat light bulbs (mostly professional football players) just for a lark.

Have you ever seen an enameled pot that didn't have a chip? Where do you think the chip went?

Don't worry about it.

[Gonz]

wrote

No, you can do this job yourself. You will need a helping hand (neighbor, friend etc) and flashlight. First empty the dishwasher. Remove racks. Make sure the heat dry is in the off position. Climb in with your flashlight. Have your friendly neighbor latch the door and hit the pan or extra cycle button. After 2hrs, you won't give a rat's behind about the glass.

[Art]

Yep I was told buy a MD pathologist that those Hitchcock murder mysteries involving adding ground glass to food don't work. Haven't verified it though.

[Jim Yanik]

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in news:ML_Zd.5806$qN3.1744@trndny01:

Or use a wet/dry shop-vac.

[Carla]

replying to domtam, Carla wrote: hi This just happened to me this morning. First of all I swore and then swore some more. The i got busy picking out all of the large pieces and them all the medium and small pieces. When i couldn't get any more of the pieces out, I took paper towel and soaked up all of the water. A lot of the smaller pieces i couldn't pick up without cutting myself came up with the water on the paper towel. when the inside of the dishwasher was dry, I then went to the store and bought 3 cans of the pillsbury biscuits that need to be baked (generic version). I open up the can and flattened out one biscuit and then just patted the inside of the dishwasher to pick up any remaining shards of glass. And repeat and repeat until all glass shards are gone. Please keep in mind that you should dry the inside of the dishwasher with paper towel as much a possible beforehand. I took the bottom rack out and then i took out the little mesh basket that catches all the crud, and dried that out with paper towel and then used a biscuit to get any remaining shard of glass out of that.

What a nightmare- but it worked. I didn't want to spend $50 on a shop vac. this cost me about $6 for the paper towels which i already had and the biscuits.

[Your Mother]

This usually happens when something strikes a glass object during the wash cycle. Or, if you are like me, you are unloading clean dishes and drop a plate unto a glass bowl still in the dishwasher. However it happened, it stinks,

Here is what I did.

#1 Take all of the non-broken stuff out of the dishwasher and set it on the counter, you're going to run it through again to get rid of any hidden glass shards.

#2 Then CAREFULLY pick up the large shards of glass (use leather gloves if you have them). Try to pick up anything large enough that you don't have to touch the sharp edges. When in doubt, leave it for the next step.

When I deal with broken glass I always put it in a container separate from my trash can. That way no one gets cut emptying the trash, and when I put it out on the curb I label it so the trash guys don't get a bad surprise.

#3. After the big pieces have been removed, take an old nylon stocking (no holes) and slide it over the end of the hose of your vacuum. Then vacuum out the bottom of the dishwasher, If the stocking gathers a lot of glass, cut the power on the vacuum and let the glass fall into your container.

#4. After you have vacuumed everything out, take a lent roller and roll it all over the inside of your washer, changing sheet as needed. This works if the insider of your washer is dry. If it is still wet, use a wet paper towel, but use gloves to avoid shards in your hands.

#5. I then put the used lint roller sheets (or paper towel), and old stocking in the same container as the broken glass.

#6. Run a rinse cycle with the dishwasher empty and then reload the dishes and run a full cycle and you should be in the clear.

• If you really want to go the extra mile after you run the dishes through again, you could remove the dishwasher's filter and rinse it to remove any glass. But at that point the shards should be out of circulation and no longer be a risk if they just remain in the filter.