DishWasher Good For Cleaning/Sterlizing Whistles

[KDMARTINKY]

Ok, call me crazy, but lastnight I placed a couple of my aluminum (non-wood fippled) whistles in the dishwasher, the results were that I had two very sqeaky clean whistles that now have been sterlized & they smell good two. I also used some of the dish-dry solution for clogging issues.

Hey works for me........

Any thoughts? Has anyone else done this?

[Feadin]

I wash every new whistle I make with the same detergent I use for dishes, it surely works very good, a lot better than common soap

[StewySmoot]

Keith,
Are you cleaning the tunables this way?

[KDMARTINKY]

I haven't yet. I don't believe that it would hurt them though. You would just need to lube the slide again after the wash.

[Craig Stuntz]

Ok, call me crazy, but lastnight I placed a couple of my aluminum (non-wood fippled) whistles in the dishwasher

Don't try it with a Sweetone!

[blackhawk]

I don't know what the melting point of a plastic fipple is, but the industry standard temperature for dishwashers is 180 degrees, at which point all harmful bacteria die. I think that much heat might be detrimental for some whistles.

[fluti31415]

Ok, call me crazy, but lastnight I placed a couple of my aluminum (non-wood fippled) whistles in the dishwasher, the results were that I had two very sqeaky clean whistles that now have been sterlized & they smell good two. I also used some of the dish-dry solution for clogging issues.

Hey works for me........

Any thoughts? Has anyone else done this?

You said squeaky clean?

[Impempe]

Hey I'm gonna try that. It sounds like it may be worth a shot. My Chieftain is getting way too dirty and needs a good going over. I was just plucking up courage...
Ian

[KDMARTINKY]

Ok, I had a extra feadog and ran it through last night. DON'T Do IT! The mouth piece now has a very small crack.

Now I haven't had any problems at all running my FULL metal (Aluminum, Brass, etc) whistles through it.

But like I said I wouldn't try it with any whistle with plastic, ABS, PVC, opr wood in the design just to be safe.

Good Luck.

[Wanderer]

Ok, I had a extra feadog and ran it through last night. DON'T Do IT! The mouth piece now has a very small crack.

Now I haven't had any problems at all running my FULL metal (Aluminum, Brass, etc) whistles through it.

But like I said I wouldn't try it with any whistle with plastic, ABS, PVC, opr wood in the design just to be safe.

Good Luck.

Kieth, where's the crack on your mouthpiece?

I keep hearing people say (myself included) that their feadog heads cracked. I will probably write them and letting them know of a possible defect if they're all in the same place.

[KDMARTINKY]

The crack wasn't there prior to me placing the Feadog in the washer. But the crack is small, but present on the frontside from where it attached to the bodie and leads to the window.

So I beleive the temperature while in the dishwasher caused the damage and it still plays.

So no complaints, just a lesson learned.

[The Weekenders]

Did you turn OFF the heat drying cycle? We do that anyway so it won't warp the Tupperware and plastic cups.

Dishwashing detergent has pretty harsh bleach. That would be my concern, that it might damage or perhaps alter the nature of Delrin, sort of like how the sun wrecks car bumpers and such...

[gonzo914]

Submitted for your consideration --

I have put brass in a dishwasher with Cascade, and it (the brass) turned nasty green.

Most diswashers and cookware manufacturers do not recommend putting aluminum cookware in a dishwasher. The dishwasher detergent is very alkali, and it eats hell out of aluminum.

I can recall from my restaurant days how assiduously running aluminum pots through the dishwasher eventually ate away the pots to paper thinness.

Based on this, I certainly wouldn't put a metal whistle in the dishwasher. Well, I might put a brass Generation in there just for the hell of it to see if I could get it to turn green, but nothing else.

gonzo

[Lambchop]

I wouldn't wash any sort of whistle in the dishwasher.

As has been pointed out, dishwasher detergent is etches the finish on china and glass and is ruinous to metals. Calphalon voids the warranty on any of their hard-anodized aluminum that has been in a dishwasher. It utterly destroys the finish, and it's a finish that is so hard Comet is recommended to clean it.

In addition to that, whistles are put together with glues which will dissolve or melt in the water and heat, and they have plastics that aren't necessarily durable enough to withstand machine washing. I'm sure, too, that heat-induced expansion and contraction isn't a good thing for the whistle. You might get an invisible crack in a fipple plug.

Besides, dishwashers aren't really good at getting the insides of stuff that small.

(They are, however, excellent for cleaning mousepads! Just clothes-pin them to the top rack! I recommend rinsing them thoroughly afterward in plain water,especially if they're the spongy kind.)

Why don't you do a quick wash in regular dishwashing liquid? Like Dawn? Or baby shampoo? You can get the crevices with a Q-tip.

Or, if you have a Water-Pik you might try using that to get any bits out of the mouthpiece area. (Cleaning the whole bathroom at the same time!)

Of course, if one didn't eat while playing . . .

[Wanderer]

The crack wasn't there prior to me placing the Feadog in the washer. But the crack is small, but present on the frontside from where it attached to the bodie and leads to the window.

So I beleive the temperature while in the dishwasher caused the damage and it still plays.

So no complaints, just a lesson learned.

My crack wasn't there at first either..if there's a defect in the whistle, I'm sure the heat would bring it out...I'll post pictures of my crack when I get home, and maybe we can compare notes. If they've got a cracking problem, they really should know about it.