wash track in dishwasher?

[sandiway]

I had a minor disaster. Kitchen rebuild at home. New granite countertop. Wrong size. So the workmen decided to cut it in place. Short story, the layout was on the table next to the kitchen (right where the pic was taken) and was covered in granite dust. (I know, I should have thought of it and the workmen should have said, "do you want to cover anything first?"). Backsplash in granite not yet done. See pic, so there could be more dust in a couple more days. Anyway, my plan to to disassemble the layout, vacuum the tatami. And clean the track. So I thought of a shortcut. Put the track in the dishwasher. No detergent. And dry afterwards quickly. Tomix Wide PC track. Will it rust?

P.S. I was looking at this expanse of granite and I was thinking, "man, I could run a nice layout here...."

Edited July 13, 2020 by sandiway

[Kiha66]

I've washed kato unitrak in the sink with warm water and soap, I would be careful to not put too much pressure or heat on them but handwashing seemed to work fine.  I wouldn't wash any sort of electrical or mechanical track pieces (like power feeds or switches), although wiping those with a wet paper towel should be ok.  

[sandiway]

30 minutes ago, Kiha66 said:

 I wouldn't wash any sort of electrical or mechanical track pieces (like power feeds or switches), although wiping those with a wet paper towel should be ok.  

Yes, plus I have TCS sensor embedded tracks too.

[katoftw]

Too hot me thinks. Damp cloth and lots of free time is what you need.

[sandiway]

12 hours ago, katoftw said:

Too hot me thinks. Damp cloth and lots of free time is what you need.

Lots of free time... sigh, that's why they call it a hobby 🙂

 

Yeah, I don't want track plastic warping.

[cteno4]

If you can turn off the hot water and dry cycle it’s fine, many folks have done this with larger batches of track to wash. But a tub of simply warm soapy water soak for a while, then wash with a rag or soft brush, then rinse well and air dry is safe and not horridly hard work. Fan over the drying track will help and flip it over a few times.

 

dontcha love workers like that! They do the job every day you think the bit about not spewing crap all over folks homes would be first In their heads, but many if you mention it will look at you like the concept never ever came across their minds! Others get wildly silly wirh tarps, floor covers and such to just walk in and out and not do anything really dirty! I now have the roll of 2mil plastic and painters tape handy and follow any workers around and wall them off when they don’t take precautions, I’ve given up they will not think I’m talking Slovakian if they don’t do it as practice and I have to ask them.

 

jeff

[chadbag]

So the non electronic track -- put in dishwasher without the heat dry cycle. I wouldn't put any detergent.  I don't think the hot water matters, as the water won't be that hot -- not hot enough I would think to hurt the plastic --  but the dry cycle would.  

 

The reason I would put it in the dishwasher is that you get spraying agitation to help move the crap off the tracks.   Not just the water (which you can do in a sink) but the water agitation of being sprayed (however you machine moves the water to circulate it).

 

 

Once done, take it out and dab the water off and then let it air dry, turning it over a few times.  Blow dry low heat might work well as well if you want to get the water off quickly.  

[Kanpai Keith]

Amorphous polymers such as polystyrene can warp if they become too hot.  There might be moulded in stresses in the polymeric chains that “relive” when they become hot outside of the mould.  If the material is semi-crystalline then you might be ok, but there’s always a risk.  Any salt in the dishwasher may have an electrolytic effect and cause discolouration of the rails, depending on what they are made from.  This might add an ageing effect that might be acceptable.

 

None of this is from any practical experience but from the best of my engineering knowledge.

[sandiway]

On 8/8/2020 at 12:05 PM, Kanpai Keith said:

Amorphous polymers such as polystyrene can warp if they become too hot.

 

I tested our new dishwasher with an ice cream container. Not sure what kind of plastic it is, but it sure warped permanently.

 

I'm not even sure I can turn off the hot water feature.

Edited August 13, 2020 by sandiway

[cteno4]

was the dry cycle or sanitize cycle off?

 

always good to test!

 

jeff

[chadbag]

1 hour ago, sandiway said:

 

I tested our new dishwasher with an ice cream container. Not sure what kind of plastic it is, but it sure warped permanently.

 

I'm not even sure I can turn off the hot water feature.

 

I would bet you had some sort of feature turned on that uses a generated-heat ability -- like Jeff said -- dry cycle or sanitize or something similar.  Or your dishwasher has a heated water cycle where the dishwasher heats the water itself to a much higher temperature than you normally get from your house plumbing.

 

I run all sorts of plastic "not dishwasher safe" stuff in our dishwasher.  We've just turned off the heated dry cycle and let stuff air dry.

Edited August 13, 2020 by chadbag

[Welshbloke]

Warm water and hand soap in a sink or basin. Use an old toothbrush for anything needing scrubbing.

 

Detergents intended for washing dishes by hand seem to have become very aggressive in the past decade or two, they now cause paint to bloom and fade or fall off. Hand soap is gentler for obvious reasons.

 

Having seen what dishwasher tablets will do to an aluminium kettle I wouldn't put them anywhere near track, they're downright brutal. The advice from the manufacturer was to boil half a tablet to pre-clean it before use, this pretty much etched the inside and left an etched line down the front where it boiled over through the spout!

[chadbag]

Yeah I probably wouldn't use the tablets or actual dishwasher soap if I put it in the dishwasher.  I couple drops of hand soap or something like that.  Mainly the agitation of the warm water is what I would be after.