A child's plastic cup top melted on heating element. . .how to remove residue

you can not remove the plastic safely please replace the heating element

The way to remove it is you need to raise the temprature of the element to the level when the spoon melted, not so easy of a task, but nothing else will do it.

I would fire the element, and be ready with a damp terry cloth towel, and wipe the spoon free. Another way would be to use a propane torch, but you MUST protect everything around the element or you will cause more damage.

The key is that you have to acheive the same temprature that melted the spoon, and it will release and leave little, if any residue..

you can try putting dishwasher in dry cycle and let it heat up enough to soften the plastic so you can pull it off. otherwise a new element.

Make sure the heating element is cool. Remove as much of the melted plastic off that you can by hand first. You can use a straight edge razor to lightly scrape it off. When you have most of the material removed, get some fine emery paper or steel wool to finish removing it. DO NOT use anything that is so abrasive that it penetrates the outer shell of the heating element. Once a hole forms and water gets inside, the element has to be replaced. I hope this helps you.

NOTE: I would not recommend using any kind of cleansers as they tend to leave residue.

Hi, I have an older dishwasher also and recently mywife also complained about it not cleaning right... so me being the man I amtried in vain to clean the things... Bought new spray arms online and installedthem in minutes...now the thing works like new... However I have also foundthat if the heating element goes bad then that also can mess things up bad...So I would buy new spray arms, and also check out the heating element to makesure it is working... Here is a tip that will help you with the onlinebuying...
Dishwasher SprayArms not Spinning

How to Buy ApplianceParts Online

A bad heating element causes many problems in dishwashers...

Dishwasher Problems The HeatingElement not Working

DishwasherMaintenance DishwasherResidue and Film on Dishes

heatman101

Asker's Testimonial "explanation very clear. will give it a go and see howsimple it was. thanks Ronnie " - ronnieshomes

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I would take a soldering iron and melt as much as you cant away from the element. There may be some residual but it will burn itself off after a few uses

youll have to run a whole cycle again and pay attention to when the heating element comes on again. Once its hot the plastic will be soft enough to remove it with a tight cotton rag. Use you oven mitts for protection. Hope this helps

Hi amsaunders5,

I'm Harvey the Master Plumber.

Your problem is: Children tried to surprise you by doing dishes. The plastic spatula melted and stuck on the heating coil on the bottom

This is a common problem. First, thank the children, it really wasn't their fault.
It's going to take some effort but you'll have to scrape/remove the plstic from the element. Replaceing the element is not a repair I recomend for the average homeowner.

Feel free contact me again!
Please give me a rating here at fixya before you sign off
Thank you,
Harvey your Master Plumber

This is in my opinion a design problem. The wiring connects to the spiral heating element via spring loaded contacts which only have a tiny connection surface area. These gets arcing deposits on the surfaces and will periodically require scraping clean. To get access prise off the silver top assembly which is a snap fit, unclip the circuit board and pull the plastic water pipe off the top of the plastic cylindrical tank. Then remove the two star screws from the base and prise it free. The whole internal assembly can now be carefully removed intact from the kettle housing but the circuit board at the top will need to be turned vertically and guided down the main body on the way out.

You can remove the bottom oven panel and look under it. All you have to do is remove the oven racks and locate the screws that hold the bottom panel in place. MOST ovens only have two of them. Once you have the crews removed, the panel slides back a bit, then lifts up. If there are any heavy deposits of melted plastic, remove it like you did before. Any residual material can be taken off with some fine emery paper. Wear a dust mask and vacuum all the dust out of the oven. DO NOT use this method on the oven wall as it may scatch it. This is only for anything that may have dripped below the oven pan. You may have an odor to the oven for a while, but as long as you have nothing else melted inside this should go away. Try running it on a cleaning cycle AFTER you've inspected the oven & cleaned out the remaining plastic. This will burn off anything left behind. I hope this helps you.