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I just bought a new "smoothie-blender" from Russel Hobbs, and in the manual I read that you can wash the parts not connected to the motor in the dishwasher.

There is one part though, that I'm not sure of. It is basically the base where the blade is attached.

I think that washing this piece in the sink will be a major pain, but I don't know if I can do otherwise. Would you say it's safe to put it into the dishwasher?

Noldor130884
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    That is so similar to my brand that I'm 97% sure that part is dishwasher safe. You're right, it would be a pain (pun intended) to wash it by hand (ouch!). I'm going to leave the question unanswered for now. I think it would best be answered by calling the company. That would probably be worth some nice rep if you did that and answered your own question! – Jolenealaska Mar 23 '17 at 08:22
  • I wonder, should this part be lubricated, or not? It seems to bear quite high loads and a lot of friction. Leaving it here because I hope this to be addressed in an answer. And +1 for the question. – Mołot Mar 23 '17 at 08:50
  • Well, I don't know. It would be reasonable to think it, but it doesn't look like it's lubricated anywhere. – Noldor130884 Mar 23 '17 at 08:52

1 Answers1

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Many blenders can be decently cleaned by just blending a couple changes of water, sometimes with detergent added in the first change, in them.

If the manufacturer says the part is dishwasher safe (adhere strictly to instructions about temperatures, detergents, and racks to be used!) and it degrades, get a warranty replacement.

There are two potentially problematic spots in a blender jar where a dishwasher could ruin things:

  • Seals.

  • Blades.

    Some blender designs use sharp blades made like knife blades - such are sensitive to:

    • mechanical edge damage (if the blade is allowed to bang against anything else in the dishwasher!),
    • thermal degradation (prolonged heating even at 70/80°C can mess up the temper of a blade in the long run),
    • corrosion (almost all hardenable knife steel, even if called stainless, is more corrosion sensitive than pot&pan type nickel austenitic stainless steel. If the manufacturer used an extraordinarily corrosion proof blade material like SM-100 alloy or H1 steel, they would for sure advertise it and ask for quite a markup.

    Other blender designs work with rather blunt blades that rely on sheer collision force, such designs could be expected to hardly suffer from the abovementioned effects.

rackandboneman
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  • The point is I don't know what the manufacturer means with "parts connected to the motor". Other than that, I imagine that the problems with seals and blades are common with all the kinds of blenders. +1 anyway for the way you clean your blenders. Didn't think about that! – Noldor130884 Mar 23 '17 at 09:04
  • At least with one of my blenders (Philips HR2096 I think), this way of cleaning is suggested in Manuel's helpful book, supplied with the blender... – rackandboneman Mar 24 '17 at 09:38