I just replaced my old blender with a brand-new Oster blender, just in time for summer (margaritas and smoothies—yummm!) but the new carafe instructions say to wash it by hand in warm, soapy water, and so on.
I used to put the old carafe (also Oster) in the dishwasher. For all I know, the old one was non-dishwasher safe, too, but I didn’t know and it washed out fine. So what am I risking here by disobeying the instructions? The plastic carafe looks way too tough to melt (all sorts of plastic junk goes in the dw and comes out fine) as does the cover, and the blades are made of metal. There’s a rubber gasket that could melt, I suppose, but I doubt it will. The whole shooting match—gasket included-- on the old one went through many a cycle and suffered no damage.
I did mess the old one up by burning out the motor, and then destroyed the replacement carafe by yanking it off the base while the blades were still moving, but those are whole separate deals from the replacement carafe’s dishwasher-safety. Since it would make it more attractive to buyers, I’m thinking they wouldn’t say “Non-Dishwasher Safe” if there weren’t some cogent reason, but damned if I can figure one out. Does anyone here wash “By Hand Only” in the DW? Disaster stories? Go ahead stories?
Oh my Og…I just bought a new Oster blender today too! I’m going to make smoothies with it.
My instructions say to put the lid and the thingy at the bottom on the top dishwasher rack. I don’t think putting the carafe in the dishwasher would be a problem.
I wouldn’t worry about putting most of the parts in the dishwasher, but I would do the blade by hand. Dishwashers kill sharp blades.
FWIW I have a glass blender and I had put the plastic parts in the top rack a few times. The top rubbery lid is a little bit warped, so that I have to seesaw it in. The hard plastic parts wash fine.
Really? How so? I have put my food processor blades in the dishwasher for years and have not noticed them getting dull, but then again, perhaps the process is so slow I just haven’t noticed.
I put non-dishwasher safe stuff in the dishwasher, too. I don’t run the heating element on the dry cycle, though. I think that’s what warps plastics.
We have a lot of old dishes (pre dishwasher being common) and what happens is the heat during the sterilizing and drying cycle tends to cloud the glasses and put hairline cracks in the plates.
I don’t think you should put the rubber gasket in the washer…just the disassembled carafe and blade portion and the hard plastic base…mine’s four parts like that.
Depending on the type of plastic, it’s possible the high heat of dishwasher water, or the pounding from the spray, may cause it to be weakened. We’ve had plastic drinkware that said don’t wash in the dishwasher… after a year or so of frequent use, the plastic got all crazed / cracked-looking, and ultimately broke.
We didn’t care too much - this was everyday stuff, not anything we cared about, and if that was a side effect of normal (for us) use, then it was worth it.
So you’d probably get a shorter lifespan out of the thing. If it’s not something you use all that often, I’d think 30 seconds to hand wash would be well worth the time.
If it means I’ll need to buy a new carafe a couple of months sooner, that’s fine. They make it sound like I will initiate nuclear countdown at an SAC base if wash it once in the dishwasher.
Why sell one that can’t be washed in a dishwasher? Who the heck want’s one they have to wash by hand?
Jealousy aside (I actually want one of the old Osterisers – remember those? They had every attachment ever made, including the bread kneader thingy and the blender!), I would go ahead and just use the dishwasher. I am betting it is more of a ‘this-carafe-is-too-big-for-most-dishwashers-to-handle-well’ issue than anything else. If you plan on using it a lot, use the dishwasher, once in a while, wash by hand. As a side note – when I bought my first sari, I asked what the best way to wash it was, the wonderful little old Indian woman laughed and said, “you will probably want to handwash it, but we just throw them in the washing machine, because it is what we wear everyday.” I wash mine in the washing machine and it works just fine.
Now the real reason because I found out the hard way. The part in the base that spins the blade has a sealed bearing. Running that part through the dishwasher can force water into the bearing or the grease to leak out causing premature bearing failure. In my case the bearing failed with much squealing and the smell of burning grease.