Newbie Question Dishwasher?

I would appreciate any help any informed scrapper can give me with my situation.

This is literally my first week scrapping and I just made my first free craigslist pickup. It was for a free dishwasher only 8 minutes away from where I work. I went to pick it up and as I was in the process of taking it, I became aware that it seems to be primarily plastic. (It was pretty light being carried out by the owner and me.)

I had thought it would be mostly metal, somewhat heavy, and possibly with a motor. At this point I don't know what my best option is.

1) My town has a once a year free metal pickup scheduled by appointment through the city. I can call them and have them pick it up and be done with it. (A maximum of 5 items free per year) I would hold off until I accumulated 5 items to maximize this service. (I can store it in my warehouse until then.)

2) There are 2 scrapyards that are literally no more than a quarter of a mile from where I work. I can stop by and see if they would take it, even if I get no money. ( iaven't contacted either scrapyard for prices or policies yet.
3) I can try and do what I was originally going to try and do, namely, process it for scrap and cash it in.

My question is: “What would you do if you found yourself in my position?” Are there any parts worthwhile to get at, or should I view this as a learning experience, cut my losses and move on?

Also, are most dishwashers more “non”metal than metal? And do you guys pass them up if you have the choice?

Any and all help you can give is greatly appreciated.

I will try and post pics soon.

Thanks

I will try and post pics soon.

Originally Posted by Hypoman

I would process it. There will be a lot of plastic in it but there is also a motor, some wiring, and some brass and steel as well. I personally don't pass anything up if it's free and that close. But that's just me. The tub of dishwashers is usually made from plastic. If you are willing to let it sit around so the county can pick it up, why not just clean it yourself, that's what they'll do with it.

I agree with hypoman. I use to not mess with them until I took one completely apart. There is usually a small brass fitting or two, but inside sometimes there is stainless steel parts. Also, if you take the door apart there is a mass of insulated wire back there. Sometimes the door itself has a sheet of aluminum on the outside, so that is more for the aluminum stash. Not to mention the electric motor at the bottom. Take it completely apart, and you will find that it can be worth messing with. Once you have done that one you can determine whether it is worth your time. I usually do not put a dollar amount on my time like other folks might, as a lot of my disassembly is done when I have nothing else to do, so it is something that helps fill in dead time, and I hate sitting around twiddling my thumbs.

Originally Posted by bailey

I would appreciate any help any informed scrapper can give me with my situation.

This is literally my first week scrapping and I just made my first free craigslist pickup. It was for a free dishwasher only 8 minutes away from where I work. I went to pick it up and as I was in the process of taking it, I became aware that it seems to be primarily plastic. (It was pretty light being carried out by the owner and me.)

I had thought it would be mostly metal, somewhat heavy, and possibly with a motor. At this point I don't know what my best option is.

1) My town has a once a year free metal pickup scheduled by appointment through the city. I can call them and have them pick it up and be done with it. (A maximum of 5 items free per year) I would hold off until I accumulated 5 items to maximize this service. (I can store it in my warehouse until then.)

2) There are 2 scrapyards that are literally no more than a quarter of a mile from where I work. I can stop by and see if they would take it, even if I get no money. ( iaven't contacted either scrapyard for prices or policies yet.
3) I can try and do what I was originally going to try and do, namely, process it for scrap and cash it in.

My question is: “What would you do if you found yourself in my position?” Are there any parts worthwhile to get at, or should I view this as a learning experience, cut my losses and move on?

Also, are most dishwashers more “non”metal than metal? And do you guys pass them up if you have the choice?

Any and all help you can give is greatly appreciated.

I will try and post pics soon.

Thanks

I will try and post pics soon.

Process it brother, process it!!! More than meets the eye!

scrap yards by me wont take them. Too much plastic they say. But they take fridges! Remove motor, copper water line for sure. Call your yard and ask if they will take it, if they wont then break it down to the plastic shell / tub.

Originally Posted by hobo finds

scrap yards by me wont take them. Too much plastic they say. But they take fridges! Remove motor, copper water line for sure. Call your yard and ask if they will take it, if they wont then break it down to the plastic shell / tub.

Ours take them, but I am sure it is because of what is inside of them though.

If the dish washer looks good refurbish it then sell, 99 percent of the time a glass broke and a piece found its way into the macerateor jamming the motor. Simply remove the broken glass and resemble.

Wash her up, spray a wiff of Ozium into the unit it will smell as new. If the color is black, there are more painted panels behind this one for color changes.

No I am not an appliance repairman, I'm a junk man who loves the smell of money.

Regards
Gustavus

a wiff of Ozium. Thats just what I need!

I have only had one dishwasher to scrap. I completely broke it down and I use the plastic tub turned on it's back as a storage vessel. It has some built in handles that allow for dragging it when full and being made of plastic it slides fairly easy on grass, gravel or concrete. I could actually use a few more of these.

I have taken several dishwashers that are mostly plastic to the scrap yard and they have never turned them down. I always take the motor off and pull the wiring out. Sometimes their will be a small piece of brass for the inlet pipe.

My buddy owns a appliance repair shop and we took a 18ft dual axle landscaping trailer loaded down with about 25 dishwashers. All but a few were all plastic tubs, still got full price for the load. Not a word said.

Yep my yard pays me tin price for dishwasher carcasses. So i pull the motor and wire and any fitting or SS of then throw it in the shred pile.

On a side note, I like to use the utensil rack to put tools in and carry to the work bench or outside to a project.

First off, I would like to thank everyone who responded. I had been reading posts in the forum for a few days before going out today and "couldn't put the book down", so to speak. It's a great community.

It definitely seems like I found something that is far more useful than I originally thought. (I don't think it would have occurred to me to use the plastic tub as a storage vessel as suggested, to say nothing of all the potential $ to eventually be realized when it is all said and done.) I didn't think something that light would have as much as was mentioned here. I did see a brass fitting before my original posting, but my untrained eye saw little else, the motor looked really small and I didn't know if it was worth it. I will start tearing it apart when I have time and I am sure I will learn a thing or two.

Thanks again.

PS

Given that I completely missed the boat on this one, does anyone know of any direct links to posts that say something like; "the following items are easily overlooked but worth picking up, or conversely, look much better than they actually are, stay away? For someone as green as me, that would be EXTREMELY helpful.

Thanks again.