SS dishwasher bodies with insulation

I have about 100 dishwashers with SS bodies that I am waiting to process. MOST of them have the heavy rubber/plastic insulation that is basically glued to the body. My yard says they are dirty ss, and will only take them as shred. Anyone have any ideas about removing this insulation? I have tried chisels and scrapers, but none of them work worth a flip. Sure would hate to have to turn them in as shred. There is one type of insulation that if I leave it out in the sun during the hotter days, it will fall off on its own. The other types, not so much, and it is these types that I am looking for suggestions.

cant you get some teens from your family or area to help u for a small fee?

I guess I have never seen this kind I thought SS ones the SS is only on the front of the DW

Theres been a thread about this before.
If they are the tar lined ones....

I have figured out that if I leave them outside overnight to get cold.
I can put on earmuffs and bash the inside of the dishwasher with a rubber mallet and the tar breaks off in small slabs.

But, tell me, how did you end up with a hundred dishwashers?.

Originally Posted by olddude

Don,t know what to tell you Mike. I have dealt with many of these as well as trying to break down friges, and have not found an easy way. it is so labor intensive I just cut off the easy goodies and bite the bullet on the rest..

This is what I may end up doing.

Originally Posted by msmoorad

cant you get some teens from your family or area to help u for a small fee?

Would not really be worth it.

Originally Posted by eesakiwi

Theres been a thread about this before.
If they are the tar lined ones....

I have figured out that if I leave them outside overnight to get cold.
I can put on earmuffs and bash the inside of the dishwasher with a rubber mallet and the tar breaks off in small slabs.

But, tell me, how did you end up with a hundred dishwashers?.

I have actually taken about 500 already to the scrap yard, mainly the ones with the heavy plastic body. These stainless ones I have stockpiled I am waiting to process. I got a call from a plumbing company last year, asking if I could pick up about 75 dishwashers. They grossly underestimated, there was over 300. I hauled them all out and helped them get their yard in order, so they let me continue picking all the stuff up. I get the dishwashers (plastic and metal body), an occasional gas stove, some water heaters, and occasionally a sink with the brass faucets. Has been a very lucrative partnership, I keep their yard from getting cluttered again, and I get a consistent source of scrap. Usually go once every other week, and they have enough to fill a 16 ft flatbed trailer. What is nice is they gave me the code to the gate locks, so I can go any time I want, and I text them letting them know I was there and I made sure the gates were locked. Win-win.

Might try this, thanks.

I don't know how much an outfit costs but if you're going to be doing dishwashers as a regular gig, you might want to check out someone who uses very high pressure water "cutter" (for lack of a better word). I ate lunch with a guy at a Scout learning day one time that used one of this outfits for his job. Sounds like they can do a lot of amazing things. Might just cut that nasty insulation right on off ??

I get those from time to time. I can't bring myself to turn them in as "dirty" so I get the tar gunk off. The easiest way I've found is to use a propane torch to heat up the tar gunk and scrape it with a putty knife. Keep in mind, I'm not setting the stuff on fire or burning it, just applying some heat so the gunk will soften and it will scrape off pretty easy. The next one I get, I'm going to try a heat gun and see if that works better.

Wayne,

This is right off the wall, but I've used an air powered "flux chipping hammer" for stuff like what you're looking at. Its made for chipping welding flux, with a chisel about an inch wide but makes other stuff move pretty well. I would guess it would work best with cold or frozen tar because the tar starts to act like glass and will shatter from the impacts.

I've seen similar tools with wider blades made specially for uprooting linoleum but you might need a bigger air hammer to drive them through tar. Your local tool rental shop might be your friend here to find out what works for you before you buy anything.

What kind of of price upgrade are you looking at for cleaning? The stainless from appliances is pretty low grade so the yards will lowball you....as you are seeing....lowballing right to shred price! Are there any other yards around who might play ball with you on the washers with the tar left in them?

Jon.

My non-ferrous guy (I think there are only 2 in my metro) will take non-magnetic ss but that's all. The only steel place in town will take magnetic ss but only as shred. Hopefully he has places that will pay for different types of ss to make it worth his while if its magnetic at all. Our going rate for non-magnetic ss is about 50 cents pound right now...

I did one of these SS dishwashers yesterday. I do like olddude says take the easy stuff without the tar. I did set the SS coated with tar to the side, for now it is not going into the shred bin. Well see if our cold spell (down to 39 degrees this morning) made removing the tar any easier, as I like to get paid better for 300 series stainless. Don't blame the yards for not wanting all that tar too!

BBC- I hope that 39 F chills out the "tar" enough to remove. It was -11 F on my deck this morning. Wonder what that does to the tar