IMHO, using the dishwsher to clean Playmobil may be more trouble than it's worth. Besides concerns about temperature, you have to worry about small things flying around and, as BlackPearl pointed out, the spray may not reach all areas that need cleaning. Also, the hot air drying may distort some items. If you ask me, the truly "lazy" way to clean the stuff is just to let it soak for a while.
Some cleaning tips that have worked well for me:
- Don't soak anything with a sticker or printing - these items can still be washed but just swish and rinse without soaking them.
- Anything with a metallic finish (shiny gold or silver) should be cleaned very carefully, if at all - there are several tips throughout the forum for these rare and delicate items.
- Fill a large sink with hot water and use a TSP (trisodium phosphate) cleaner and some regular chlorine bleach (don't soak with bleach for more than a half hour or so.) After soaking and swishing the stuff around, drain the sink (with a drain filter to catch small items) and fill with rinse water once or twice until soapiness is gone and then lay everything out on old towels dry. Very easy for large quantitites of Playmobil.
