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When my daughter was about 3 years old,I went on Ebay and bought a huge bag of used Lego. I think it was 10KG or so. My wife nearly got a heart attack, especial

When my daughter was about 3 years old,I went on Ebay and bought a huge bag of used Lego. I think it was 10KG or so. My wife nearly got a heart attack, especially when I poured all those little pieces into the bath and filled it up with water,so I could wash them a bit. Then ended up catching the smallest pieces when I pulled the plug. We poured all those pieces in the living room. Took like 3 days to dry out. We built so many things since then. There are lots of sets mixed together,I don't care nor does my daughter. It's still nice to build something, especially when all you do at work is sending emails and writing some code here and there.

eru 5y ago
The advice I got was to stick your dirty second-hand Lego in a pillow case, zip it shut, and put it through the washing machine. Though that route can only take quite a bit less than 10kg at a time.
- nkrisc 5y ago
  Glad to get this advice. My parents sent me all my old LEGOs a while ago and I’m still in the process of disassembling all the sets, though at least organized into plates, bricks, etc. Fortunately I know they’re not truly dirty, though they’re still pretty dusty so a good wash will help.
  - phil21 5y ago
    Dishwasher (on low temp) also works fairly well, just don't use any (or a very small amount) of detergent. I like to put about 1kg or so in the "delicates" laundry mesh bags when I have a lot of used legos to wash. Also need to reiterate do not heat dry or use hot cycles if you go this route :)
    - delecti 5y ago
      They're made of ABS, which doesn't begin to soften until a bit over the boiling point of water (~104-105 C). It's a bit close to risk it, but even the hot cycle might be fine as long as it doesn't go much past boiling off the water. Definitely avoid cleaning with acetone though; that'll turn it into goo.
    - nkrisc 5y ago
      Our dishwasher is newer so I think I’ll try it in the washing machine first, but that’s a good idea as well.
    - usefulcat 5y ago
      I've run duplos through the dishwasher many times with no problems at all. On the regular cycle with dishes. Our dishwasher (Bosch) doesn't have a heating element for drying, it just makes the water really hot and waits for the water to evaporate from the hot dishes.
      - phil21 5y ago
        Fair enough, I've used quite cheap dishwashers in the past for this - where the heating element is used to heat the water up. Due to general cheapness, I'm sure there were hotspots. That said, under hot loads with an old/cheap dishwasher I've only had issues with the large baseplates and very large/thin elements typically found in Technic sets - everything else has turned out fine.

eru 5y ago

The advice I got was to stick your dirty second-hand Lego in a pillow case, zip it shut, and put it through the washing machine. Though that route can only take quite a bit less than 10kg at a time.

nkrisc 5y ago
Glad to get this advice. My parents sent me all my old LEGOs a while ago and I’m still in the process of disassembling all the sets, though at least organized into plates, bricks, etc. Fortunately I know they’re not truly dirty, though they’re still pretty dusty so a good wash will help.
- phil21 5y ago
  Dishwasher (on low temp) also works fairly well, just don't use any (or a very small amount) of detergent. I like to put about 1kg or so in the "delicates" laundry mesh bags when I have a lot of used legos to wash. Also need to reiterate do not heat dry or use hot cycles if you go this route :)
  - delecti 5y ago
    They're made of ABS, which doesn't begin to soften until a bit over the boiling point of water (~104-105 C). It's a bit close to risk it, but even the hot cycle might be fine as long as it doesn't go much past boiling off the water. Definitely avoid cleaning with acetone though; that'll turn it into goo.
  - nkrisc 5y ago
    Our dishwasher is newer so I think I’ll try it in the washing machine first, but that’s a good idea as well.
  - usefulcat 5y ago
    I've run duplos through the dishwasher many times with no problems at all. On the regular cycle with dishes. Our dishwasher (Bosch) doesn't have a heating element for drying, it just makes the water really hot and waits for the water to evaporate from the hot dishes.
    - phil21 5y ago
      Fair enough, I've used quite cheap dishwashers in the past for this - where the heating element is used to heat the water up. Due to general cheapness, I'm sure there were hotspots. That said, under hot loads with an old/cheap dishwasher I've only had issues with the large baseplates and very large/thin elements typically found in Technic sets - everything else has turned out fine.