smells like burning

Today, I walked in my front door to be greeted by the smell of burning plastic.

Of course, my first instinct was to follow my nose; what was causing this? Had I left the coffee maker on? Did I forget to turn the flatiron off before leaving the house? Will my home insurance cover the potential damage? Why is my cat looking at me like that? What have I done?!

After confirming the source was neither the flatiron or the coffee maker, I asked myself what other appliance in my house gets hot. I opened the dishwasher.

And there it was. Sure enough, one of my small rubbermaid lids ended up against the heating element at the bottom of my dishwasher, causing it to melt and burn. These things are supposed to be "dishwasher safe", right?

I've understood from a very young age that plastic isn't likely to actually catch fire before melting, but I've never really investigated the reason for this. After my dishwasher incident today, I've done some reading on burning plastic. If you're also curious as to why plastic melts first and then burns, check this out.

Now, what exactly am I smelling? I've visited Rubbermaid's FAQ site for some information in regard to the composition of these containers, but didn't have much success.

Someone did ask though about the fire rating of these containers. The Rubbermaid answer was this: 

Answer: 

"Rubbermaid Home Products are not treated with flame- retardants and most will burn. They are household products and have not been submitted to any agency for flammability testing or certification. Most will melt at temperatures between 260 and 320 degrees Fahrenheit and will self-ignite at about 600 degrees Fahrenheit."

600 Degrees Fahrenheit!? Well say, now I'm curious as to how hot my dishwasher gets! Surely, it can't be as hot as a pizza oven! 

Here's a pretty straight forward explanation of how dishwashers work , but this article states that heating elements reach a meager 140 degrees. Can that be true when I've seen recipes for how to cook fish in a dishwasher? (Wow, that might actually end up smelling worse than my plastic lid). At any rate, none of the estimates I found today came anywhere close 600 degrees. I guess that means I don't need to worry about burning the house down...but should I worry about the smell?

When plastic burns, it releases dangerous dioxins. Have I mentioned I immediately opened all the windows? Have I mentioned it wasn't warm today? Have I mentioned the way my cat was looking at me? Dioxins are scary stuff, and no one should be breathing them in. Don't burn plastic. End of story.

And maybe remember to put your little rubbermaid lids in the silverware tray going forward; I know I will. For now though, I'll have to tolerate an incomplete rubbermaid set. sigh. Life's so hard.