Dishwasher safe?

Hi all
Bought a mug set up in November and started printing in December. set up all came from BMS. I'm using Ricoh printer and their European mugs. So far so good. All settings as suggested and mugs coming out looking great. I have been putting some of my first mugs through the dishwasher apprx once a week. 2 days ago unloaded dishwasher and found that colours off one mug had smudged onto another. Also compared an identical design I've not dishwashed with one that has been through the machine and there is a subtle but noticeable fading of the design. I'm marketing my mugs as dishwasher safe so pretty thrown by this. Dishwasher runs at standard 60 with powerball tablets and rinse aid ( sometimes ). I've got souvenir mugs that have been through the system for years with no ill effect.
All thoughts welcome.

You have a 12 month guarantee on those particular mugs and no they shouldn't be fading after that many washes. HAs this just happened on a couple that you know of? Have you spoken to your supplier?

Hi Justin
Only discovered this Friday so no contact with supplier yet. Just trying to get some feedback/info before contacting them this coming week. Just rechecked the ones I've been dishwashing and the fade is quite marked ( particularly the blacks ). Also noticed some bleed of colour coming out of the side of the design ( less obvious but still noticeable ).

You certainly shouldn't have colours smudging into each other or out the side of the design.

In the past, I've done a regular mug dishwasher test on three different types of mug coating (see: http://www.mugsandgifts.co.uk/dishwashing-mugs). One mug that a supplier had claimed would survive okay in a dishwasher for limited washing showed extensive sign of ink bleed and smudging, but one that used a proper dishwasher-safe coating (I believe it was the RN coating that BMS sells nowadways) showed no bleed/smudging at all.

I've also put some dishwasher-safe mugs through a mug torture test (see: http://www.mugsandgifts.co.uk/mugtorturetest). This is an extreme test but there is no noticeable smudging of colours or colours bleeding outside of the design. The worst that happens is that the sharp edges soften a little and the colours "lighten up" as they fade - and, as this is an extreme test, it's something that would happen imperceptibly over time.

There are different coatings on the market but under no circumstance should a good dishwasher-safe coating result in smudging/bleed in the short term.

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a 12 month guarantee on those particular mugs

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In the real world, how useful is such a guarantee? Your reputation is worth more than the cost of a blank mug and, if the mug does fade, you've lost the customer and your reputation.

Hi JSR
Thanks for the extra info and useful test links. You're right about reputation. I'm in the process of launching a dedicated site with on-line sales and the last thing i need is people being let down or thinking I'm trying to con them. I just want to provide an honest service and if I'm having to replace mugs after 6 months it would be a costly exercise, particularly with any non uk sales. A full chat with BMS to be done asap.

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Originally Posted by macgregorphotography

Hi all
Bought a mug set up in November and started printing in December. set up all came from BMS. I'm using Ricoh printer and their European mugs. So far so good. All settings as suggested and mugs coming out looking great. I have been putting some of my first mugs through the dishwasher apprx once a week. 2 days ago unloaded dishwasher and found that colours off one mug had smudged onto another. Also compared an identical design I've not dishwashed with one that has been through the machine and there is a subtle but noticeable fading of the design. I'm marketing my mugs as dishwasher safe so pretty thrown by this. Dishwasher runs at standard 60 with powerball tablets and rinse aid ( sometimes ). I've got souvenir mugs that have been through the system for years with no ill effect.
All thoughts welcome.

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The RN coated mugs certainly shouldn't be doing anything like you've reported above so I'd be interested to look into this further for you. If you can pm me, or email the office direct, your account reference (or postcode) and invoice number to which these relate to then I can look into this further.

Looking forward to how this pans out as I don;t have a dishwasher (well, there's the missus!) to do tests on so it's a question of faith to be calling these mugs dishwasher safe for me.

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Originally Posted by Gelert

Looking forward to how this pans out as I don;t have a dishwasher (well, there's the missus!) to do tests on so it's a question of faith to be calling these mugs dishwasher safe for me.

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This is the reason why I did the "mug torture test" for myself. Any dishwasher-safe claims rely 100% on the faith that you have in the company that's selling you the mugs in the first place (and they're not going to say that their mugs are inferior to anyone else's, are they?). The lack of documentary proof of dishwasher-safeness of mugs means that it's always going to be a matter of faith and trust in the seller.

If you're concerned that the mugs you use might not be up to the task, try the mug torture test for yourself - no dishwasher required.