How to Maintain Your Garbage Disposal

The garbage disposal is one of the most convenient but least talked about appliances in your house hold. Garbage disposals can make quick work of food scraps and other debris to keep your sink pipes open and running smoothly. Just like any other appliance, garbage disposals need a little tender, love, and care to keep them operating efficiently. Here are some basic tips on how to maintain your garbage disposal.

How You Can Maintain Your Garbage Disposal

Note: Never reach into a garbage disposal unless it has been powered off. Even with the power off you should use caution and wear thick gloves.

Use your garbage disposal regularly. This can prevent the disposal from rusting, gumming up and gathering excess debris.

Keep your blades sharp. You don’t need to physically pull out your garbage disposal to sharpen the blades but a little tough cutting such as very small animal bones or egg shells will actually help and sharpen the blades.

Always avoid putting non-food items in your garbage disposal such as plastics, metals and other foreign material. These materials could quickly leave you with a costly bill to replace your disposal.

Always flush your garbage disposal. After you have turned the garbage disposal, allow water to run for several seconds to flush away all food and debris. Try to use cold water and not hot water. Hot water can liquefy and grease or fats, causing your sink and pipes to clog.

Avoid dropping large items into the garbage disposal. Disposals are meant to break up smaller items, large items may cause clogging or breaking. So if you have large food debris, toss it into the trash instead. This includes common items like chicken legs and corn cobs.

Never pour grease or fats into the garbage disposal. Your garbage disposal can’t do much when it comes to eliminating fat or grease so they will just end up clogging your drain.

Cleaning Your Garbage Disposal

Try cleaning your disposal at least once a month but preferably more often. You can pour dish soap into a running garbage disposal with running cold water to clean. If you want a deeper clean you can let baking soda sit on the disposal overnight before flushing it with vinegar, this line of cleaning will have the added benefit of deodorizing.

Maintaining your garbage disposal is simple as long as you follow these simple dos and don’ts. A garbage disposal on a healthy maintenance regimen will merrily grind and flush away food debris for years.