The garbage disposal is one of those modern conveniences that makes your life a lot easier. It lessens the amount of garbage you have to deal with, helps your kitchen drainage system run more smoothly, and in general saves you a lot of headaches. Despite its often-sturdy construction, however, there will be times when your garbage disposal breaks down or malfunctions occur. Read on to find out how to limit these occurrences as much as possible.
Always Run the Disposal with Cold Water
Every time you use the disposal to grind up food waste, you should do so with a steady flow of cold water. This benefits your disposal in a number of ways. First, it helps solidify liquids like oil and grease so that the disposal can chop them into smaller pieces. If you don’t do this, the liquids might flow into the trap and solidify there. This will create a blockage that you will likely need a professional to fix. The second reason is simply that the water will help to wash away the detritus once your garbage disposal is through with it. This prevents unnecessary buildup in the disposal.
Occasionally Grind More Solid Materials in the Disposal
Every once in a while, it’s a good idea to run harder materials through the disposal than normal. You’ve probably heard that egg shells are good to feed to the disposal to help clean it. This is debatable, but things like coffee grounds and ice cubes work for the same purpose. As the disposal grinds these up, the particles will scrape along the sides of the disposal and help clean it. A caveat to this advice, however: DO NOT put more fibrous material in the disposal. Things like celery, onion skins, and other kinds of plant matter can easily get stuck and clog up the line.
To Deal with Smells, Use Citrus
Due to the nature of the garbage disposal, unpleasant odor buildup is fairly common. To remedy this put citrus peels and either vinegar or baking soda down the disposal and run it for a bit. This eliminates most odors pretty effectively.
If you are having problems with your garbage disposal, call Lifeline Plumbing. We conduct garbage disposal repair over the entire Geneva area.
