Your garbage disposal will have a longer lifespan if it’s kept clean and well-maintained. No single aspect of how to keep your garbage disposal maintained is difficult. The most important thing you can do is not put hard items into your drain as the disposal blades are not meant to handle a heavy workload. Consistent good practices and proper cleaning will ensure good performance and control odors.
Simple Tools Needed
- A Kitchen knife
- Measuring cup
- Toothbrush
How to Keep Your Garbage Disposal Maintained
- Never reach your hand into the disposal unit without shutting off its power. After cutting the power supply, you can safely remove objects that have fallen inside.
- Always use cold water when running the garbage disposal. Cold water keeps greases and fats solid so that they flow through the pipes with the water. If you use hot water, the fats melt and cling to the disposal’s blades.
- Run your garbage disposal every day. If you have nothing to chop, just turn it on with cold water flowing.
- Chop large food scraps into smaller pieces with a kitchen knife. Small pieces allow the blades to grab and chop most effectively. Big pieces could get stuck.
- When processing a large amount of food waste, feed the scraps into the grinder gradually.
- Continue to run the garbage disposal and cold water for 10 or 20 seconds after all food has been processed.
- Every two weeks, clean the garbage disposal.
- An easy way to clean the interior blades is to process ice cubes. The hard bits scrape grime off of the blade. Grind the ice cubes for one minute.
- You can also add 1 cup of rock salt to the ice cubes during a cleaning session. Grinding the salt chunks cleans and disinfects.
- Bacteria will inevitably develop inside the machine and produce a foul odor. To disinfect the disposal, pour 1 cup of vinegar and 1/2 cup of baking soda into the drain.
- While the vinegar and baking soda mix fizzes and bubbles, scrub the drain flaps clean with a toothbrush.
- Once the fizzing stops, run the disposal with cold water to rinse it out.
- If you want to freshen the drain, chop pieces of citrus fruit, like lemons or oranges.
- Grind the citrus pieces while running lukewarm water.
- Never process corn husks, potato peels, eggshells, bones, grease, or coffee grounds. These items promote drain clogs.
- Do not grind food waste containing rice or pasta. Although soft, these foods expand in moist environments and will clog the machine or pipe.
- Avoid or limit the use of harsh drain cleaning chemicals. You should not rely on chemical drain cleaners to deal with recurring clogs. Have a plumber snake the drain pipes to physically remove blockages. A plumbing maintenance plan from Oliver prevents costly repairs and unpleasant inconveniences.
New Garbage Disposal Installation
Knowing how to keep your garbage disposal maintained extends its life, but all things come to an end. Garbage disposals contain moving parts that will eventually wear down and fail. When this happens, have a licensed plumber from Oliver install a new one. Ask us for a garbage disposal installation estimate today.
