Garbage disposals are handy to have in the kitchen. Maintaining your garbage disposal will keep your kitchen plumbing working optimally. Regular maintenance can prevent your drain from clogging leaving your sink with still water. Follow these garbage disposal tips to prolong the life of your garburator.
Tip #1 Always use plenty of water
When you’re running your garbage disposal, always use plenty of cold water to grind food carry debris away. Continue running the cold water for a few seconds after you hear the food particles have finished grinding.
Tip # 2 Use Your Garbage Disposal for Food You Can Chew
If a person wouldn’t normally be able to chew the food, your garbage disposal will have a hard time breaking it down as well. Cut large food waste into smaller chunks.
It is better to compost bones, hard seeds and fruit pits, nutshells or nuts (making nut butter down the pipes), popcorn kernels, coffee grounds, and seafood shells than to send them down your kitchen sink.
Fibrous foods can get stringy and wrap around the blades so best to avoid putting corn husks, celery stalks, banana peels, asparagus, and rhubarb down your garburator. Also, avoid starchy foods like potato peelings and rice or pasta that will expand with water.
Grease and oil should also not go down your kitchen sink drain as it can harden and cause clogged pipes.
Tip # 3 Only Use Your Garbage Disposal for Food
Don’t put anything other than food scraps down your garbage disposal. Glass or rocks will not sharpen your blades. Paper towels or disposable wipes will give you a clogged drain or a clogged pipe. Recycle plastic or styrofoam – don’t put it down your drain. Use your garbage disposal in your kitchen sink only for food.
Tip # 4 Clean Your Garbage Disposal Once a Week or Every Two Weeks
There are different ways you can clean your garburator to keep it clean and from getting smelly. Grind ice cubes and a cup of rock salt or vinegar frozen into ice cubes or lemon or lime halves. You can also use ½ a cup of baking soda and a cup of vinegar poured down the drain to disinfect.
To clean off the splash guard, turn the disposal off and use a toothbrush or other long-handled brush with a bit of detergent to clean. Gently brush away caked-on particles. The Spruce has some step-by-step instructions for cleaning your garbage disposal.
Tip # 5 Don’t Use Harsh Chemicals or Bleach
Harsh cleaning chemicals can harm your pipes and can harm the environment. Keep them from going down the drain. Bleach will harden any grease in your pipes. Don’t use drain cleaner as it could harm your garburator, give our plumbers a call.
Tip # 6 Clear the Drains
It’s a good idea to have the drainage pipe snaked once a year or so to prevent clogs and keep water running smoothly down the pipes.
Call Us For Major Issues
You may want to solve smaller garbage disposal issues on your own but contact us if you have a larger problem with your garbage disposal you can’t fix. Make sure you turn off the garbage disposal unit before trying to fix it or retrieve anything from it. For major issues, contact our certified local plumbers in Greater Victoria to determine the problem and make recommendations or for more garbage disposal tips. We can also install or repair kitchen sink garbage disposal systems.