9 Tips for using a Garbage disposal Properly.

A garbage disposal is one of the most useful and convenient home appliances, especially if you don’t want to stink up your kitchen with smelly food scraps. This powerful kitchen tool makes it easy to clean up after meals and prevents leftover food scraps from getting into your plumbing system. Unfortunately, most homeowners do not know how to use a garbage disposal properly, causing it to become clogged and malfunction. On the bright side, you can avoid most of these problems with proper use and care. So, if you want to keep your garbage disposal running properly for years to come, here are some quick tips you should always follow! 

How to use a Garbage disposal Properly (9 Tips)

1. Keep your garbage disposal clean

Your garbage disposal unit is bound to get a gunk coating from time to time, affecting how well the device does its grinding job and making it smelly. For that reason, it’s important to clean your garbage regularly to prevent it from getting clogged. 

The best way to clean a garbage disposal is to run it with some dish soap and a cup of ice cubes. That way, the ice cubes will knock the gunk off, while the dish soap will add some freshness. Also, you can use white vinegar and some baking soda for foaming action. However, you should avoid drain cleaners with harsh chemicals as they can damage your garbage disposal. 

2. Run the garbage disposal regularly

Running your garbage disposal with cold water every few days even if you don’t grind anything keeps all the parts moving to prevent rust and corrosion. More importantly, this gives any food particles that might have stuck to the side of the device from the previous use a chance to wash out. This will prevent food waste from accumulating and obstructing the disposal mechanisms, which can lead to clogs. 

3. Grind ice cubes in the disposal 

Grinding ice cubes in your garbage disposal once or twice a month helps to clear out any food waste that has gotten stuck and sharpen the blades. To accomplish this, freeze vinegar in ice cube trays, toss a few cubes into the garbage disposal, and run it with flowing cold water. This simple process will clean the garbage disposal by breaking up grease build-up and safely killing odor-causing bacteria. 

4. Grind citrus peels in the garbage disposal 

Similar to running vinegar ice cubes, grinding citrus or lemon peels in your garbage disposal from time to time will serve a dual purpose. First, the oils in the lemon, orange, citrus, or lime peels will naturally freshen up the smell of the disposal to prevent bad odors. Secondly, this will loosen up any food items that may be stuck inside the unit’s mechanism, while providing a good way to get rid of the citrus rinds. 

5. Run plenty of cold water when using the disposal 

It’s important to always run plenty of cold water even before you turn on your garbage disposal. Cold water allows any grease or fat in the food waste to solidify as they get into the disposal unit, making them easy to chop up before reaching the plumbing system. In comparison, running hot water will cause the oils and fat to melt in the disposal unit and solidify in the drain pipes, thus clogging the plumbing system.

6. Don’t pour fat and grease down the garbage disposal 

Pouring grease or fat into your garbage disposal will slowly accumulate and create a drain clog. In addition, the build-up will stop the garbage disposal from grinding up food particles. To avoid these problems, pour the fat or grease into a glass bowl, jar or metal can and allow it to cool instead of pouring it into the disposal. 

7. Cut larger food items into smaller pieces 

While you can put many solid foods like fruits and vegetables into a garbage disposal, it’s not good to shove a large food item in the appliance at once. Instead, you should chop up the large food items first into small pieces before putting them into the appliance to avoid straining the disposal unit. 

8. Don’t use drain cleaners or breach to unclog the garbage disposal 

Avoid using bleach and commercial drain cleaners to clean or unclog your garbage disposal. This is because they contain harsh chemicals that can deteriorate the mechanisms of your disposal unit, affecting its performance. Luckily, there are some incredible cleaning products for garbage disposals you can use to clean your unit. 

9. Do not put anything had, stringy or starchy into your garbage disposal unit 

If you know how garbage disposals work, then you know that they do not have actual blades. As a result, these units cannot handle hard foot items like corn cobs and bones or fibrous items like rhubarb and celery. Instead, fibrous foods like celery, chard, pumpkin, and asparagus will tangle up inside the appliance and jam it, while hard food items like shells and nits will dull the blades and clog the device, causing it to malfunction. 

Similarly, starchy food items like rice, pasta, oatmeal, bread, potato peels, and mashed potato should not be put into a garbage disposal. This is because starchy food items expand when wet to form a gelatinous paste that will block up your garbage disposal. 

Final Word 

Observing the DOs and DONTs of garbage disposals I’ve listed above will extend the life of your appliance and help you avoid costly plumbing repairs. Best of all, these tips will ensure you use your garbage disposal properly to divert your home’s food waste from the landfill and deliver some beneficial organic materials to the wastewater treatment plant.