Why is my garbage disposal so noisy?
This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through links.
While garbage disposals are a convenient part of your kitchen, they can sometimes become unexpectedly loud or noisy. This can be very frustrating when you’re running a garbage disposal, especially if the unit was initially proving a quiet operation.
Don’t worry though! In this article, we’ll look at some of the issues that may be making your garbage disposal noisy. Plus, we’ll show you some valuable tips you can use to make your unit quieter!
Why is my garbage disposal so noisy?
-
Stuck object in the garbage disposal
The most common factor that causes a garbage disposal to make a rattling noise is a jammed object in the shredder plate. This usually occurs when objects like bones, toys, plastic objects, and broken glass are accidentally washed down the drain into the garburator.
Some people assume that garbage disposals have blades that cut up food waste into tiny pieces, but that’s not the case. Instead, the unit has impellers that grind the food junk against the sides of the disposal and into the shredder ring where the actual shredding occurs.
The shredder ring, which is around 2” wide, can only handle soft food materials. However, if a hard object gets into the shredder ring, it will get flung repeatedly against the ring, producing that annoying rattling noise when the disposal is running. Even worse, this may end up damaging the shredder and dent the impellers. For that reason, you should turn off the disposal immediately when you hear a rattling noise and remove the object as soon as possible!
How to remove a jammed object from your garbage disposal
As already mentioned, the first step should be to cut off the power supply to the garbage disposal. You can achieve this by unplugging it from the wall outlet or flipping the breaker if it is hardwired.
Next, use a flashlight to inspect the unit and locate the stuck object. Don’t use your hand to reach into the canister as you could get injured by the unit’s shredder ring. Instead, use a large object like a salt shaker or spoon to grip the stuck object and lift out all the pieces you can see with a pair of needle-nose pliers or kitchen tongs.
However, if you cannot see anything trapped between the motor and the shredder ring, look for other causes that may be making your garbage disposal noisy!
-
Jammed Shredder plate
Some fibrous food items like corn husks and potato peels create an obstruction in the garbage disposal, causing the shredder plate to jam. Moreover, this prevents the flywheel from rotating, thus creating a loud humming noise when you turn on the device. The flywheel is the flat, disk-like component that the disposal motor rotates to spin the impellers that aid in shredding the food waste. When the shredder plate is jammed, the motor keeps running but it cannot turn the flywheel, which makes the garbage disposal very noisy when running.
To fix this problem, turn off the power to the unit and insert a 1⁄4” Allen wrench into the flywheel turning hole. In most cases, the flywheel turning hole is located on the bottom of the garbage disposal. After inserting the Allen wrench into this opening, rotate it back and forth until you free the obstruction. In essence, turning the Allen wrench back and forth rotates the shredder plate manually, helping it break up any food waste that is jamming.
What if your garbage disposal model doesn’t have a flywheel turning hole?
If you can see an Allen wrench opening on the bottom of your garbage disposal model, you can use the wooden handle of a broom to unjam the shredder plate.
Insert the wooden handle into the drain opening until you reach the flywheel. Gently turn the flywheel back and forth until you feel the obstruction come free. Once the unit is unjammed, plug it back in and press the reset button. Now, run cold water into the unit and quickly flip the switch on and off. This will send a short burst of water, washing down all the residual debris in the unit.
After unjamming your device, be careful with what you put into your garbage disposal. Also, make sure you always run water through the unit while it’s running to wash out food pieces into the drain.
-
Loose pipes/ screws
The screws and pipes in a garbage disposal can loosen over time, causing the unit to rattle and become noisy when it’s running. Also, the shredder plate and the blades attached to it can become loose over time. All these factors will significantly increase the level of noise coming from your garbage disposal when you’re running it.
Unfortunately, you cannot retighten the shredder plate or its blades. Moreover, while there are replacement shredder plates, they can be a bit challenging to install even for professional technicians. Therefore, if the noise in your unit is coming from loose shredder plates or blades, the best option would be to buy a new and quieter garbage disposal.
However, if the noise is coming from loose pipes and screws, you can fix the problem by ensuring that all the plumbing connections fit snugly, with no signs of rust.
-
Worn-Out Motor Bearings
If your garbage disposal is still loud or noisy after confirming that the shredder plate is in good condition and unobstructed, the problem could lie with its motor bearings. Generally, motor bearings tend to wear out over time, especially if the shredder plate is continuously jammed. Unfortunately, just like a loose shredder plate, you cannot repair a worn-out motor. Instead, you need to replace the entire unit with the quietest garbage disposal you can find if the motor of the old one has worn out!
3 Tips to make your garbage disposal quieter
Top-rated quiet garbage disposals usually come with noise insulations and are more costly. However, standard budget-friendly models don’t have such features to keep their costs low. As a result, these units are a bit noisy while running.
On the bright side, there are various ways you can use to make your garbage disposals quieter. For instance, you can make your unit quieter by;
-
Tightening the garbage disposal bolts
The bolts and screws attaching the garbage disposal to the kitchen sink can become loose over time. As a result, the garbage disposal will vibrate when running, creating a lot of noise, especially if you have a stainless kitchen sink in your home.
The easiest way to fix this problem is to tighten the bolts/ screws on the mounting assembly. This will ensure that the unit connects firmly to the kitchen sink, eliminating any vibrations. In addition, you can use flexible piping to reduce the pipe vibration.
-
Covering the unit with sound insulation foam paddings
The main source of noise in garbage disposal comes from grinding food waste. However, the motor sound can also contribute to the overall noise, even though most garbage disposals aren’t that loud.
One way to reduce the overall noise of your garbage disposal is to wrap it with noise insulation foam. Better yet, this is relatively easy to do as you only need to cut the foam to the size of your disposal, wrap it around it with duct tape, and cut a hole in the drain pipe.
-
Using a sink baffle
As mentioned earlier, garbage disposal noise comes from the motor and grinding food waste. What I may have left out is that most of this noise comes out through the sinkhole. Therefore, you can reduce its overall noise by covering the sinkhole with a good, noise-insulating sink baffle.