How To Clean Your Garbage Disposal

Your garbage disposal may often be overlooked in your typical kitchen clean up. It’s important to maintain your disposal by keeping it clean. Most disposals are self-cleaning, but they sometimes require an extra deep clean every now and then. Our crew at Handyman Connection of Austin is here to help provide you the resources and information to help keep your home in tiptop shape. Check out some of the ways to effectively clean your kitchen disposal. It’ll also help get rid of pesky smells too!

Caution

This is one of the most important steps to remember when it’s time to clean your disposal. Make 100% sure that your disposal canNOT turn on while you are working with it and/or have hands down it. It can cause major injury and result in lost finger(s) if it accidentally turns on. It can also result in an expensive fix if the grinder blades are damaged with tools. If you need to remove larger items from the disposal, do so with tongs or pliers to avoid putting your hands down the disposal.

Flush

Begin flushing out the disposal with warm to hot water. This helps to remove and dislodge any lingering food debris, dirt, or grime. After you’ve flushed it for a couple of minutes, stop up the disposal, add some dish soap, and run more hot water so that a few inches of water are left sitting in the sink. Let it soak for about an hour or so, and then remove the stopper and turn the disposal on with running warm water. This is an extra step in flushing out the disposal to clear out any lingering debris down there.

Salt & Ice Cubes

Another great way to clean the disposal is by throwing some rock salt and ice cubes down the disposal. We’d recommend two cups of ice with one cup of rock salt. Cut on the disposal and let the disposal grind it down with cold running water for as long as it takes until it sounds like the disposal has grinded it up. The salt and ice will be tough on grime and will also sharpen the grinder’s blades for extra maintenance and improving the longevity of the disposals life.

Scrub

This tip is one that you need to be sure you are careful when doing. Put some elbow grease in, and scrub out the disposal with a toothbrush and some dish soap. We can’t stress enough to be extremely careful when doing this. We would only recommend doing this if you notice dirt or grime that is too tough to remove with any of the other tactics we outlined above.

Eliminate Odors

Another step in making sure the disposal is cleaned is by eliminating any lingering odors. Most of the tactics we described will help to do this, however if you have a smell that just won’t go away, try cutting up some acidic fruits like lemons or oranges, running some cold water, putting them in the disposal, and turn it on. Let it run until the peels are all grinded away, and your kitchen will smell really fresh with a clean disposal!

For any and all of your home maintenance needs, give the crew at Handyman Connection of Austin a call. Our experts are always here to help, no matter how big or small your job may be.