Are you looking for tips for maintaining the garbage disposal in your home? The best way to ensure your garbage disposal continues to perform how it should is to keep up with maintenance. If your garbage disposal stops working, it can release a foul odor that can travel throughout your kitchen.
How To Maintain a Garbage Disposal
If you are looking for some general tips for maintaining your garbage disposal, continue reading. First off, you should remember to avoid throwing things in your garbage disposal that can damage it. For example, celery, bones, banana skins, coffee grounds, and even potato peels should never be thrown into a garbage disposal. Doing so can clog your drains. Additionally, you should never put any damaging cleaning solutions down the garbage disposal since they can stick to the blades of the disposal.
Also, you should remember to keep the amount of food you are throwing in the disposal to a minimum. Don’t throw huge food items down the disposal. Instead, chop them up into tiny pieces and then put them in the disposal. To ensure that you don’t clog the drains, you can add water to help everything go down.
Speaking of water, cold water is going to be your best friend when running your garbage disposal. The water will ensure that the food makes it down the pipes. We mention cold water for a reason. If you use hot water, you can actually damage the blades if the food sticks to them.
Another great tip to keep in mind to help with maintaining your garbage disposal is to clean it every other week. This will prevent clogs and remove any lingering debris. Rock salt and ice cubes can be used in your disposal to help with any remaining food waste. If you are looking for ways to destroy bacteria in the drains, use baking soda and vinegar and pour them into the disposal. This mixture will also eliminate foul odors in your disposal.
Finally, don’t forget that citrus is your friend if you want to freshen the smell of your disposal. Some people choose coffee grounds to reduce odors, but they can actually clog your drain. Instead, you can use any type of citrus fruit such as oranges or even lemons. Once you have chopped the fruit into small pieces, you can throw them in your disposal with water. Only use warm water for this method to avoid food clinging onto the blades of the disposal.
An important tip to remember when maintaining your disposal is to avoid putting your hands in the garbage disposal. If you ever notice that food is stuck, you may be tempted to grab it with your hands. However, you can injure your hands from the blades. Instead, use some tools to help you grab the stuck debris.