Keep Your Garbage Disposal Clean
There are a lot of myths when it comes to keeping your garbage disposal clean and functional. But the main thing to keep in mind is that it will continue to function so long as the disposal and drain are free from food and other clogs. This can be accomplished using either physical or chemical processes.
Physically Cleaning Your Garbage Disposal
When dealing with a total clog of your disposal, you should disconnect, remove, and clean the mechanism. But if your disposal is only partially clogged, and you suspect that your disposal is clogged by fats, then don’t try to run hot water to melt the fat. What’s better is to fill the sink with cold water and then let the water and pressure all flow down at once while the disposal is running.
Using ice to clear garbage disposals is harmless, but also not a surefire way to unclog anything. Ice’s effectiveness is mostly based on rumor. But if you combine ice with rock salt down the drain the physical roughness of the material may help grind up lingering food particles.
Of course, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If you suffer from frequent clogs in your disposal, consider adding a catch basket or mesh in your drain to stop larger chunks of food or debris from going in.
Chemically Cleaning Your Garbage Disposal
Chemical reactions can do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to clearing out leftover food. Pouring baking soda down the drain followed by vinegar, will create an oxidizing reaction, like a science fair volcano or bathroom tile cleaner.
Commercial liquid unclogging products are a good back-up solution. However they are not perfect.
But sometimes you just can’t solve your garbage disposal issues by yourself. If you do need some professional assistance, then call us at (808) 691-9309 Oahu, (808) 400-8811 Hawaii Island.
