Clearing a Clogged Garbage Disposal

Plumbing Tip #2: How to Fix a Clogged Disposal

If you’ve been told to use hot water rather than cold water when you run your disposal, then you’ve been given some bad advice! Running cold water is best, not hot. Always when turning your garbage disposal on, make sure to always run cold water as long the motor is running.

Avoid placing potato skins, corn husks, celery, onion skins, artichokes and even things such as coffee grounds down your disposal. These items can clog your disposal and cause damage to your pipes.

In addition, pouring fats or cooking oils is also a bad idea. When these oils harden inside your pipes, they build up around the walls of your pipes and prevent water and particles to flow down causing a clog and even damage and decay to occur.

If you are experiencing a clog in your disposal, make sure to turn off the motor and water so you can manually crank the motor to loosen up those particles causing the clog. When you purchased your motor, it should have come with small 1/4 inch size Allen wrench. If you reach down underneath the motor, you’ll notice a hole. Place the wrench inside the hole and turn it back and forth in a circular motion. After doing this, use a utensil such as tongs to remove whatever has caused the clog. In case you need to reset the motor, there should be a reset button (typically red in color) near the bottom. Press that button to reset the motor.

A good idea to remove odor caused by decaying particles inside your disposal is to place items such as lemon peel or orange slices down your disposal. Again, make sure to run cold water down your disposal while it is running and let it run for about 30 seconds.

Following these simple steps will help you with clearing a clogged garbage disposal.