3 Quick & Easy Ways To Make Your Garbage Disposal Last

Your garbage disposal is working hard for you, but are you taking care of it? You may do the occasional clean, but what you are putting in it may cause you to replace sooner than you anticipated.

3 Quick & Easy Ways To Make Your Garbage Disposal Last

Foods to Avoid
Your garbage disposal isn’t a trash can, there are some foods that can impact it’s performance and longevity.  A good rule of thumb to consider is if you have a problem cutting it, so will the disposal blade. Thus, foods like large bones, seeds and fruit pits are not disposal friendly.  Avoid putting starchy and expandable foods like potato peels, rice and pasta.  Foods that have a stringy nature like celery, corn husks and asparagus are also no nos. Lastly, coffee grounds though small in size can buildup and create a larger mess over time.

 

Extend Its Life
A common mistake people make is not running it frequently or stopping the garbage disposal too soon. Be sure to run your disposal several times a week to address and food build up.  This will also help prevent rust, corrosion and helps ensure parts are in working order.

Start running the disposal a little longer. With the water and disposal both running, wait several seconds after you hear the grinding noise stop. In many cases there are still items in the disposal and they will sit and fester there until the next disposal run.  This will help food getting cleared away faster and cut down on odors.

When preparing food, consider cutting food into smaller pieces so the disposal doesn’t have to work as hard. If you have large amounts of food to dispose of, avoid putting to much down to shove a large amount in at once.

 

Inspect Before You Clean
Before using a special garbage disposal cleaner, make sure your disposal is free of large objects.  To ensure it doesn’t turn on when cleaning, turn off the fuse that supplies power to the disposal unit.  Shine a flash light down to make sure there are no objects remaining.  If you see anything in the unit, use pliers or tongs to gently remove it, without impacting the blade.

 

For more tips, go to Tips.acehardware.com

Published: 3/2/2020