It should be no surprise that your garbage disposal becomes smelly and clogged with constant use. The good news is there are ways to keep your garbage disposal clean and smelling fresh using common household items.
As the food is grinded up in your disposal, many of these food particles stick to the walls and flywheel of your disposal. These organic particles decay just as they would in your garbage can. This rotten decaying food is the awful smell so many disposals emit. Below are three home remedies that are sure to work, start with the first and work your way to the bottom of this list.
#1. Fill your garbage disposer with ice cubes, then install the stopper and fill the sink with warm soapy water. Remove the stopper and turn on your disposer. This should loosen the food particles and wash them away with warm water.
#2. If soapy water doesn’t do the trick, you may need something with a little more punch. Instead of ice cubes, pour ½ cup of baking soda into the disposal, install the stopper, add 1 cup of vinegar. Remove the stopper and turn on the disposer with cold water running. This solution is very good at removing mineral deposits and destroying bacteria.
#3. If #1 and #2 didn’t work, this is sure to solve the problem. Warning, this procedure should be performed by a professional if you feel you are not capable. Remove the drain line, Install rubber stopper to drain line. Add ½ cup of powdered oxygen bleach and plenty of warm water. Let this solution sit for several minutes. Drain solution into a bucket and reattach plumbing and run lots of warm water.
Running a few ice cubes weekly with lots of warm water will keep the walls and flywheel of your disposer clean, the ice cubes also knock rust from the flywheel preventing the most common disposal problem, ( jammed flywheel) . Stainless steel models are a cost effective upgrade if you are replacing your disposal. Stainless steel models do not rust and stay cleaner with less maintenance.
