Each month, put a handful of ice cubes into the garbage disposal and simply run it as usual. The ice is just hard enough to sharpen the blades of the shredder without harming them. The ground-up ice chips will also act as tiny scrubbers that scour hard-to-clean areas inside the disposal.
Myth: Ice Cubes Will Sharpen the Blades
Ice cubes can actually be good for your disposal as they knock off any left over food bits on the blades. If you want even better cleaning results try making ice cubes out of lemon juice or vinegar to put down the disposal (don't ingest them though!).
Put six ice cubes in your garbage disposal with the disposal and water off. Pour in 1/2 cup of baking soda. Add 1 cup of white vinegar.
Every month, clean the disposal with either a disposal cleaner or a mixture of vinegar, baking soda and hot water. Do not put grease, egg shells, coffee grounds, starchy foods, plastic or large bones down the disposal.
Borax - This is a powerful mineral that cleans and destroys odor. Use a half cup of borax in your garbage disposal once a week to keep it smelling fresh. Salt and Ice - When used together, salt and ice clean all the gunk out of the disposal that is responsible for the awful odors.
Start by pouring half a cup of baking soda into your disposal. Let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour to give it time to absorb the odor. Next, pour a cup of vinegar down the drain and let it work its magic for about five to 10 minutes. Lastly, turn on the cold water and disposal and let it run for 15 seconds.
How often should you clean your garbage disposal? Your garbage disposal works really hard (and can easily get stinky), so aim to clean it on a weekly basis.
Myth: Lemons can clean your disposal
Tossing lemon peels down your garbage disposal might help your kitchen smell fresh and clean but it most definitely is not. Lemon peels in your garbage disposal not only don't clean it, but they could also cause clogs and do damage to your drain.
Yes, you can use a dishwasher pod to clean your garbage disposal. Simply drop one in and run the disposal with cold water for a quick clean. However, this method won't be as effective as using natural cleaning solutions like baking soda, vinegar, or ice.
Grinding up ice cubes will not harm your in-built sink appliance. It is not only safe but can also be an effective way to clean your disposal. For an eco-friendly grime-fighting solution against gooey food left-overs on the blades, Smith recommends using a combination of ice cubes, lemon slices, and cool water.
As Julia writes: “Ice helps cleaners to stay longer on your toilet bowl, which allows for more effective cleaning and it also removes any unpleasant odors that may remain after a few seconds scrubbing a toilet with a brush.” As an ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response), there's also an alternative reason for ...
If you don't have disposal cleaner tablets on hand, baking soda and vinegar may do in a pinch. Pour a cup of baking soda into the garbage disposal, followed by the same amount of vinegar. Wait for 20 minutes, then rinse with hot water. This method may help clear away minor disposal clogs.
Fill the entire garbage disposal with ice cubes. You will likely need at least two to three cups of ice. Use tongs, not fingers, to push down the ice cube to fill the chamber. More likely than not the blades are coated with gunk, grease, and other uninviting residue.
Turn on the cold water and the disposal. Drop chicken bones into the disposal. Grinding these soft but rigid bones will sharpen the disposal blades. Let the cold water run until you hear the disposal finish grinding the bones.
Despite their hard exterior, eggshells can cause problems for your garbage disposal. The membrane lining the shell can wrap around the disposal blades, leading to clogs. Additionally, the shells can break into small pieces that are difficult to flush out.
Banana peels, pineapple tops, celery ends, cabbage — unless you're putting them in your disposal in extremely small amounts, they just won't break down properly. What's worse, they're liable to wrap around the blades, preventing them from working properly and eventually destroying the motor.
Coffee grounds won't hurt your disposal, per se. They'll actually go down easy and even smell good doing it. But once they get further, they can accumulate like they would in a coffee filter, creating an obstruction in the pipes. Coffee grounds are best disposed of in the compost pile or the trash.
You may ask, “Can rice and pasta go in a garbage disposal?” It may seem like soft foods like rice, pasta, and potatoes are garbage disposal safe, but they top the list of what can't go in a garbage disposal. These starchy items swell when exposed to water, causing blockages that can create clogs and backups.
Keep a flow of cold water running through the disposal while you are processing the food. Additionally, keep the cold water running for an extra fifteen minutes after processing to ensure that all food particles wash through the system. Make sure you use cold water, not hot.
Most disposals have a life expectancy of about 10 years, after which they may start clogging more often.
The signs of a clog in your garbage disposal are easy to spot. First off, your unit drains at a snail's pace, or maybe not at all, leaving standing water to fill up your sink. You may notice bad smells coming from the garbage disposal unit when it's not in use, or the garbage disposal may not even turn on at all!
Things like citrus fruits and ice cubes are fine to put down the garbage disposal and they'll actually help keep things running smoothly and smelling their best.
Be Careful To Not Overuse It
The more that you use your garbage disposal, the more wear and tear it's going to take on. Overuse of your disposal can put more strain on it that it's originally intended to take on. More so, it's good to be mindful of how often you're using it.
With that said, all of these syrupy liquids belong in the trash, not in the sink. Since they're so thick, it can be difficult to wash them down the drain. Melted Cheese: this one is similar to grease and oil – just because melty cheese can almost resemble a liquid, it'll turn back into a solid when it cools.