Is it safe to pour bleach down the garbage disposal?
Your disposal shouldn't be cleaned with bleach or drain cleaners. These chemicals are too strong for your garbage disposal and can actually cause damage to a garbage disposal's blades and pipes over time.
Fats and Grease From Cooking Meat
Fatty foods like butter, vegetable oil, meat trimmings, and the grease from bacon and other cooked products are a huge no-no when it comes to your garbage disposal and drains. These fatty foods can cause problems from top to bottom starting with the blades of your disposal.
The Bleach Method
Turn on the tap and make sure that you're running cold water–you can leave the garbage disposal, itself, off. Then, pour about a tablespoon of bleach into the running water so that it washes down the drain. The bleach should knock out whatever is causing your sink to stink.
Bleach is a powerful, toxic substance that should be used carefully and properly, and pouring it down a drain is not a proper use. Bleach can react with other substances in your pipes, potentially release fumes, and further plug up the system.
Occasionally Use Boiling Water
However, if you are trying to wash away any excess food stuck in your system, a pot of boiling water down the drain once a month will do the job. Keep in mind, the heat does cause the food that is in your garbage disposal to melt, which can cause clogs.
Simply run a few ice cubes through the garbage disposal. The action of grinding up the ice cleans the blades and helps to dislodge any bits of food that have gotten stuck in the components. Additionally, cleaning with ice (water) means that there's no product or residue left to scrub away.
Garbage Disposal Importance
Having a garbage disposal unit installed in your home is a great idea, any plumber would highly recommend doing so because it is an effective way to deal with common kitchen waste such as uneaten food by shredding them into small pieces. As a result they can easily pass through plumbing.
Garbage disposals do not have blades. They have impellers that are not sharp, but blunt. So, putting ice or egg shells down the disposal to sharpen the blades will not do any good. In fact, egg shells are not recommended for the garbage disposal as the membrane can get wrapped around the impellers and cause damage.
Sprinkle about a half cup of baking soda into the disposal, followed by a cup of white or apple cider vinegar, Wanninger says. Let the mixture bubble up and sit for five to 10 minutes, then turn on the disposal and run cold water to distribute the mixture and flush it through the unit.
Mold or Mildew
This is most often caused by placing food in the drain and not running the disposal or not running the disposal long enough to properly dispose of waste. Using a mixture of vinegar, warm water, and baking soda can eliminate the mold.
How do you deep clean a garbage disposal?
Sprinkle a half-cup of baking soda into the opening of the garbage disposal. Pour in a cup of white vinegar and allow it to sit for 10 minutes. Turn on the garbage disposal and allow hot water to rinse away the baking soda mixture. As an alternative to baking soda and vinegar, use chopped citrus peels.
- Don't use it for high-volume waste. “All things in moderation,” says Abrams. ...
- Don't add anything starchy. ...
- Don't add anything stringy or hard either. ...
- Don't bother “sharpening.” ...
- Do keep it clean. ...
- Do keep granular bits out of it. ...
- Don't stress over running hot or cold water.
The most important rule of thumb is to avoid putting anything in the garbage disposal that is not biodegradable food. A garbage disposal is not a trash can, it's for food scraps only. Non food items can damage both blades and the motor. When in doubt, throw it out!
- fibrous vegetables (e.g. celery)
- grease, oil, animal fat.
- plastic.
- paper.
- glass.
- metal.
- cigarette butts.
- packaging materials.