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How to Extend the Life of Your Garbage Disposal
Your garbage disposal unit is probably the most underrated “gadget” in your home — day in, day out, it streamlines any work you do in the kitchen, saving you a lot of time, but you’ve grown so used to it that you don’t give it much thought. Unless, of course, problems occur.
Most problems with garbage disposal units are caused by human error, and that includes mistakes that can kill your garbage disposal off entirely. By giving this often-forgotten appliance some extra love, you can extend its life significantly. Here’s how.
Know What You Shouldn’t Put in a Garbage Disposal
Garbage disposals are designed to deal with solid food waste — and routinely putting other types of waste in them is nearly guaranteed to cause clogs and other problems at some point. To keep your garbage disposal working for a long time, never use it to process:
- Grease, fats, and oils. Animal fats will lead to clogs very quickly, while vegetable oils may lead to clogs over a much longer period of time.
- Coffee grounds. Your garbage disposal can handle a few, but never a large volume.
- Large solids that the garbage disposal simply cannot grind up are another common problem. Fruit pits and bones are the most frequent offenders here.
- Glutinous products and other sticky materials, such as potato starch, pasta, peanut butter, and the like are certain to lead to problems as well.
Use Cold Water to Run Your Garbage Disposal
Many people mistakenly believe that hot water will help the garbage disposal function more effectively, but nothing could be further from the truth. By using hot water, you risk melting glutinous foods and any grease and fat residue from your food. This debris can then build up along the pipes and lead to a blockage.
To keep your garbage disposal working smoothly, run cold water instead.
Clean Your Garbage Disposal Regularly
Cleaning a garbage disposal unit is very easy. Simple ice cubes, ice cubes with vinegar, or a baking soda and vinegar mixture will all do the trick — and you don’t even need to get your hands dirty! Don’t wait for the garbage disposal to accumulate unpleasant odors before you give it a nice clean, either, but clean it every few days.
Feeding the garbage disposal some citrus peel will help to clean it as well, and in addition, will make it smell a lot nicer.
Just once a month, pouring some boiling water into your garbage disposal will give it a good deep clean that ultimately extends its functional life.
Run Your Garbage Disposal a Few Extra Minutes
This will give it the chance to grind all the waste materials you feed it up properly, preventing debris from accumulating around the pipes.
Don’t Ignore Jams
Jammed garbage disposal units are fairly straightforward to fix, but many people fail to clean the debris causing the jam out. Instead, they repeatedly restart the unit in a bid to discover whether the food waste will go down. This can cause the unit’s motor to overheat, and break the garbage disposal. Don’t make the same mistake! Clear out any blockages diligently, and enjoy your garbage disposal for many more years.