Maximizing the Life of Your Garbage Disposal

If you’re like most people, not only do you spend a decent amount of time in the kitchen cooking, preparing, and cleaning up after meals, but you surely appreciate garbage disposal that is in excellent working order. If you’ve ever had a garbage disposal clog, you get this one.

When you are rinsing off dishes and flip the switch for your garbage disposal, instead of the food remnants being washed down the drain, you encounter an ominous gurgling, bubbling mess; this can be very frustrating. If you have a family or lots of dishes to wash, you soon realize that it must be resolved and fast.

Treat Your Garbage Disposal With Care

If you have a clog that won’t go away despite your earnest attempts, you may need to call on a professional plumber who can get to the bottom of the problem.

If you don’t have a plumbing emergency, there are steps that you can start taking that can extend the life of your garbage disposal unit – a unit which despite its name, deserves respect.

For maximum efficiency, be sure that your unit installed by a professional plumber.
Don’t overfill your garbage disposal.
Don’t run your garbage disposal dry, remember to always run cold water.
Don’t put drain cleaners, chlorine bleach, or other chemicals in the unit.
Don’t put coffee grinds, corn husks, potato skins, and other fibrous materials down the unit.
Don’t use hot water because it melts fats, which can clog the mechanism.
For water safety reasons, don’t grind/flush prescriptions down your disposal.

The best way to clean your garbage disposal is to fill it with ice cubes and one cup of rock salt, and then run it for five seconds. If you want to deodorize your garbage disposal, we recommend running warm water while grinding lemon slices.

For more troubleshooting advice, or for quality garbage disposal installation or repairs, contact Excalibur Plumbing to be connected with one of our Austin Plumbers. Give us a call at 512-259-7222!