How to Clean Your Garbage Disposal

To keep things clean and fresh at home, use some of these common household items for cleaning up after yourself. We recommend the ice and soap method that seems to be very popular these days.

A garbage disposal has a seemingly magical way of making your leftovers disappear down the drain. But with each use, food debris builds up and eventually makes your sink stink. The good news? There’s an easy remedy using simple Lemon peel to get rid of the smell. From citrus peels and baking soda seem to be the one go to my mother always used. Mixed with a little warm water and a cup of baking soda.

Simple fruit peels can get rid of most smells in the garbage disposal, and have a routine on cleaning the machine as well.

How Often to Clean the Garbage Disposal

Garbage disposals generally do a great job of keeping themselves clean, but food particles do accumulate after a while.

Over time the disposal smells and does need to be cleaned out to have a clean unit.

These are the undersides of the rubber baffle at the drain opening and the smooth, sloped area at the top of the grinding chamber.

Weekly cleaning can keep the disposal clean and free of smells. A simple step in keeping the unit clean. No matter the mixture of what you use, The end goal is to help reduce food residue in the unit.

Tik Tok Cleaning Method

A viral method for cleaning your disposal is to put ice in the disposal with some dawn dish soap and cover it with a sink stopper and run the unit. Now the theory is that the ice and soap will help break up food scraps And you will have cleaner disposal. It is supposed to help clean the rubber flaps in the unit as well. The ice with its rough edges is in theory supposed to clean food from disposal blades as well.

How to Clean a Garbage Disposal with Baking Soda And Vinegar

Very simple process, place a 1/4 cup of baking soda in the disposal. And 1 Cup vinegar and 1 cup of salt. ( table salt is fine) Run the garbage disposal unit, with warm water to help move food particles in the garbage disposal drain. This should help break up any food pieces in the sink garbage disposal. This is a simple ingredient way to clean your disposal. And better than chemical drain cleaners, Which have toxic chemicals in them. White vinegar is fine for this process.

How to Clean a Smelly Disposal

Cleaning garbage disposal to eliminate odor is asked a lot in our business. To help keep the smells at bay, and eliminate any unpleasant odor. You can run a handful of citrus peels Through the unit. Type of citrus peel? Like lemon, orange, and even grapefruit peel. All would be fine to help eliminate odor-causing bacteria. This will help to turn a bad smell into a pleasant smell using natural cleaners. Citrus fruit has long been known for not only cleaning and eliminating the foul odor. But does have Bacteria cleaning properties as well. This in combination with some clean water, will help clean lines in the unit.

How to Clean A Disposal Rubber Flange

Similar to the points listed above, you can use the vinegar method, or cup of the salt method, any of them would be fine. We DO NOT recommend bleach in your kitchen garbage disposal. The methods listed above will help break up any stubborn food particles at your disposal. What about Borax? Borax is fine as well, just make sure to have a cold running water to help flush it. Boiling water can also help, but please be careful with this. Hot water can burn and needs to be treated with care. That is why we recommend cold water for this article.

Conclusion

Listed above are some very simple ways to help have a cleaner garbage disposal. Some have said they get feeling overwhelmed in the whole process, and there is no need for that. After all, we are just trying to get clean disposal in the end here. No matter your disposal model, the methods above should work to help eliminate food buildup in most units. If in the end, you are still having trouble, please feel free to schedule a call with us.