3 Simple Tips for Prolonging the Life of Your Garbage Disposal

We all are well aware of the fact that how important garbage disposals are for shredding food wastes into tiny pieces to prevent pipes from any sort of clog. It is usually installed under the kitchen sink. Garbage disposal is one of those things in your house which if properly maintained would last you a long time. Here are a few tips that would help you in prolonging the life of your disposal by keeping it clean and save you from that garbage disposal repair.

• Run Water Before and After

The very first tip for garbage disposal maintenance is that before you start running your garbage disposal run water, a lot of water through the sink. Let the water run even after you shut the disposal off for about ten seconds or more if needed. This would help to get everything out of the pipeline. It’s also a good practice that once a month, just put your stopper in and let your sink fill up a little bit, go about a quarter of the way or just enough that you know everything is going to get flushed down into the drain with that amount of water. As soon as you release the water, turn on your disposal. It will make sure that everything has been flushed down properly.

• Run Some Cold Water

Another important tip is to make sure that the blades are sharp enough. For this, after every six months or so, grab some ice and put it in the sink. Once again let some cold water run in and hit the bottom. This technique is going to help you in keeping the blades of your disposal sharp. Every time you use any citric fruit such as orange or a lemon, put the peels down your garbage disposal and rot them. It’s going to keep everything smelling fresh and citrusy. All these tips are going to save the time and money that you invest in buying disposal cleaners or getting your garbage disposal repaired.

• Unjamming the Right Way

Unjamming the disposal can at times be a great hassle. If you don’t know the right technique, you will end up damaging the disposal. Buy one of those disposal wrenches that are available in the market. It allows you to go up underneath the unit and free up the jam. But, before you start unjamming your disposal, make sure that you switch it off. After this, put the tool inside the hole at the center of the unit. If it’s jammed, you won’t be able to move the wrench easily. Also, you will most probably find a reset button somewhere near the center of the disposal unit, push it, you will hear the sound of your motor humming. In this way, you can unjam your disposal easily without getting your disposal damaged.

By using this technique, you would be able to save yourself from injuries as well, which occurs if you try to unjam the disposal by putting your fingers inside the disposal to get the stuff out.

To prolong the life of anything, you need to be careful about how you use it. A garbage disposal can last a lifetime if they are well-maintained.