How to use and maintain garbage disposal correctly

Garbage disposal is the most commonly used plumbing equipment in our homes. In this issue of “Talk Pipe Talk”, I would like to share with you from the following aspects:
1 How to use garbage disposal correctly?
2 The do’s and don’ts.
3 What can’t be put into garbage disposal?
4 Typical case analysis.

How to use garbage disposal correctly?

1 Clean up foreign matter. Before use, remove any foreign matters such as spoon, fork, chopsticks from the disposal.
2 Turn on the faucet. Before putting garbage, first turn on the faucet to keep the garbage disposal in normal operation.
3 Add garbage. Add garbage slowly, do not exceed the processing capacity of the disposal.
4 Run for a while. Let the garbage disposal run for a while to ensure that the garbage has been completely shredded.
5 Turn off the tap. When the garbage disposal is finished, turn off the tap.

The do’s and don’ts

1 Do not put items that are not suitable for processing, such as bone, glass, metal, plastic, etc.

2 Do not put your hand into the garbage disposal while it is running.
3 Keep proper water flow into the disposal when it is running to help the items be chopped.
4 Do not put grease and dirty dirt into the garbage disposal, because they may cause blockage of the pipe.
5 Do not put too much food waste into the garbage disposal to prevent blockage.
6 Regularly add the right amount of ice into the disposal and run it, ice can remove the dirt deposited inside the disposal, sharpen the blade of the disposal, and wash the grease of the sewer wall.

Following these recommendations ensures the safe and efficient use of your garbage disposal.

what things can not be put into the kitchen waste disposal?
1 Egg shell
2 Coarse fiber crusty fruit shell, such as orange peel, grapefruit peel, corn coat
3 Rice, starch and various products, such as leftover rice, macaroni, noodles
4 Grease and dirty dirt, such as hot pot base
5 Plastic, such as plastic bags, tableware
6 Metal, such as iron, aluminum, wire dish washing ball
7 Bones, glass and other hard objects

These above things will hurt the disposal and block it. So never put these things into it.

The egg shell is the first thing can not be put into the disposal. I have done many such cases, the small drain machine passed smoothly, but the kitchen drain was still blocked, I found it was not caused by grease, but a lot of egg shells. Finally , I cleared it with the mini jetter. The egg shell is easily attached to the wall of the pipe, and it is not easy to be washed away by water, and over time, the sewer is blocked.

Some friends say that most of the garbage disposal in their homes is the leftovers. There is no problem with leftovers from washing dishes, but a large number of leftovers and noodles can not be poured in, these foods are not easy to break in the disposal, and it is easy to form a sticky mixture, which will lead to blockage or damage to the equipment. It’s better to put leftover rice and noodles in a trash can or kitchen waste container, pour them down the toilet and flush them, or find other ways to dispose of leftover food waste, such as composting.

Some friends also say that they simply use as little garbage disposal as possible, so that there will be no problems. This is actually a mistake. The walls of plumbing systems are prone to grease buildup, especially kitchen pipes, which require ground food scraps made by garbage disposal to rub, just as our gut requires crude fibers.

The sixth of the precautions I wrote above is very useful to use ice for regular maintenance. You can follow this method to regularly clean and maintain garbage disposal every 2-4 weeks.

Typical case analysis

To share a case, there is a customer every year the kitchen sewer will be blocked dead. He spent a lot of money to clear. I used the camera to see, the whole pipeline is blocked by grease buildup, I first used snake to clear, and then used the mini jetter to clean. This customer was afraid to use garbage disposal because the sewer was always blocked, which resulted in the kitchen sewer being blocked instead.

I have also come across several such cases. The customer called me and said that the dishwasher was not working properly. Upon further inquiry, he asked someone to install new garbage disposal recently. This situation is basically caused by the incorrect installation of garbage disposal.

As shown in the picture, we can see that the dishwasher’s drainage is connected to garbage disposal. When installing new garbage disposal, the dishwasher inlet plug needs to be knocked of.Otherwise, the dishwasher’s drainage cannot be removed through garbage disposal. As a result, the dishwasher does not work properly.

If you install garbage disposal by yourself, remember the above case.

I hope the above sharing can help you use and maintain garbage disposal correctly and efficiently. Happi on the way, help on the way!