What Not To Put Down a Garbage Disposal

The garbage disposal can be very handy kitchen device when used sparingly. In order to keep your garbage disposal in good condition and your pipes cleared, here are a few DO’s and DONT’s of what you can put into your garbage disposal.

DONT:

Put fibrous foods like celery, onion skin, potato peels, or corn husk down the disposal because they will wrap around the blades and inhibit the motor. Stay away from grease and oils. These will clog the drain once solidified and can also give off a bad odor. Last but not least, stay away from foods that expand such as pasta, rice, beans, and  potatoes. These foods are some of the worst because as they travel through your drain they will adhere to side of the drain and continue to build upon each other as it turns into a sludge and clogs the drain.

Although you should not put things in your garbage, sometimes little scraps will go down there and here are things you can put down there to clean it out.

DO:

If you do happen to put little scraps down the drain, be sure to run water and garbage disposal at the same time. To help with smell some suggest soap and water or cutting a small piece of lemon and putting it down the drain; however, we found ice and Oxi-clean to be more effective. The ice cleans the blades and the Oxi cleans as well as helps with odor and will not damage your garbage disposal or pipes.

In the end the least amount of things that go down the garbage disposal the better!