Your garbage disposal is a helpful device that can protect your plumbing system and make your life more convenient. However, routine maintenance is necessary to prevent a kitchen disaster like clogs or equipment failure. During the holiday season, when you’re using your kitchen more, these tips are essential.

Use Cold Water With Your Disposal

When you’re using your garbage disposal or doing dishes in general, always use cold water. This helps to solidify fats, grease and oils so that they can wash away easily. Hot water will keep them in liquid form, which will eventually allow them to clog your pipes.

Avoid Harsh Chemicals

Chemical drain cleaners are caustic and can damage your plumbing. They also cause eye and respiratory irritation. Instead, use baking soda and white vinegar to create a fizzing action inside your disposal and pipes. Built-up debris will loosen and wash away. Let this mixture sit for 30 to 45 minutes before flushing it away with hot water. This can also reduce unpleasant odors coming from your drains.

Freshen With Ice Cubes and Rock Salt

Every couple of weeks, run rock salt and ice cubes through your disposal. This will loosen any debris on the blades, freshen them and keep them sharp. You should see less jamming in the disposal if you employ this technique periodically. You can also run small pieces of citrus peel in your disposal to freshen it and loosen debris that’s inside.

Clean Out Your Disposal

If things get into your disposal that shouldn’t, they may not go down your drain right away. If you hear a low hum from your disposal, but the blades are not moving, there may be a jam. Periodically turn the power off to your disposal and use pliers to reach the inside it. Remove items like small pieces of bone before they cause damage.

Keep the Wrong Items Out

Avoid putting the wrong things into your disposal in the first place. Items like fibrous and starchy foods, fats and oils, coffee grounds, and eggshells should all go in the garbage. Holiday gatherings can result in a lot of cooking and eating. Make sure to place food scraps in garbage cans to prevent large quantities of food going down the drain.

Do routine garbage disposal maintenance this holiday season and throughout the year. These simple tasks will help you avoid clogs, backups and more.

Contact our team at Sky Heating, AC, Plumbing & Electrical in Tualatin, OR to learn more or schedule an appointment for garbage disposal maintenance.