Garbage disposals seem indestructible, but in fact, they can break easily if you put the wrong things down your drain. They are made to be resilient, but there are limits to what you can put down your drain and what your garbage disposal can eliminate. If you put unsanctioned items into your garbage disposal, it could not only harm your disposal but lead to plumbing issues. When a garbage disposal starts making a humming noise, it’s usually a sign the blades are jammed or something is preventing them from rotating. Operating a blocked garbage disposal can lead to motor failure.
You can keep your garbage disposal in good working condition by avoiding the most common culprits that cause garbage disposal malfunction. There are obvious items that you would never put down the garbage disposal, but some common items end up in the garbage disposal that you should just send straight to the trash can. The best way to avoid putting the wrong things down the garbage disposal is to understand how these appliances work and how garbage interacts with them. The garbage disposal blades function more like a coffee grinder than a blender, so the food put down the drain isn’t chopped into small pieces. The garbage disposal blades break food into manageable pieces that are pushed into the wastewater pipe.
Never Put Items From These 3 Categories Down Your Drain
Now that it’s clear your garbage disposal doesn’t chop the items you put down it into extremely tiny pieces, you understand why it’s so important to only put sanctioned items into the appliance. The ideal garbage disposal items are malleable and water-soluble. While this seems like all foods, other food-associated items should never be routed down the garbage disposal.
We’ve compiled a quick guide of items you should never send down the garbage disposal.
- Any Inedible Item: Garbage disposals are for food. If it can’t be eaten, it should be placed in your garbage disposal. The food placed down your garbage disposal should be soft and not prone to clogging. When you allow items like paper or stickers from produce, metal, pieces of glass, or anything inedible to interact with your garbage disposal, it can cause gradual damage that eventually will render your system unusable.
- Sharp & Hard Items: Your garbage disposal is more of a grinder than a chopper, so it can break down most food items into smaller bits effectively; however, there are food items that could damage your system, like fruit pits, eggshells, bones, nuts. These items cannot be broken down by your system, so they will bang around in the disposal chamber, causing damage to the system. While some of these items could eventually be broken down in your garbage disposal over time, most are also hazardous to your pipes.
- Clogging Agents: There are items that are liquid or soft that when in your drain can still cause serious clogs and backups to your system. Grease, oils, coffee grounds, fibrous foods, and raw meats can all cause clogs in your system. Your garbage disposal cannot impact these items in a manner that will make them easier to process, so it’s best not to even put them down the drain.
Call our experienced plumbers today at (909) 552-7550 to schedule an appointment. At All City Plumbing, Air & Electrical, our team works quickly and efficiently to get the job done on time and on budget.