Our property management firm receives maintenance requests from our Redmond WA tenants every day and one of the most common issues tenants have is with their garbage disposal. Most disposal repairs are quite simple and just about anyone can turn a stuck disposal into a functioning one. We’re always happy to come out and repair issues, but disposals tend to break down due to misuse and putting inappropriate material in them. If you follow the steps below, you can probably avoid disposal breakdowns altogether. I’ve also listed some simple steps to repair it, so you can get your kitchen back in action quickly.
Hard items bind and clog the disposal and will always cause problems. First of all, if you can’t eat it don’t put it down the disposal. Here is a small list of items to keep out:
Seeds
Bones
Fruit pits/avocado pits
Shrimp and seafood shells
Anything hard and never put inorganic material in the disposal
Fruit peels
Onion peels
Potato peels
Coffee grounds
Eggshells
Corn cobs and corn husks
Grease
To clean your disposal:
Wipe the underside of the rubber flange of the disposal (while it is off). This is where odors can often come from.
Running ice through the disposal once a month or so helps to keep it smelling clean and free of debris. You can also make ice cubes with vinegar and this works well.
If you have a stinky disposal running it while pouring a small amount of dish soap works well.
Does your disposal sound like a handful of quarters is stuck inside of it?
Make sure all your circuit breakers are turned on.
There is a red reset button on the bottom of the disposal. Press it.
Insert an Allen wrench in the bottom of the disposal and turn until it spins freely.
If you are still having problems, call your property manager.
Is your disposal backed up?
Don’t plunge it, this will damage the disposal and rarely clears it.
Don’t pour and drain cleaner into it. It’s toxic and doesn’t work.
To clean a blockage you’ll need to remove the drain pipes, which can usually be done without any tools.
If needed call your property manager.