Garbage disposals. Do it yourself.

Garbage disposals are great kitchen appliances that simplify household duties. Yet we must return the favor by cleaning the garbage disposals regularly. Trapped in the garbage disposal, food fibers that are not cleared out will cause emergency plumbing catastrophes from blocked drains, clogged blades and burnt out motors.

The easy way to prevent garbage disposal plumbing emergencies is to prevent them from the start. Preventive maintenance is easy and simple to conduct, and are attested by emergency plumbers as our first line of defense against costly plumbing fiascoes.

Follow the Do's and Don'ts for long lasting garbage disposals free of inconvenient plumbing emergencies:

DO's

- Keep your garbage disposal clean. Pour 1.5 cups of baking soda down the kitchen drain, and follow with a cup of white vinegar. Allow the mixture to sit for several minutes and then carefully pour a medium size pot of water down the drain. Alternatively mix in a clean container a gallon of water with one tablespoon of liquid chlorine bleach. Pour the solution down the drain. Flush the drain with cold water.
- Run regularly the garbage disposal to avoid rusting and corrosion. In addition to rust and corrosion prevention, frequent use prevents accumulation of clogs.
- Ground food waste with a strong flow of cold water that will solidify and grease and oils, so that they can be sliced off before reaching the trap.
- Maintain a fresh scented drain and kitchen by grinding ice cubes with citrus fruit's rinds. The ice will also clean the blades.

DON'Ts

- Don't feed the garbage disposal with non biodegradable food or non-food particles (plastic, metal, paper) that can smash the blades.
- Don't pour grease, oils and fats down the garbage disposal. Grease build up will hinder the grinding action of the disposal and form stubborn clogs in the drain.
- Don't pour hot water while the disposal is grinding. This will liquidate grease that will only accumulate and block the drain.
- Don't grind fibrous material including corn husks, celery stalks, onion skins, and artichokes. Fibrous material can wrap on blades, jam and burn out motor.
- Don't turn off water until grinding is finished. Leave water running 15 seconds after turning off the motor to flush away trapped food particles.
- The grinding of too much potato peels will release starch that will turn into a thick paste and stick together the blades. Pasta and rice will swell up when when creating a monster of a clog.
- Don't use commercial drain cleaners because they can hurt blades and pipes.

Easy, simple and common sense preventive maintenance will prevent complicated drain emergency plumbing complications, and keep your disposal working for a long time.