Kitchen

How to Fix Your Clogged Garbage Disposal

It doesn’t take much to end up with a clogged garbage disposal. When you run into issues with your garbage disposal, you can try a few quick actions to get it up and running.

Here are the top 3 things that will clog your garbage disposal:

  1. Rice
  2. Potato Peels
  3. Glass

Garbage disposals are made to break down small pieces of food. So any items that cannot be broken down into smaller pieces will not go through.

If you end up with a clogged garbage disposal, here’s how to fix it:

  1. Remove larger items with some needle-nose pliers.
    If you know that problem items are in the disposal, your best bet is to try and extract them before turning it on. The “let’s see if it can handle this” approach isn’t the best when it’s something that will not break down.

    When that happens, don’t turn the disposal on. Grab a flashlight and some needle-nose pliers and try and remove the larger pieces. Do not try and remove the items with your hand.

    If you do turn on the disposal before removing the items, you might hear a clanking noise. If that happens, follow the same process. Turn it off and try to remove the items with some needle-nose pliers.

  2. Unjam the disposal with an Allen wrench.
    Your garbage disposal is jammed if you turn it on and only hear a humming noise.

    You can unjam the disposal with the Allen wrench, or hex key, that came with the disposal. The wrench goes in the center of the bottom of the disposal.

    If the items that caused the jam are still in the disposal, you will still need to remove them. But you might not know if everything is out or not, so you can unjam it and turn it on for a moment to see if it’s back to normal.

  1. Reset the garbage disposal.
    If the disposal is jammed and runs for too long, it will trip the reset button to avoid overheating. The reset button is a small, red button on the bottom of the disposal.

    Be sure the disposal switch is turned off first. This can be overlooked if it’s turned on and nothing is happening. Turn it off, push the reset button, then turn it back on.

    Like the unjamming process, resetting the disposal will get it running again, but if the items that caused the clog are still in the disposal, it will likely clog again.

The most important step is to remove the problem items. Then unjam or reset the disposal if necessary and you’ll be up and running again.

If you need any assistance with your garbage disposal, you can always reach us at 770.560.1792.