Have you noticed a foul odor coming from your garbage disposal? The scent may be lingering throughout the kitchen, causing you to deal with a stench in areas of the home that are not too far from the kitchen.
The reason you may smell a strange odor coming from the garbage disposal is that you might not have cleaned it out properly for quite some time. If you are not sure how to clean your garbage disposal, you have probably avoided the task for a while.
If you follow the steps mentioned below, you can get your garbage disposal clean and get rid of that foul odor that is bothering you. Make it a priority to clean it once a week to prevent any additional odors from occurring in the future.
Turn Off the Power Source
Before you decide to clean your garbage disposal, make sure you turn off the power source. If you leave the power to your garbage disposal on while you are reaching it inside it and something goes wrong, you could become seriously injured.
I recommend unplugging the garbage disposal altogether versus just turning it off at the switch.
Avoid dealing with extensive injuries during the cleaning process by shutting off the power source beforehand. You will feel much more comfortable cleaning the garbage disposal when you know that your hand will not get stuck or chopped off while completing the task.
Remove the Excess Debris With Your Hands
After you have shut off the power to the garbage disposal, the next step involves reaching in and removing any excess debris that you can feel with your hands.
While this may not be the most pleasant thing to do, it is an excellent way to feel for any potential clogs that you might have. If you do not want to get any debris on your hands, you can wear rubber gloves before you start feeling around for the excess waste.
Grab what you can and remove those pieces of food particles from the garbage disposal, tossing them in a trash bag to keep them from going into the sink.
Besides food particles, you may end up with wads of hair that you pull out of the garbage disposal because hair tends to get stuck in them from time to time.
Add Baking Soda and Vinegar to the Disposal
Once you have carefully removed all the leftover pieces of food and debris that you could feel with your hand when digging into the garbage disposal, it is time to use the baking soda and vinegar concoction.
There is a reason that people often use this concoction, and it is because it genuinely works.
Not only is it an affordable solution, but it is also a simple one that involves using ingredients that you may have at home already. Combining baking soda and vinegar works well to clean the disposal without any harsh chemicals, making it much safer for you to use.
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Instead of breathing in these harsh chemicals, you will smell a slight hint of vinegar while you work on cleaning the disposal.
The acidity of the vinegar causes the baking soda to bubble up at the surface when you pour it into the garbage disposal. You can leave it sitting in the garbage disposal for about 10 minutes, giving it time to eat away at any grime and debris that might be leftover in your garbage disposal.
After waiting 10 minutes, put the faucet on and allow cold water to run down the garbage disposal for about 30-60 seconds.
Put Lemon Slices in the Garbage Disposal
The next step involves using lemon slices in the garbage disposal. It is an extra step that will keep your disposal smelling fresh and clean. If you have a lemon at home, slice it down into thin pieces, and pour it into the garbage disposal.
You may then turn the power source back on and turn your garbage disposal on, allowing the lemon slices to go on down with ease. The lemon slices leave a fresh scent in the disposal that will last a long time to keep your kitchen smelling its best.
If you do not have any lemon, you can always use lime. While lemon is a top choice, lime is a great alternative for it.
Use Ice in the Disposal as a Finishing Touch
After putting the garbage disposal back on and allowing the lemon slices to go down for a few minutes, add ice as a finishing touch. You may wonder why you should put ice in your garbage disposal.
Because it is so hard, it helps to make the blades of the disposal much sharper, ultimately making it more effective at breaking apart food particles that get put inside it.
If you want to have sharp garbage disposal blades that work exceptionally well all the time, you should add a cup of ice to your garbage disposal and run it.
You may hear a loud noise as the disposal’s blades crush and destroy the ice within seconds.
Start Cleaning the Garbage Disposal Each Week
Try to get into the routine of completing these simple steps at least once a week to prevent foul odors and keep your garbage disposal working well. You may want to make sure that you always have baking soda, lemon slices, and vinegar available to use to complete this cleaning process in your spare time.
Cleaning a Garbage Disposal
Cleaning the garbage disposal is quite simple and will not take up too much of your time. You need to make sure you follow the right set of steps to get it done correctly and eliminate any unwanted odors coming from it.
With the right technique, you will never have to worry about dealing with foul smells coming from your garbage disposal, and you can keep it clean all the time. You do not need to purchase a bunch of expensive products to get rid of the grime and buildup that you have in the garbage disposal.
Instead, you can use products that you likely already have, including lemon, baking soda, vinegar, and ice, all of which work exceptionally well on the disposals.
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Great article. I always find the smell comes from the rubber disposal splash guard. I remove it once a week and clean it and the section it rests on. Sometimes people get gnats and the rubber seal could be the culprit. It gets nasty.
Great tip! Thank you Linda!
Something I learned when working as a restaurant manager was when you get the ice part of it, shove the ice down in there and then pour a couple of tablespoons of salt on top of the ice. It (being a bit abrasive) will both remove the tougher hunks of gunk and also aid in the blade sharpening. Ice, salt, & lemon swirled around is also the best way to clean coffee pots (glass or metal).
Thanks for the tips Jo!!!