How to Get Rid Of Food Waste Disposer Smell  

The kitchen is probably an essential part of most of our houses. It is because that is the place where we cook and sometimes eat our food. Having in mind this critical role of kitchens in our lives, we must keep our kitchens tidy and odor-free. What could be worse than having a kitchen that always smells like rotten fish?

When we talk about the kitchens and the smells they are usually stuffed with, we find out where they are coming. You will know that food waste disposer is typically the reason. If you keep your food waste disposer clean, there are high chances that your kitchen will not have those smells and would be fresh. Here is how to get rid of food waste disposer smells.

Clear Out The Clogs

If you are trying to find how to get rid of food waste disposer smell, the first things you need to do it to get rid of any possible clogs in the disposer. And as the garbage disposals have a high probability of clogging, there are other places where clogs might cause this foul smell. So, to get rid of the scent totally, you need to find and remove all these clogs.

And when you have to remove these clogs, you should bear in mind not to put your hands in the waste disposer even if the device is turned off or you might get your hand poorly cut. You know, clearing the clog is not worth all the pain. If you want to clean the disposer, take the help of a plier tool for this purpose.

However, there remains a problem, and that is how you will locate where exactly the clog is. For this, what you can do is to shine a flashlight along the lines and the waste disposer; this way, you will be able to locate where exactly the clog is. It will make it easier for you to get rid of the clog by clearing it out using the tool you may like to use.

Before you can begin with clearing out the clog, it is essential to unplug the device first. It will ensure your safety while you are at it. Once you have cleared out the clog in the disposer, plug in the machine, leave it for a minute while the water is running. It will flush out any remaining debris or build up inside the disposer. After this, turn off the device and then turn off the water.

Soak It In Soapy Water

If you want to know how to get rid of the food waste disposer smell, there’s a second way other than the one mentioned above. That is the old school way of using soapy water and soaking the stinky material in it for a while to get rid of the odor. This old school method surprisingly works like a charm in most situations and for most objects.

You must be curious about how are we even supposed to soak the whole waste disposer in the soapy water. But there is away. If you think the waste disposer is always running, it is practically impossible to keep it soaked in the soapy water. However, soaking and cleaning are essential to get rid of the waste trapped inside the waste disposer. If you are worried about getting rid of food waste disposer smell, this must be because you know that these stuck particles will start smelling any time soon.

While it was difficult to soak the disposer in the soapy water, there is a way out. The idea is to keep the disposer in contact with the soapy water for a longer time to play the same role as if it was soaked in it. We will run the right amount of soapy water through the waste disposer to eliminate the stuck particles. How to go about it? Read on to find out.

First of all, turn off the device and plug in the drain of the waster disposer. Now fill the sink with three to four inches of water and add two teaspoons of good dishwashing soap. Swirl the water around to mix the soap thoroughly. Then unplug the drain and turn on the disposer to clean up better with soap water running through it. Once all of the water has drained out, turn off the waste disposer.

When you look at ways to get rid of food waste disposer smell, this is a fantastic way to go about it. Repeat this process every few weeks. Run soapy water through it. It will be just like soaking it into the soapy water, clear out the particles in the disposer and hence prevent it form emitting foul odors.

Scrub the Outer Parts of it

The next step to getting rid of the food waste disposer smell is to scrub the visible parts of the waste disposer. It is essential for getting rid of the loosened food particles that might have been left behind in the waste disposer. Keep in mind that food waste is the primary cause of these foul odors in the kitchen. Therefore, scrubbing the disposer will clean out the food deposits and eliminate the smells emitted.

You can go about doing this to take a rigid brush, rinse it with water, and pour some dishwashing liquid on to it. Then use this brush to scrub the external and other reachable parts of the waster disposer. Starting from the drain of the sink, along the line that leads to the disposer, then the outer part of the disposer itself, clean every aspect of the disposer that is visible and accessible.

When you go about cleaning the waste disposer, keep in mind the correct order for doing things. Before going to the scrubbing part, you need to be done with the previous step of soaking it in the soapy water. It will loosen the build-up inside the waste disposer and will make it easier for you to remove it through scrubbing.

Scrub it on the Insides

Once again, this process should be done after the soaking in the soapy water process is taking care. On the way to know how to get rid of the food waste disposer smell, you also need to clean the waste disposer’s insides by scrubbing.

You can go about to put around ten ice cubes into the sink to which the waste disposer it attached and then pour half a cup of salt on the ice cubes. Run a slow stream of water on the ice cubes and turn on the waste disposer. Keep it running until the running water takes along the whole of the ice cubes from the sink.

You must be curious to know why this is important in cleaning the insides; ice cubes will dislodge any food particles and other build-ups along the walls by crystallizing it. Salt will play two separate roles: removing all the potential odors from the disposer and, secondly, scrubs the inside of the disposer and its impeller blades.

Run Down Some Cold Water

After you have successfully cleaned the inside of the waste disposer, it is most likely now free of most kinds of clogs and food particles. Keeping this in mind, if you want to know further on how to get rid of food waste disposer smell, there is still one thing left to be done. That is flushing the waste disposer with cold water.

Why is that important? It is essential because flushing it with cold water will wash away the remaining debris and cleaning residue. One way to go about this is to plug the sink, fill it with water and then unplug it to let the water run at full blast. It will finally rinse the water disposer and clear out the left debris. Repeat the process once if you want to be sure about the flushing.

A great tip to extend your waste disposer’s life, you should always turn it on after turning on the water. Similarly, keep in mind not to keep it running after you have turned the tap off; instead, turn the disposer off first and then turn off the water.

Use Citrus

When it comes to getting getting getting getting rid of food waste disposer smell, you should look at how you can get rid of the smell and be worried about how you can prevent this from happening in the future or prevent it from happening in the first place. For that, you can use citrus and its immense benefits, one of which is keeping our waste disposer clean.

Lemon, lime, orange, or grapefruit are all citrus sources and are rich in citrus juice. These fruits, their juice or their peels, throwing any of these in the waste disposer and letting it process these will not only clean it on the insides but also make it free from odors and make your kitchen smell fresher.

It means the peels will clean the disposer’s blades, and the citrus will keep the smell away, making your kitchen fresh. What else could you possibly wish for when it comes to the question of how to get rid of food waste disposer smell? Using these citrus fruits regularly to flush through the waste disposer is a fantastic way to keep them from building up deposits in the first place and keep them from the start emitting odors.

The Mighty Mixture

If you are taking regular care of the food particles building up inside the waste disposer, and keep in mind to use the citrus regularly, you will not have to worry too much about how to get rid of food waste disposer smells. However, if the problem still arises somehow, then you might as well want to use this magical mixture.

What is this magical mixture that we are talking about, curious enough? It is made up by mixing baking soda and vinegar, and it is another fantastic cleaning agent that also takes care of the odors in the object you are cleaning.

While you use this method, you need to lift the flaps and pour half a cup of baking soda into the garbage disposal drain. It might fill up the entire gutter, and that is your target. Keep pouring the baking soda until you cannot run any more of it.

Once the drain is filled up, take half a cup of vinegar and pour it down the drain. Some of you might already know that vinegar acts as a natural deodorizer and also kills the bacteria. Let the mixture sit in the drain of the waste disposer for half an hour to an hour so that it can do its magic of cutting the debris loose and cleaning it.

After an hour has passed, you need to flush the mixture out. To do that, open a cold-water tap and run the waste disposal for a minute or two. While this method is highly effective, it does not mean that you can use this method frequently. It is because the vinegar is acidic and will rot the rubber components of the waste disposer.

When it comes to getting rid of food waste disposer smell, it is better that you go for the citrus method more than using the vinegar mixture. Because citrus is quite capable of getting rid of the odors in the disposer and using citrus, it will minimize the need for you to use vinegar excessively.