How to Clean a Smelly Garbage Disposal: The Easy Way 

Many homes in the US have at least one garbage disposal chute located in their kitchens. It is because such gutters are a straightforward way of getting rid of garbage so that your home remains as fresh and clean as ever before.

An electronic garbage disposal chute is one of the best ways of getting rid of unsightly garbage from home. In and around the house, the overall health and safety of the environment are not compromised in any way.

A dirty and smelly garbage disposal system comes with a considerable number of issues and problems. Let us see why a filthy and unclean garbage disposal system can be terrible for your health and what practical steps that you can take to prevent the same:

o   Do not put things in the garbage disposal for which it has not been designed.

Now, this is a very crucial point. A fully functional garbage disposal system can become completely nonfunctional quite easily provided, that is if you put anything for which it has not been designed.

o   Never put your hands in danger!

And when it comes to putting wrong things where they should not be, nothing in this world is quite as important as your precious hands. Suppose, for any reason; you feel that the garbage disposal system in your kitchen is not working the way it should. In that case, the very worst way to figure out how to clean smelly garbage disposal is to stick your hands down into the system for the express purpose of trying to figure out precisely what it is that is wrong with it.  The main point of consideration here is that if you succeed in figuring it all out and then proceeds to starts working even as your hands are still deep inside the machine, they are liable to go the way of the rest of the garbage. As in, literally ‘down the drain’ indeed.

When it comes to answering the pesky question of how to clean a smelly garbage disposal, then the most critical point to consider is that under no circumstances whatsoever. Should you mess around with the garbage disposal system’s inner container before you have unplugged the device entirely and check it to see if any residual voltage is still left inside the system.

You should do well to remember that even a single casual turn of the blades has the potential to wreak havoc onto your precious hands effectively. It is why you should take heed of the old cliché “fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

After all, the super sharp and powerful blades in the (by now ubiquitous) electronic garbage disposal system are nearly signed to shred tough fibres, plastics, bones, and many other types of refuse and garbage. It is why you must ‘always’ keep your hands as clear of the blades as you can do so.

Suppose you have to put your hands in such terrible harm’s way (such as getting rid of the garbage that may become been jammed in the blades). Then you must wear the thickest ‘cut-proof’ Kevlar of wire mash safety gloves and, after that, proceed to remove your hands from the vicinity of the blades, as soon as you possibly can.

When you are trying to figure out how to clean a smelly garbage disposal, then there are few other pointers that you should keep in mind, and that may throw the proverbial ‘spanner in the works’ of the entire garbage disposal system. One key thing to remember is never to put stuff in the system for which it had not been designed.

This way, the thorny issues of how to clean smelly garbage disposal will not arise in the first place, provided you take care of these relatively simple precautions. Some things that you must never put in the garbage disposal system in your kitchen also include some of the following:

o   Hard metallic objects

Few things can mess up a garbage disposal system’s delicate mechanism as much as heavy-duty metal objects if your old spoons. And forks are all bent and useless (along with other ordinary kitchen utensils) or even, for that matter, something tiny and insignificant. For instance, a bottle tab or the lid of a ban of beer has been put into the system, and they will almost invariably damage it.

There is sound reasoning behind this point, and that the system’s blades are also made of metal, as are many, if not, of these seemingly innocuous items. And this is indeed precisely why they typically tend to be a tad too solid for the system’s blades to be able to crush and break them down adequately enough for subsequent orderly disposal.

Furthermore, they can also potentially ignite sparks that can burn down, not just the system, but if you are not careful enough, it can even lead to a raging conflagration as well.  And at the very least, they will be yet another reason that will compel you to find the answer to the elusive question of how to clean a smelly garbage disposal?

It is why you should always separate such items and remove the same from your home by disposing of them in the best possible place, i.e., the ‘neighbourhood dustbin.’  It is an infinitely better option than just simply spoiling your very own garbage disposal system

Yes, the blades can be able to get the job done. Still, the problem of how to clean smelly garbage disposal will almost inevitably arise because chopping and subsequently disposing of the same can significantly diminish the life of the blades, and by extension, of the whole disposal chute system itself.

If the items that are being disposed of are too large for the system, they can easily clog up the machine s by creating a large. It is otherwise hard to reach obstruction in the drainage lines and pipes directly located beneath the system and manage to clog the chute’s central drain.

It will mean that the garbage will start gently rotting there, and it will also not allow additional rubbish to get through either. In turn, it will lead to the continuation of an increasing problem, i.e., how to clean a smelly garbage disposal?

o   The pitfalls of eggshells

For a garbage disposal system to work flawlessly in an odour-free environment, you should not put eggshells (or even whole eggs) in the machine. All eggs have thin membranes (that are used anchor the yellow yolk to the middle of the egg).

The problem starts these egg membranes get wrapped up both in and around the blades, thereby jamming them in the long run. Furthermore, the membranes can also rot and lead to a foul odour (rotten eggs are some of the worst smelling organic materials known to man). They will have to be removed once you decide to go about answering the question of how to clean smelly garbage disposal. Moreover, the actual shell itself can also be ground into a sandy paste that can easily mess up the main drain.

o   Lards, fats, and other types of grease

Many such items can also include various brands of animal grease, cooking oils, gristle, margarine, or butter spreads, or in fact, just about any other types of fats and greases. The main reason why they can cause issues and problems is that once such grease stains cool down. They have a propensity to effectively ‘congeal.’  I.e., they can turn into a solid-state (from their previous liquid one) and this, in turn, will ultimately clog the whole works by substantially decreasing the speed of the blades and thereby overloading the machine altogether.

Apart from that, these fats’ residue can also form a thin film, especially on the blades’ sharp edges, thereby leading to a decided decrease in their overall effectiveness quite significantly.

The rancid odour that these animal fats generate once they start decomposing also significantly contributes to increasing the machine’s dirtiness, and you will have to get rid of them once you have decided on how to clean a smelly garbage disposal?

o   Combustible solids and liquids

It is prudent to ensure that there should never be any combustible substance placed inside the electronic garbage disposal system. Just about anything flammable should never be put into the machine at all.

The blades rotate at very high speeds and can quickly generate sparks, while the powerful motor located beneath the edges is also prone to sparking. Yes, this way, you will be able to answer the question of how to clean a smelly garbage disposal, but at the cost of losing the entire unit to fire (or worse, your whole property).

o   Coffee grounds and tea leaves

The problem with tea leaves and coffee grounds are that they are both clogging agents. That is, they clog up the main drain under the machine, and once the drain is clogged, other rubbish also gets stuck there and this, in turn, leads to it rotting away and thereby creating a bad smell, which is why you should learn how to clean smelly garbage disposal properly.

o   Using a citrus fruit to get the job done

The many different citrus fruits available today can also help your drain stay squeaky clean and drip dry and act as a deodorizer. Common fruits such as grapefruit, lemon, orange, or lime can easily do the needful.

All you have to do to answer how to clean smelly garbage disposal is to try and grind a few peels or even the entire fruit and put it in the garbage disposal machine to imbue your kitchen with a wholesome and fresh citrus scent.

However, not only will this help your kitchen smell great in its own right, but moreover, the rough peels can also potentially help to clean the system’s blades right along with the disposal wall of the main container, as well. Furthermore, the citrus fruit oils can also do a fantastic job of keeping the whole garbage disposal unit as fresh as it can ever be.

o   Conclusion

In light of the above, we can safely conclude that the answer to how to clean smelly garbage disposal has multiple solutions and requires corrective measures and certain precautions to ensure that it does not get all that dirty in the first place.

However, not keeping it clean cannot just lead to nasty smells all over the house. Still, it can also give rise to various household pests such as roaches, flies, maggots, and the like that can breed deep inside the drains of your garbage disposal system and thereby cause infestations all over your property. It is, in turn, can also lead to diseases and other problems.

It is why you should always know how to clean smelly garbage disposal so that you will never need to face such problems in the first place.