If you have a garbage disposal in your kitchen, you can almost always expect that it will occasionally develop a clog. While a garbage disposal can help prevent drain clogs, it can also increase the chances of clogs if you don’t use it properly. Here are some simple techniques you can use to clear a clogged garbage disposal. If you still need help, our professional plumbers at John Henry's Plumbing, Heating, Air, and Electrical are only a phone call away.
Safety Precautions When Trying to Unclog a Garbage Disposal
If the garbage disposal itself — not the P-trap underneath it — is clogged, you can often fix the issue by using needle-nose pliers to pull everything out. However, it’s crucial to shut off the power by unplugging the disposal or switching off its circuit breaker. Sticking anything inside a garbage disposal while it still has power can result in serious injury to you or major damage to the appliance.
Never pour any type of chemical drain cleaner into your garbage disposal. Chemical drain cleaners are extremely harsh and can do significant damage to your plumbing. This is why professional plumbers discourage their use. If you pour drain cleaner down your disposal and then turn it on, the chemicals could end up sloshing out and burning your skin or damaging your eyes.
Vinegar and Baking Soda
Pouring equal parts white vinegar and baking soda down a garbage disposal and letting it sit for a few minutes can sometimes take care of a minor clog. As the mixture bubbles, it helps loosen food scraps stuck in the drain holes at the bottom of the grinding chamber. When you turn the disposal on and start running water, it may grind up the scraps enough that they can go down the drain.
Using vinegar and baking soda to clean your garbage disposal at least once a month can be effective for preventing clogs as well. This mixture can also eliminate unpleasant drain odors that result from rotting food scraps stuck inside the disposal.
Boiling Water
One of the most common causes of clogs is pouring fat or grease down the garbage disposal instead of putting it in the trash. You should always have the cold water running when using your garbage disposal just in case any solidified fat or grease does go down the drain. Cold water will keep fat or grease solid so that the disposal can chop it up and flush it out. If you use hot water, the fat or grease will melt and often end up sticking to the insides of the unit. Once the fat or grease cools down and resolidifies, it can then create a major clog.
If you suspect that fat or grease is clogging your garbage disposal, you can sometimes clear it by pouring a few cups of boiling water down the drain. After letting the water sit for a minute or two, flush the disposal with more water. It’s important to leave the disposal turned off when flushing it. If the disposal is running, the melted fat/grease can cling to the insides again and create another clog.
Ice and Rock Salt
Running ice and rock salt through a garbage disposal can also be an effective option for clearing a minor clog. As the ice gets pulverized, it and the salt work to scour the insides of the disposal and can help loosen up whatever was clogging it. Once you turn the water on, the ground-up food scraps may then get flushed out.
Sink Plunger
You can sometimes clear more stubborn clogs simply by using a sink plunger. If you have a double sink, you’ll first need to plug the other drain. If not, the water the plunger forces down the drain will come up out of the other drain instead of getting forced down through the P-trap. If you don’t have a plug or stopper for the drain, have another person shove a wet rag down the drain and hold it in place while you plunge the disposal drain.
If you have a dishwasher, you also need to clamp off the plastic drain hose for the dishwasher near where it connects to the drain pipe. Plunging the disposal without clamping off the drain hose will result in dirty water and food scraps getting forced through the hose and into the dishwasher.
Hex Wrench
All garbage disposals have a slot on the bottom that fits a hex or Allen wrench and allows you to manually spin the impellers. This is normally done when the disposal is jammed and the motor can’t spin the impellers. Manually spinning the impellers may also help to break up a clog.
After shutting off the power or unplugging the disposal, insert the wrench and spin it several full turns in both directions. Next, plug the disposal back in, turn it on and let it run for 30 seconds or so to see if it can fully break up the clog.
How to Know if You Need a Plumber to Unclog Your Garbage Disposal
While you can often unclog a garbage disposal yourself, certain types of clogs may require the assistance of a professional plumber. For instance, if the disposal is clogged by onion skins or the membrane inside eggshells, it is often necessary to take the unit apart to unclog it. This is something you’re better off hiring a plumber for due to the risk of you damaging or destroying the disposal.
Whether you can fix the issue yourself can also depend on whether the disposal itself is clogged or if the clog is in the drainpipe. Items like rice, pasta and potato peels are ground into a thick paste when they go through a garbage disposal. While the disposal can usually paste usually gets flushed out of the disposal, it can create a major blockage in the P-trap or further down in the drainpipe.
If the P-trap is clogged, you can unscrew it and then manually remove the clog. However, the trap will be quite nasty and smelly, and you’ll need to place a bucket underneath it to catch the water from the drain to avoid making a mess. When screwing the trap back in place, fully tighten both connections to ensure it doesn’t leak.
If the clog is farther down the drainpipe, you’ll need to have a plumber clear it with a pipe snake. The manual pipe snakes you can find in hardware stores generally work for minor clogs only. More serious clogs usually require the use of a mechanical snake or drain auger.
How to Avoid Garbage Disposal Clogs
Garbage disposal clogs are almost always a result of putting things down the appliance that it isn’t meant to handle. Garbage disposals are really only designed to reduce the risk of food scraps clogging the drain when you rinse off your dishes. They can also handle certain other scraps leftover from prepping food as long as the pieces are fairly small, and you don’t put too many into the disposal at one time.
Items that should never go into a garbage disposal include any type of grains, coffee grounds, onion skins and eggshells. Fibrous fruits and vegetables like banana peels and celery should also never go into a garbage disposal, as the fibers will often wrap around the impellers and cause the appliance to jam. Hard items like nut shells and bones can get trapped between one of the impellers and the grinding ring and can jam the disposal as well.
For reliable plumbing services in the Lincoln or Omaha area, look to John Henry's Plumbing, Heating, Air, and Electrical. We offer the full range of professional drain services and are available 24/7 for emergencies.
For help tackling any drain or plumbing issues in your home, contact our team at John Henry's Plumbing, Heating, Air, and Electrical today.
