How to Keep Your Garbage Disposal Clean and Fresh
Your garbage disposal is meant to grind up small scraps of food. This is an easy way to get rid of them after a meal or snack. But, over time, stray food scraps and debris can accumulate in your garbage disposal causing an odor. Fortunately, there are some easy steps you can take to keep the garbage disposal clean and smelling fresh!
Grind Food Scraps Thoroughly
Run your garbage disposal until all of the food scraps have been completely chopped up and flushed down the drain with cold water. It’s the leftover scraps that cause the odor, so it’s best to make sure they are all gone before clicking off the garbage disposal.
Use a Mixture of Baking Soda and Vinegar
Chances are, you have some baking soda and a bottle of vinegar in your kitchen cabinet. Take one cup of baking soda and ½ cup of vinegar and pour them into your garbage disposal. Let this mixture sit in your garbage disposal for about ten minutes. The bubbling you hear is the mixture cleaning the inside of your disposal. Next, pour boiling water down your garbage disposal to rinse the mixture away.
Mix Salt and Ice Together
Measure out a cup of ice cubes and pour them down your garbage disposal. Turn on the unit for a few seconds, then add a ½ cup of kosher salt to the cubes. The combination of chopped ice and salt helps to remove slimy residue that can accumulate around the blades of your disposal.
Use a Lemon to Freshen Up
It likely comes as no surprise to see lemons on this list. They are used to clean a lot of items around the house. To get your garbage disposal clean, cut a lemon into several pieces and put them down your disposal. Flip the switch and the lemon slices will clean and freshen the device as they twirl around inside it.
Make Some Vinegar Ice Cubes
You can double the cleaning power of ice cubes by creating some with vinegar. Pour vinegar into an ice cube tray and put it into the freezer. Once you have vinegar cubes, drop them into your garbage disposal and flip the switch. Or, you can simply put the vinegar cubes into your disposal and let them melt over a period of time to work their cleaning magic.
A Biodegradable Cleanser
If you want to go with a store-bought option, look for a biodegradable cleanser designed to clean garbage disposals. Avoid using products designed to clean the sludge out of pipes. This type of product can harm the inner workings of your garbage disposal. Plus, if this caustic cleaner is not completely rinsed out of your disposal it can splash up the next time the device is turned on.
Lastly, these are just a few easy ways to keep your garbage disposal clean and odor free. Maintaining your garbage disposal can help you to get many years of use out of it.