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View Full Version : Food waste disposal - Appliance tip of the week



jeff1
10-04-2013, 02:02 AM
My food waste disposal smells....HELP!

For common every day food odors from a disposal, try....to make your disposal smell better & to clean the blades, put in some ice cubes with either bleach, or lemon, lime or orange peels. Then grind for 30 seconds. Smells great!

For really bad problems, try Affresh Dishwasher and Disposer Cleaner (http://www.repairclinic.com/referral.asp?R=153&N=1552531). Scrubs away food, grease and odors. Safe for septic tanks and drain pipes.

Food waste disposal:

This is often called a garberator, it is really not for garbage but is more for food waste control. Sometimes the disposal unit can all of a sudden quit - dead. Check turn on switch ( if yours has one ) make sure the house fuse did not open circuit. A common problem is if something got stuck or momentarily jammed the unit the safety breaker (http://www.applianceaid.com/images/garb-safety.JPG) on the bottom of the unit may have tripped. Find the safety breaker on the bottom of the unit, push on the red button (http://www.applianceaid.com/images/bottomview.jpg) to reset the switch. If something hard like a small bone or something similar gets jammed in the cutting teeth, I disconnect the power, locate the bolt inside the food waste disposal. I use a couple of long socket extensions, with a socket and wrench....with the socket on the bolt in the middle (http://www.applianceaid.com/images/garb-bolt.jpg), slowly turn it to help UN-jam the cutting teeth and plate. Reinstall the power and try the unit.

Many disposals have an Allen key bolt on the underneath part, in the middle (http://www.applianceaid.com/images/bottomview.jpg). An Allen wrench, like this one (http://www.applianceaid.com/images/garbtool.JPG), can be used to turn the unit manually to help un-jam what is caught inside. Reinstall power and try the unit.
Some foods that could make your disposal not work properly

Stringy things like corn husks, celery stalks, tea bag strings have a tenancy to "windup" around the beaters in the disposal and can stop them from working.

439 Disposal Fresh, kills odors instantly (http://www.repairclinic.com/referral.asp?R=153&N=1057378)

440 Sink Stopper (http://www.repairclinic.com/referral.asp?R=153&N=832505)

jeff.