Your garbage disposal can be a relief, but at the same time it can be quite a burden if not maintained or use properly. An improperly used garbage disposal can require you to clean it out more often, Â you can burn out the motor or it can require expensive repairs and a visit from a plumber.
This text’s goal is to help you avoid these mistakes so you can enjoy the utility of your garbage disposal fully.
The most common mistakes when using a garbage disposal
While the utility of a garbage disposal is undeniable, there are a few things which you should not put down the drain, either because they will damage the blades, or they might get tangled around the bearings and burn out the motor. The average garbage disposal is equipped with a small but powerful AC motor and has either a wall lining of blades, or has two or three blades spinning underneath the opening.
Its function is to help households deal with organic garbage either to prepare it for composting or to reduce its size and to make it easier to remove from the property. Its main task is to assist in dishes cleaning, allowing you to quickly remove any food leftovers which you don’t want to leak into the garbage bin.
Don’t put fibrous vegetables, oats or rice
Fibrous vegetables like celery peals and mango skins have a high count of fibers which will get tangled into the blades and rotation points of the disposal unit. This will put quite a lot of resistance on the movement of the blades, straining the motor and even causing it to burn out.
Oats and rice expand greatly when wet, and since your disposal unit is directly linked to your sink, any oats and rice which have fallen into the disposal unit, will expand and may cause a clog. Any starch based materials, like leftover pizza, flower from baking or anything which binds with water, will act as glue, making the process of shredding a lot harder.
No bones, not even chicken bones
Bones are one of hardest substances in the body. Depending on the species of bones, they can be quite thick and hard, making them a nightmare to shred.
They will dull the blades and may even cause a break of the seal and the lining walls of the disposal itself. Even if the motor is powerful enough to break bones apart, the sheer force which will be unleashed within the cylinder may cause shrapnel which will damage anything in sight.
Even chicken and fowl bones, while brittle and hollow, are quite dense and may still cause garbage disposal harm.
No paint, paint thickeners or harsh chemicals
While regular household cleaners are absolutely fine, other, harsher chemicals like paint thinners, latex or regular acrylic pain, are an absolute No-No. Paint thinners are very harsh on plastics, causing silicone and rubber to depreciate very quickly, reducing their flexibility and making them brittle.
Your garbage disposal unit has a lot of rubber gaskets which ensure that there are no leaks, and pouring down harsh cleaners will make them brittle, creating a leak which needs to be fixed by and expensive plumber.
