6 Things You Should NEVER Put Down Your Garbage Disposal
If you’re a fortunate homeowner that has the luxury of having a garbage disposal, you need to know how to take care of it, to avoid any potentially costly plumbing problems. While there are plenty of foods that are absolutely fine to dump down the drain into your garbage disposal, there are a few things that you should avoid shoving through your garbage disposal blades.
Bones
Because of their shape and hardness, bones will just be stuck spinning around with the blades until removed. If your disposal is strong enough to break down a couple of them, you may end up with clogged pipes from the chunks that won’t be able to get flushed through.
Celery
A strange thing not to be able to process, we know. But the fibrous strings of celery can easily get tangled around your disposal blades, causing the unit to not function properly or stop working although until the mass can be removed by a plumber.
Coffee grounds
Another deceptive food substance. They seemingly go down easily but they have a tendency to compact and create a sludge like mess in your drain.
Fruit pits/seeds
Smaller seeds, like those of grapes can slip through the garbage disposal and your pipes just fine. But larger fruit bits, like peach pits and avocado seeds aren’t going to be able to be ground up by your disposal blades.
Grease
Grease shouldn’t be poured down your drain EVER. This is something you shouldn’t put down you sink even if you have a garbage disposal. Even with a garbage disposal, grease can still harden and stick to the inside of your pipes. This can lead to major blockages that will likely need a plumber’s touch to fix.
Pasta and rice
Have you ever left a bowl of soup with noodles in it in the fridge overnight? Surely, you’ve found that the next day your soup has become more of a noodle stew. Whatever the kind, pasta tends expand a lot when mixed and left to sit in water and other fluids. This applies to rice, too. Noodles and rice will swell and clump in the disposal trap, which can lead to clogs and other plumbing issues.
If you accidentally sent any of the above down your kitchen drain and are now dealing with a clogged sink, don’t worry! Call one of our professional plumbers to unclog your garbage disposal or get your disposal blades fixed.
