Your trusty garbage disposal! That beautiful appliance that gets rid of food scraps and leftovers. Owning a garbage disposal is a great way to keep your garbage from smelling not so fresh by creating less waste.Though it’s a convenient appliance, there are a variety of items that can actually damage your disposal and lead you to a costly repair. If you are looking to make the most out of your garbage disposal without causing it any harm, here are seven things you should not put down it:
1. Non Food Items
Your garbage disposal is not a trash can and should never be treated as such. To ensure that you avoid a clog or significant repair, only use your disposal for food items and food items only.
2. Fats And Oils
Fats and oils should only be disposed of in one place, and that’s in the garbage can. Fats and oils might go down in liquid form, but they will quickly solidify in your pipes and cause a significant blockage.
3. Pasta
Think about what happens when pasta hits the water, it expands. When you let pasta and even rice go down your disposal and drains, it will expand and can get clogged to the side of your pipes or even caught in the motors. So to save some pennies toss the penne in the trash.
4. Coffee Grinds
Though they might be fine and soft, wet coffee grinds are like sludge and can leave a big build up in your disposal. To avoid a repair, dispose of them in the trash.
5. Bones
When you let animals bones go down your disposal drain, you could be doing significant damage to the blades. Bones are hard to break and could often wind up just spinning around with your disposal blades causing a breakdown or major repair.
6. Fibrous Like Foods
From celery to carrots to potato skins, many of your favorite fibrous foods are a disposal no. Because of their makeup, they can easily shred and string off and get stuck around the motor. If you do happen to place these foods in the disposal, you’ll want to do it in tiny bits while running cold water before, during and after.
7. Egg Shells
There is often a common misconception that eggs shells are good your garbage disposal, but that is not true. Egg shells are gritty once ground and can cause a significant clog. Just like your fibrous foods; you also run the risk of them getting caught around the blades.
If you find yourself in need of a drain unclogging, look no further than Anderson Plumbing, Heating & Air. Call us a (866) 374-0402 for all of your drain and plumbing needs!