How often should you clean your garbage disposal?

A neglected disposal smells, jams, and corrodes.

The smell is the obvious symptom. Less obviously, accumulated residue and lack of use let the impellers seize, and a disposal that has jammed and been forced usually ends with a burnt-out motor or a tripped reset that keeps tripping.

1. Never put your hand in the chamber. Even with the power off. Use tongs or pliers if you need to retrieve something.
2. Grind ice cubes and coarse salt. A couple of cups of ice with a handful of rock salt scours the chamber and the impellers. Run cold water throughout.
3. Clean the splash guard properly. Lift the rubber flaps and scrub both sides with an old toothbrush and detergent. This is where the smell lives and where almost nobody cleans.
4. Grind citrus peel. Lemon or orange peel deodorises and the oils help cut grease.
5. Flush with cold water for a minute. Cold, not hot: cold keeps fats solid so they get ground and carried away rather than melting and coating the pipe further down.
6. Free a jam with the hex key if needed. Power off at the wall or breaker first. There is a hex socket in the centre underneath. Work it back and forth, then press the red reset button.

• A persistent smell that returns within a day of cleaning, which means the splash guard has not been cleaned
• The unit humming without turning, which means it is jammed and must be switched off immediately
• Grinding much louder or slower than usual
• Water draining slowly from the disposal side of the sink
• The reset button tripping repeatedly

• Putting fibrous or starchy waste in: celery, onion skins, artichoke, potato peel, pasta and rice all either wrap the impellers or turn to paste
• Pouring grease down it, which solidifies further along the pipe where the disposal cannot help
• Using hot water while grinding, which liquefies fat so it can coat the pipe downstream
• Running it with the tap off, or switching it off before the water has flushed everything through
• Using caustic drain cleaner in a disposal, which sits against metal components
• Leaving it unused for long periods, which lets it corrode and seize

• Heavy use needs cleaning more than monthly
• Hard water accelerates scale buildup inside the chamber
• Septic systems need a disposal rated for them, and generally see more solids load as a result

If the reset trips repeatedly, if the unit leaks from the body, or if it hums but will not free with the hex key, replace it. Disposals are not economically repairable.