How to Clean and Maintain a Garbage Disposal

Keep hard and dense items out of the disposal. The blades and gears of the garbage disposal are advertised as being tough and able to crush every day food particles. But to promote a longer life of the disposal, try to keep the drain clear of hard or dense items. This includes animal bones, thick fruit or vegetable stems or other food products. In addition, keep the garbage disposal free and clear of silverware and cooking utensils. Try not to let these items fall in while running the disposal.

Avoid disposing of sinewy or stringy items in the disposal. While the disposal will pulverize and destroy anything in its path, items like celery and banana peels can break down and become tangled around the disposal blades. Leftover rotting food is what causes most household disposal odors.

Run cold water when using your disposal. Never run your disposal dry. Always run water behind the food that you are pulverizing to keep the matter flowing down the drain. Cold water is highly recommended, as hot water can melt animal fats. While this would remove the fatty tissues from your drain, it could also lead to clogging further down the line if the fat reconstitutes itself.

Clean your blades periodically. Turn your disposal on and start your cold water running. Then dump a glassful of ice down your disposal drain. The pulverization of the ice will loosen any caked on junk from your disposal's blades.

Clean your disposal using a non-toxic chemicals. Put a small saucepan of water on the stove and bring to a boil. Dump a half-cup of baking soda down the drain. Follow that with a cup of white vinegar. Allow the non-toxic chemical reaction to take place (you will hear some fizzing noises) for a minute or two. Once the popping noises subside, dump the boiling water down the drain to clear out the remnants.

Clean your disposal using bleach. Make sure that your kitchen is ventilated and carefully pour about one cup of bleach down the drain. Let sit for a minute or so and rinse with cold tap water.