How Often Should a Garbage Disposal Be Cleaned?

Daily Cleaning

• It's easy to lightly clean your garbage disposal every time you use it. The University of Wisconsin recommends running a strong flow of cold water down the drain while you use the disposal, as well as for a few seconds after it finishes working. This encourages grease to harden and keeps water moving through the drain to flush out ground-up waste material. Never let food stand in the disposal, since it can corrode the working parts and cause an unpleasant smell.

Cleaning Grinding Parts

• When your disposal begins to operate more slowly, taking a long time to deal with food, it may be because the grinding parts are dirty. When these lugs get covered in soft food, they don't rotate properly. Fortunately, you don't need to take the disposal apart to remove this material. Just grind a hard food, such as peach pits or chicken bones, to clean off the lugs.

Persistent Odor

• A little bit of food caught in your garbage disposal might not interfere with grinding, but it will cause a smell. Use ice and citrus or vinegar to remove these odors. Feed a tray of ice cubes down the disposal while running cold water. The University of Wisconsin suggests adding a few citrus peels to the ice to deodorize the disposal. You may also wish to substitute vinegar cubes when citrus peels aren't readily available. The New Homemaker magazine notes that a cup of vinegar poured down the disposal can also disinfect and deodorize -- just don't run the water again for at least an hour.

Severe Odors

• Some garbage disposals develop a persistent odor that normal cleaning processes can't remove. This usually occurs when there's not enough running water to clean out the disposal. Over time, an organic slime develops on the garbage disposal surfaces. According to Tim Carter of Ask the Builder, this slime can even harden, becoming extremely difficult to remove. To get rid of built-up material, disconnect the pipe leaving the disposal and clamp it using a rubber test cap. Place a bucket under the pipe end. Fill the disposal with very warm water, then add 1/2 cup of powdered oxygen bleach. This non-toxic substance will soften any hardened material in the disposal. Wait an hour, then remove the test clamp, allowing the water to drain into the bucket. Fill the sink with warm, soapy water, then run the disposal once more. Once odors disappear, simply reconnect the disposal pipe.