How Do We Fix Garbage Disposal Blades That Seem to Be Caught

Your garbage disposal has sophisticated mechanisms that all work together to help this particular kitchen device work for you. While your garbage disposal is very powerful and can handle all types of food products that you put down the drain, there are certain types of objects that your garbage disposal just won't be able to handle. These can be fibrous food products or foreign objects, such as metal, glass or rubber. If one of these objects gets caught in the blades, you will need to take action to fix the problem.

Allen wrench
Hammer
Tongs

Instructions

- 1
  Find the port at the bottom of your garbage disposal. This port connects to the masher plate within your disposal, which contains the blades that have been caught.
- 2
  Insert a ¼ inch Allen wrench into the port. This will allow you to move the masher plate within the disposal back and forth and loosen whatever object is caught in the blades.
- 3
  Turn off your garbage disposal and disconnect it from the power source. Access the disposal from the sink and remove the loosened object with a pair of kitchen tongs.
- 4
  Remove the object that is caught in the blades manually if your disposal does not have a port. Make sure it's off and disconnected from the power source before continuing. Use the handle end of a hammer to move the masher plate manually from the sink end of the disposal and dislodge the caught object. Then, remove it with tongs.
- 5
  Plug your disposal back into the power source and turn it on. You may need to press the "Reset" button underneath the disposal to get it working again.

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Garbage Disposal