How do you clean a kitchen drain with a disposal?
Johnsons from Spartanburg, SC
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Fill disposal with 1/4 to 1/2 cup or so of baking soda. Pour 1/2 cup or more of regular white vinegar down the drain. This will erupt into a "sink volcano" as the two react and clean. (Kids love this part) When it is done foaming, flush with hot water and run the disposal for a couple of minutes. (Measurements are approximate, I usually just dump it in.)
You can also grind lemon slices periodically to keep it fresh smelling. Good luck!
An apartment maintenance man told me several years ago to pour liquid dish soap down the drai and turn the disposal on and run it with hot water
When I lived in an apartment, the maintenance man would dump a bunch of ice cubes in the sink and grind them up with the disposal.
I have an older home with partial iron piping and had a few instances where the drain clogged from using the garbage disposal, and of course that also made things smelly. After having a plumber out several times, one finally told me to do the following:
1. Every time you use the disposal, run LOTS of cold water afterward.
2. Use the vinegar and baking soda mix as described below followed by a kettle of boiling water. Also pour boiling water down the drain every now and again to help make it free flowing.
3. Never put grease down the disposal.
4. Grind ice as described below to keep the blades nice and sharp so they do the best job possible.
5. Consider using an enzyme produce that eats away at grease.
6. For a fresh scent grind lemons or limes as described below.
It's been a year and a half since I've had a plumber here to unclog my kitchen drain and it doesn't have an unpleasant odor!
I've used ice in my drain, with some dish detergent on top of the cubes; helps with the smell. Also, I wash the back of the black plastic disposal cover thing with a kitchen brush. When food sticks and dries on that, it can smell too.
My daughter recently moved into a new house. Of course, the first week there, the kitchen drain totally clogged up. It was so bad, they had to call a plumber. The drain pipes were clogged with old spaghetti, which did not grind up in the disposal, and just slid down the drain, and into the pipes.
Their plumber said, pasta/spaghetti is the worst, as the starch from it acts like glue in the pipes. Then, it layers upon layer of it, and catches other un-ground up food, making a dam of gunk.
Expensive lesson from this: don't put your leftover pastas down your drain - throw it in the trash instead.
There is a product called DisposerCare. I found it in Home Depot. They come in a package of 4 little packets to put down the disposer, turn on and they foam up. Smells good.
I just grind up a whole lemon. Once I made the mistake of reaching into it for a small item that fell in - my hand came back out all green with slime! EWWW!
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