Unclogging a Garbage Disposal

By

jazzyjess

This was awesome. The baking soda + vinegar + hot water + plunging worked! I only had white wine vinegar, about 1/2 cup of baking soda left so I used that on the clogged side (I also didn't take out the excess water...not saying that helped, I'm sure I should have done this).

I let it sit for about 10 minutes, then plunged for about 2 minutes and it was unclogged! Orange peels were the culprit. My mom used to tell me how "great they make the sink smell" but I'm an idiot and didn't realize I had eaten almost a full bag of Cuties clementines and peeled them all in the sink. Lesson learned.

By

lpearle502

The vinegar & baking soda fix works great. Make sure the power is OFF first at the breaker box. The mix causes a reaction that breaks up the clog.

My clog was sweet potato peels (and an old disposal - I knew better).

After taking the pipes apart and looking for the clog, I put those back together, and put 1/2 vinegar, 1/2 baking soda in the disposal side and let it sit about 15 minutes. I then ran some hot water in that side of the sink, plunged for about 5 minutes, and voila, the clog came up and the water drained. It's good to collect as much of the clog as you can and throw it in the trash.

Turned the power back on and ran the disposal a few times to ensure it was cleared. Problem solved. A big thanks to the suggestions below regarding the vinegar and baking soda! Glad I don't have to find a plumber right before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend!

By

borma

Our service man suggested running ice through the disposal to preform a good simple cleaning. Next cut a fresh Lemon in half and run it a little longer. When company is due this eliminates bad odors your sink.

To be really thrifty when you dine out and are served something that includes a piece of fresh lemon save it to be used later.

Kitkat

By

mikelly1908

I have plunged, snaked, taken all the pipes out underneath the sink cleaned put back together and water filled up both sides ,dishwasher tube and the dishwasher now have water in them.I am frustrated!

By

cssarmie

I've never had a garbage disposal before. I put pasta, then eggs shells, grape stems, and final potato peels. Clog. Baking soda, vinegar, boiling water, and 2 plunges, success!
Thank you all so much for the advice. I didn't have to call anyone.

It works! I had a bunch of butternut squash peelings and carrot peelings and potato peelings down the sink and it clogged it super bad. I used the baking soda and vinegar and plunger and after waiting like 10 mins I plunged like 4 times and it drained! Awesome!

I love you all. Potato peels in the disposal caused a nasty clog, and in desperation to fix it before my husband got home, I checked out this site. I used the suggestion of filling both sides with water, plugging the non-disposal side with the stopper, and then plunging the disposal side slowly and deliberately, and 6 plunges later., gurgle gurgle gurgle!!! Hooray! Thank you!

By

btrescher

Wilted bagged lettuce stopped up our disposal. After reading these posts I put 3/4 c. baking soda and 3/4 c. vinegar down each drain, followed by 2 c. hot water. Within 10 minutes I heard the lovely gurgle of the disposal draining itself. Now both drains are working more efficiently. We are going to do this every few months or so just to keep the slimmy sludge from building up. Thanks to everyone for your posts.

By

timoteoharvey

I tried the boiling water and drano Maxgel. I was out of baking soda. Plunge! Plunge! Plunge! Nothing was working. I called a friend and he told me to fill up both sinks half way with water, stuff a wash cloth in the drain on the non-disposal side and depress the plunger completely and pull up to suck the potato peeling out. I did this three times and it came out! I didn't have to break out the tools or lie on my back so I could experience the joy of sewer water splashing on my face, or worse, fork over $200 to admit defeat and watch the plumber do the same thing. Today is Sunday. Why didn't I call him Thursday when it first happened? I will next time. Three cheers for Brian!

By

stupidpotatopeels

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
This method worked beautifully, the very first time.
I poured a bottle of white vinegar down the disposal drain followed by a half a box of baking soda. Let it sit for 30 minutes. Then I poured boiling water down the drain and let it sit a couple minutes and then started plunging. Took a good 5 minutes of plunging, but it finally whooshed free the clog and the beautiful sound of draining water could be heard.

By

EFK

Baking soda, vinegar, hot water & using the toilet plunger worked for me this morning. I was very skeptical, but the suggestions here turned out well for me!

By

courtpro

Thanks for the tip. After avoiding my clogged sink (who knew artichoke leaves would totally choke my sink to death... oops!) for a couple days after trying to scoop everything out, plunging, running the garbage disposal, I was ready to call a plumber when I found this post. Thank goodness. A box of baking soda and what I had left of a bottle of vinegar, a pot of boiling water, a toilet plunger, and 30 minutes later my sink is back in business and I can do all those dishes that have been piling up! Whew! Thank you!

By

gigidy

To unclog my sink with two drains (one disposal, disposal side clogged):

Scoop out excess water from clogged drain
Baking soda & vinegar down both drains.
Wait 20 minutes.
Run disposal to stir things up (10-20sec).
Wait a few minutes and unplug grinder.
Fill sink with hot water as high as I could (for water pressure).
Stick hand in unit and find the hole that water goes out.
Mine is about the size of my finger.
Plunged with finger directly in the hole (using a plunger on the clogged side only made it come up the relief. Worked finger back and forth vigorously...lol, sounds dirty, but someone had to do it. And it was dirty).
Plugged it back in, ran more water and clicked it on.
Voila, fixed.

Potato and carrot skins that were the perpetrators.

By

EmmyA

I had this exact problem today and was able to fix it by following the advice posted here to use baking soda and white vinegar. I used a 1/2 cup of baking soda and a 1/2 cup of white vinegar on both sides of the sink, waited 30 minutes, poured a kettle full of boiling hot water down the disposal side, waited a few minutes, and then plunged the disposal side until the standing water began to drain. It worked! Thank you so much! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

By

ccanvasser

Yes, this worked. I ended up using 3/4 box baking soda; 3/4 bottle white vinegar, waited 10 minutes then used 1 kettle of boiling water, had to plunge very little and voila, it's working again. Thank you so much for this great idea. Saved me a ton of money! I had thrown carrot and potato peels down there and I know better than that. Felt really dumb as I knew this was gonna happen and that I was taking a chance. Anyway, thank you so much for this tip!

By

shelmarc

My Father-In-Law threw a bunch of potato peels in the disposal and stopped it up. Thank you so much for the tips. The hex wrench didn't do anything, but the vinegar, baking soda, hot water and a few plunges did the trick. The sound of the disposal working was music to my ears. We certainly could not afford $200 for a plumber to come out and fix it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

By

KhollerSA05

This was the best technique ever! One thing I did differently was that I plunged the side of the sink that wasn't clogged. The clogged side was so clogged that it had too much pressure to get the plunger to go down. I plunged for maybe 10 minutes and then it was clear.

By

femdyk

You might have to take the trap apart and clean it out too.

By

femdyk

Crawl under the sink with a flashlight and look for the 'reset' button. It's usually on the bottom of the disposer.

How do I fix a garbage disposal? It is stuffed up and won't drain.

How do you unclog a garbage disposal?

My garbage disposal is clogged. What should I do?

How do I unclog a garbage disposal using apple cider and baking soda?

My garbage disposal will not drain. I tried the vinegar/baking soda/boiling water thing, as well as the plunger. T

My garbage disposer drain won't drain. The disposer motor comes on and spins the water around and I see a flow of water coming out from the left side of the drain under the drain guard.