Unclogging a Sink With a Garbage Disposal

If your kitchen sink has standing water in it and the pipes underneath are clear, the clog is probably in the main drain pipe. Try this BEFORE you call a plumber.

What you will need: rubber gloves, old rag and disposal rubber stopper.

With rubber gloves on, place the disposal rubber stopper in the sink drain. Turn on your disposal while holding the stopper firm in the sink side (it will have a tendency to "pop out").

Turn on the disposal for a short period (no need to run water; you have enough).

As the water level gets lower, use the rag to cover the disposal drain, it's going to start spitting out water and "junk". The disposal will start filling up with water again, repeat the process until all water is gone.

You made need to do this several times depending on the water level. Be sure your disposal side has the standing water in it before you turn it on or you will burn out the motor.

When all standing water is gone, run the disposal as usual. Done!

No need for a plumber, plunger, snake or bail out the water with a bucket. Yuck!

Warning! Do not do this if you have used any product such as Draino!

By mare1909 from The Badger State, WI

Archives: Tip: Unclogging a Sink With a Garbage Disposal Archived on 10/23/2009 How do you unclog a sink that has an attached garbage disposal unit? win11 from Tucson, AZ Feedback: RE: Unclogging a Sink With a Garbage Disposal It maybe the disposal is causing the clog. You should have an Allen wrench that fits into the bottom of the disposal. Insert and turn counter clockwise. That should free up the disposal. If you don't have an Allen wrench go to a hardware or big box store and tell them what you need so you will get the right size. If you want to remove the disposal,disconnect the drain trap.Have a bucket ready because most of the water in the sink will run out through the hose. Also disconnect from a dishwasher if you have one jointed to the disposal. While supporting the disposal place the Allen wrench into the mounting lug and turn. The disposal will fall free. If this sounds confusing go to a big box store and they can show you how to remove the disposal. (11/19/2008) By Harry RE: Unclogging a Sink With a Garbage Disposal Ours sometimes clogs with big pieces of cantaloupe rind which does require taking apart, but if there's smaller stuff in there, I'm pretty sure you can use Draino Foam Snake. Those 2-in-1 liquids are the best! Do not use regular declogger as it does not have the right mix of chemicals to really break down. In the future, keep blades sharp by "chopping" ice cubes in disposal and fresh by pouring in lemon juice and/or lemon rind. (11/23/2008) By Gail RE: Unclogging a Sink With a Garbage Disposal Look at the posts on this website re. unclogging a garbage disposal. I used the hint of using baking soda and vinegar. I put it in both the garbage disposal and the sink drain; waited about 20 minutes, and poured in boiling water on both sides. The water went down a little. I used the plunger on the sink side. I then stopped up the sink drain and used the plunger on the disposal side. I needed to repeat the baking soda and vinegar and VOILA! all of a sudden the clogs released. I ran the disposal using hot water and ran hot water down the sink drain. To be safe, I repeated the baking soda, vinegar, boiling water steps. What a relief--the sweet sound of water running freely. All total, took me about 45 minutes. Hope this works for you all. (09/09/2009) By herbgrl Report Spam or Abuse