How can I unplug my garbage disposal?
by
Dodie
+7
When I turn it on, my garbage disposal backs up and expels water and ground garbage bits into my other sink. Plunging both sinks has not helped. The water remains in both sinks and is very slow to drain.
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Hi Dodie, here is a couple of videos for unclogging the garbage disposal and the line from your garbage disposal as it may be clogged.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmrzED7u-N0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL5GlsTzS-I
U have a clog underneath easy to unclog if u have pvc piping just unscrew from disposal and other side make sure have bucket under sink
I plugged my disposal too. I didn't want to take apart the pipes. I found a YouTube video. It showed me in steps how to unclog the disposal.
Step 1: pour into your disposal a pot of boiling water. (I used my large tea pot)
Step 2: pour into your disposal 1 cup of baking soda. (It will foam up) wait about 5 to 10 minutes.
Step 3: pour into disposal 1 cup white vinegar. Wait about 5 to 10 minutes.
Step 4: pour into disposal another pot of boiling water.
Step 5: if disposal drained then run hot tap water into disposal. If it stays drained, then your all done. I had to do the steps again the next day. Only the water didn't drain. I decided to turn on the disposal and it worked. Now my disposal drains every time.
Underneath the garbage disposal is a insert for an allen wrench should be right in the middle. Insert correct size wrench and turn COUNTER CLOCKWISE several times. Hit the red reset button should be on the side, turn disposal on and see if it clears the water. If not turn power off tape off go back to disposal and repeat. Except this time CAREFULLY feel around in drain and see if anything has now been dislodged. Remove foreign matter. Hit reset button turn power on and try again. If this doesn't work get a bucket cause ur gonna have to remove it from peatrap. The problem maybe clogged pipes u might wanna try a snake as well.
The problem is in the pipes, not the garbage disposal, but is likely from putting too much stuff down the disposal or the wrong stuff (never, never banana peels, for instance). Remove the P or U trap under the sink (have a bucket there to catch the gunk) and use a plumber's snake. If you can't clear the clog that way, call a plumber because they will have much longer snakes and more effective than you will want to invest in and store. I managed to clog mine so well that they had to use a 100 foot snake through the clean out in the basement. Totally worth calling the plumber.
Try putting ice cubes in your disposal fill it full and then turn on it will clean out the disposal of all the little bits of left over food. It will be very noisy but will clear it and freshen your disposal. Near the end turn on some water so it doesn't run dry.