Safe Garbage Disposal Repair
Can you hear a grating barrage of noises coming from inside your garbage disposal? Or perhaps the blades won’t budge. Your disposal could be jammed, possibly with some kind of too-hard object that isn’t meant to be shredded up by the blades.
Garbage disposals are brilliant machines that quickly and efficiently move organic waste out of the eating area, without having to leave a pungent pile of food in the trash can that will attract flies. Most garbage disposal repair jobs aren’t too difficult either, if you have a moment.
A quick fix requires some basic safety precautions, mainly because too many people have had their fingers lopped off by reaching their hands down into the hopper, thinking they’d correctly flipped the switch. The switch could be defective, so don’t take chances.
Before you begin any kind of garbage disposal repair, cut the power. For some disposals, this means going underneath the sink and unplugging it. The safest way, however, is through your circuit breaker box. After shutting off the electrical circuit or unplugging the assembly, check to make sure there’s no power.
Now we can unjam the disposal blades, or “impellers.” You will need an instrument with a bit of length—like a wooden dowel or old cooking utensil—for poking around. As per the video demo, “you’re going to go into the impellers and break them free.”
A circular or back-and-forth motion and a bit of wiggling should do the trick. If you feel something inside the housing, find a pair of pliers to help you remove the obstruction. An improvised ‘grabby’ tool will work in a pinch as well. Shining a flashlight into the hole can help improve your visibility.
Once you’ve cleared the disposal housing, simply push the red circuit button on the bottom of the unit under the sink. That’s it!
