Garbage disposals are a huge help for many busy homeowners. Putting food waste into the disposal means one less item will fill up the trash can. Plus, cooking and cleaning move quickly when you can simply toss scraps into the sink. Without a working garbage disposal, you are likely to run into clogs more often and your drains may begin to smell. That’s why you should take care to protect your garbage disposal from damage.

But many people are misinformed about what can and cannot go down a drain. If you want to keep your garbage disposal running as it should, be sure to avoid the following items.

• Non-Food Items: Sometimes, materials get tossed into the disposal that may seriously harm your unit or your pipes. Your disposal simply cannot handle items like plastic wrappers or cigarette butts. These items may cause your unit to overheat, or they may catch in the drain pipes and cause major clogs.
• Hard Foods: Your garbage disposal is also incapable of breaking down many hard foods such as meat bones or popcorn kernels. These items may prevent your blades from moving, stopping the motor.
• Fibrous Items: One type of food that’s surprisingly harmful to your garbage disposal is fibrous foods that may wrap around the blades. These include items such as celery, corn husks, artichokes and onion skins. If you do choose to put these items down the disposal, break them into smaller pieces first to prevent them from catching on the blades and stopping the motor.
• F.O.G. (Fat, Oil, and Grease): Fats, oils, and grease may seem like innocuous substances to pour down a drain, but these may seriously damage your pipes. These substances solidify as they cool, so when they move down your drain they may line the insides of pipes and create clogs. Furthermore, they may coat the blades of your unit, reducing the effectiveness of your garbage disposal. While running cold water can help your processor break down F.O.G, you should always try to dump these substances down a separate trash receptacle instead.

While these tips can help protect the garbage disposal and your drains, problems may still occur with your unit. If you need repairs for your garbage disposal in Salt Lake City, call the experts at Rentmeister Total Home Service now!

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Posted in Plumbing | Comments Off on Items to Keep Out of Your Garbage Disposal

Many homeowners use their garbage disposals daily to dispose of food waste while cooking and preparing meals. But if you put the wrong items down the garbage disposal, you may one day turn on the unit only to discover the motor won’t start at all. To help you avoid this and other problems with your garbage disposal, we’ve put together this handy list of some items you should never put down a garbage disposal.

• Your Hands: Perhaps most importantly, you should never put your hands down the garbage disposal. If a motor does not restart when you press the reset button underneath the sink, you should always call for professional repairs.
• Non-Food Items: Never put any item down the drain that your disposal cannot handle. The disposal cannot process most household items, and these may damage the blades, stop the motor, or clog your drains.
• Hard Foods: Hard food items such as meat bones, fruit pits, and popcorn kernels cannot be processed by your garbage disposal and may wear down the blades. Furthermore, they’ll interfere with the motor’s function, causing it to become overworked.
• Fibrous Foods: You should also avoid fibrous foods such as corn husks, celery, asparagus, artichokes, or onion skins. These foods may wrap around the blades, preventing it from turning and jamming the motor.
• Fats, Oils, and Grease: Many believe these substances are harmless to pour down the drain, but fats, oils, and grease can damage the blades of your disposal and clog your pipes. Grease may build up on the blades, diminishing their effectiveness. Furthermore, these substances solidify as they cool, and they may line your drains and create a serious clog.
• Foods that Expand: Foods like pasta and rice that expand with water may also jam your disposal or clog your pipes.

While these tips can help increase the lifespan of your garbage disposal and reduce the need for repairs, you may still run into some problems from time to time. If you need to schedule repairs or replacement for your garbage disposal in Salt Lake City, call the professionals at Rentmeister Total Home Service.

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Posted in Plumbing | Comments Off on Objects You Should Never Put Down a Garbage Disposal

The garbage disposal in a home’s kitchen does an enormous amount of work chopping down organic waste to allow it to easily flow into the plumbing that enters the sewage system. But garbage disposals are not invincible; without proper care, your garbage disposal may end up having a short service life and need a replacement earlier than it should.

We have some tips to help make sure that your disposal receives the best care and lasts for many years performing its useful service. Whenever you encounter any troubles with the disposal, call for a professional plumber in Salt Lake City, UT from Rentmeister Total Home Service. We have 24-hour emergency service for your convenience, and we’ve served homeowners with excellent plumbing since 1953.

Tips for Caring for Your Garbage Disposal

• Don’t pour oil, grease, or fat down it: This is probably the #1 reason for trouble with garbage disposals. Because oil, grease, and fat are liquid when they are hot, people assume they’re harmless for disposals. However, when these liquids cool down, they change into waxy solids that can jam up the moving components of the disposal like the flywheel, leading to mechanical wear and tear and eventually a breakdown. Place these liquids into a separate receptacle and remove them to the actual garbage.
• Use cold water with the disposal: It seems logical to run hot water down the disposal, since it helps with cutting through grease when washing dishes. But cold water helps keep the motor, bearings, and flywheel assembly from overheating.
• Do not attempt to overload the disposal: Let food particles go into the disposal opening a bit at a time, and let the system run and completely clear before you add more food. (Also allow the cold water to continue to run for a few moments after the disposal clears, which will give time to flush out the drainpipe.)
• Do not turn the disposal on without running water: Running water is important for the lubrication of the moving parts and to prevent the engine from overheating.
• Do not put solids into the disposal: This includes chicken bones, popcorn kernels, banana peels, coffee filters, fruit pits, egg shells, and hard shells from shrimp or crab. Basically, if your teeth can’t chew it, the garbage disposal can’t either.
• Call for professionals when it needs repairs: Avoid attempting to fix a broken disposal on your own, either by sticking your own hand down into it, or trying to use utensils, tools, or poles to get it unstuck. This can cause damage (to you and the disposal) that will make the situation worse. Rely on plumbers for the work.

A garbage disposal is an essential part of the modern kitchen, and you don’t want to discover how important it is because you suddenly don’t have a working one. Follow the above advice, and turn to Rentmeister Total Home Service and the work of a professional plumber to make sure you receive the longest life possible from your garbage disposal.

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Posted in Plumbing | Comments Off on How to Take Care of Your Garbage Disposal