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If your kitchen sink has a garbage disposal, you probably depend on it pretty heavily when cooking and doing dishes. Sure, you probably know that you can’t put just anything down your disposal, but it definitely comes in handy. So what happens when your garbage disposal is having problems? You might be panicked and start looking for an immediate solution.
Thankfully, the more common garbage disposal problems have fairly simple solutions when it comes to addressing and also preventing them. If you need garbage disposal repair in Layton, our team can help. In the meantime, you can read on to learn about three common problems we see with garbage disposals.
Garbage Disposal Jams
Perhaps the most common problem we see is a jammed garbage disposal. You can identify a jammed garbage disposal by the humming sound it makes when you try to turn it on. The blades are trying to turn, so the motor is on but nothing is happening. If you continue to let it run, the disposal will trip the circuit breaker at the bottom of the unit, and you’ll need to reset it.
Garbage disposal jams happen when you put items down the drain that don’t belong in your disposal. Examples include eggshells, fruit pits, fibrous vegetables, fats and oils, and non-food items. For example, maybe a small utensil falls down into your garbage disposal and blocks the blades from spinning. Anything that is actual “garbage” needs to go into the a trash receptacle, not the disposal.
It’s also possible that you simply put too much into waste your garbage disposal at one time. Try to flush your drain out with water in between washing food down the drain. Also try to clean your garbage disposal regularly. Impellers that are covered in gunk cannot work as effectively.
Not Turning On
Sometimes you flip the switch and your garbage disposal doesn’t even turn on. We sometimes refer to this as a dead garbage disposal. Complete silence can point to a few different problems. It’s possible that the plug got knocked loose and doesn’t have power. Or maybe the electrical switch needs replacing. Sometimes, garbage disposals trip a circuit breaker and the breaker needs to be reset. For older garbage disposals, the motor may have simply worn out and the entire disposal needs to be replaced.
Garbage Disposal Leaks
Your garbage disposal can leak from a variety of connection points. It can even leak into your dishwasher or the rest of your plumbing system, which you may not always notice. If a broken seal is to blame, that is a fairly easy fix. Our team can replace the seals and tighten your garbage disposal connections all over to ensure that leaks don’t happen again. But if the garbage disposal is leaking its connection to your sink, that can be a little more costly and in-depth project.