You’ve been waiting for this moment. You’ve finally gotten that person you’ve been seeing to agree to come back to your place so that you could cook them a romantic, gourmet meal.
You’ve got the scene set: candles, fine china, wine. Finally, they say the 7 words you’ve been longing to hear:
“It smells like something died in here.”
Another wonderful evening foiled by a smelly garbage disposal. It doesn’t have to be that way, of course. Below, we’ve assembled a few issues that could cause your disposal to have a foul odor, as well as what you should do about it.
Why Does My Garbage Disposal Smell So Bad?
Leo Tolstoy once wrote, “Clean garbage disposals are all alike; every smelly garbage disposal is nasty in its own way.” Seriously, he wrote that. Look it up.
The point is that there could be any number of reasons why your garbage disposal stinks, and without looking at it ourselves, we can’t give you a definitive answer.
That being said, here are the most common causes of a smelly garbage disposal.
Rotten Food
This is the most common (and obvious) cause. The way a disposal works is that it grinds food into tiny little bits, like a slurry. This makes it small enough to go through your pipes.
However, while the food is being ground up, it gets tossed all over the inside of the disposal. It needs to be rinsed out, or else it will build up and start to rot — and smell.
To prevent this, you need to make sure you thoroughly rinse out the disposal every time you use it.
Bacteria and Mold
As you might expect from a device that creates food slurry, bacteria and mold can build up over time inside your disposal. If this is the case, you’ll need to kill off these microbes before you can get the smell to clear up.
Sewer Gases
Sewers aren’t as glamorous as you might expect. They’re full of unspeakable muck, there’s a surprising dearth of teenage mutant ninja turtles, and oh yeah — they emit a ton of noxious fumes.
Your sink has a trap that’s designed to keep these gases from coming through the pipes and into your kitchen, but if that trap starts malfunctioning, those fumes can make their way into your home.
How to Make Your Garbage Disposal Stop Smelling
Ok, now that we know why your garbage disposal stinks, it’s time to take a look at how to fix the
problem.
It’s important to note, however, that these steps will only address issues with food or bacteria. If your problem is caused by sewer gas, then you’ll need to fix your sink trap — and since that’s not part of your garbage disposal, it’s outside the purview of this article.
1. Clean It Out
We’re assuming you’re not just letting food pile up inside your disposal (and if you are, then you should probably stop). That means that you’ll need to deal with all the dried food slurry and mold that could be gunking up your appliance.
To do this, you’ll need a garbage disposal brush. These tools are specially-made to clean out disposals, as they can get in all the nooks and crannies that regular brushes can’t reach.
Squeeze a little dish soap on the brush and go to town. Scrub vigorously, paying special attention to the area where the disposal flange connects to the sink.
2. Fill up the Sink
If failure to rinse out your sink got you into this mess, then going above and beyond in rinsing it out can help solve it.
Fill the sink up with warm, soapy water. Then pull the plug and start the disposal — this will shoot the water all around your disposal, giving the internal components a nice power washing.
3. Get Abrasive
After the water is gone, take a handful of ice cubes and about a half-cup of kosher salt and throw them in the disposal.
When you turn the machine on, the ice chips and salt should chip away at any stuck-on food that the water missed. Better yet, the ice will help sharpen the blades of the disposal, improving its ability to function in the future.
Once you’re done, you can also add some lime juice and tequila to make one of our special Garbage Disposal Margaritas™!
4. Throw a Foam Party
To make things even cleaner, pour a cup of baking soda into the disposal and then chase it with a cup of white vinegar. Turn the thing on to ensure that the concoction gets sprayed all around the inside of the chamber.
This helps disinfect the disposal, killing off bacteria and mold. It also makes some really cool bubbles, which is a nice fringe benefit.
5. Toss in Some Citrus
You can throw a lemon or orange into your disposal and turn it on if you like. This won’t do much to clean the thing, but will give it a wonderful smell.
Occasionally grinding up a piece of citrus is a great way to freshen up your disposal, but don’t trick yourself into thinking it will actually solve the problem. Many people recommend this as a way to clean your disposal, but all it does is mask odors, not eliminate them.
Some stores also sell little pods that you can toss in your disposal that function in much the same way. There’s no harm in using them, but they’re not really cleaning anything, so using a bit of citrus is usually cheaper and just as effective.
What if This Doesn’t Work?
These techniques will solve the vast majority of disposal issues, but if you try them and you still have a problem, you may need to call a plumber. Your disposal could be malfunctioning, or there could be another problem at work, so you should let a professional handle it.
How to Prevent Garbage Disposal Odors
While it’s easy enough to take care of a stinky garbage disposal, it’s much better to prevent it from smelling bad in the first place. Here are some tips for making sure your disposal is always fresh and clean.
Be Careful What You Put in the Garbage Disposal
Garbage disposals aren’t super machines. They can’t handle every single type of food, and fibrous foods like celery or potato skins should never be put in them.
Those foods turn into a very thick paste when you turn the machine on, and that paste is hard to get off the walls of your disposal. That’s just asking for a stinky kitchen.
Use a Lot of Water
When you run the disposal, use a lot of water. This helps to keep food from sticking in the first place, and if you use cold water, it prevents overheating.
Also, you can fill the sink up with soapy water and run it through the disposal every so often as a preventative measure.
Run the Machine Longer Than Normal
You can hear the grinding sound the disposal makes as it’s trying to eat through all the junk you shoved inside it. Then, after a few seconds, the grinding stops — that means the chamber is clear.
Most people turn the disposal off at this point, but that’s a mistake. Doing so will almost certainly leave food particles behind. Instead, keep it running for at least five seconds after you hear it shift.
Final Thoughts
It’s not uncommon to have a smelly garbage disposal, but that’s no reason to tolerate the problem. Fixing it is fairly easy and doesn’t require much in the way of technical know-how, so you can take care of the issue yourself in just a few minutes.
When you’re finished, you can always call up your date and tell them the 16 words they’ve been waiting to hear: “Come over — my garbage disposal doesn’t smell like a skunk climbed in it and died anymore.”