Garbage Disposal

[Entoptic]

I came yesterday and noticed a smell in the house that can only be described and rot. Not the dead smell, not the mildew smell, rot!

Today I came home and the smell was present again. I believe the heat is exacerbating this problem. After putting a dish in the sink I noticed that the smell is coming from the garbage disposal.

How the hell do I get that god awful smell out of there? In the past I've used sliced lemons and that did the trick but I need something like a nuke from space to fix this.

How do you deal with garbage disposal funk?

 

[mikev]

Put ice cubes down it as well as sliced up lemon, but if you are having issues like that it sounds like there may be a backup somewhere or something lodged in the P-Trap

 

[DucatiHoney]

Well, if it's local to the g.d. I guess I'd try running it, for one. Maybe throw some ice and lemon down there too. Vinegar isn't bad either with a butt-load of hot water to break things up. If it's truly emitting that level of funk, I suspect issues further down the line. Might be Liquid Plumber or snakey time...

 

[mean dad]

Run a couple large chunks of ginger in there along with the suggested ice and lemon or orange or lime.

 

[Charmed]

Pour some fuckin bleach down it!! :rant

 

[westie]

^^^Bleach it from orbit. It's the only way.

 

[295566]

Dishwashers are almost always hooked up to the garbage disposal, so could be that line is clogged somewhere also. I'd pull the dishwasher and check to make sure nothing clogged in the drain line that runs from dishwasher to garbage disposal.

 

[Bay Arean]

You sure it isn't a dead mouse back thar, OP??? If they eat poison, they smell different than normal dead. I had a dead rat, right inside the little house that holds the bait. It smelled more like dead snake than normal dead animal.

 

[Brokenlink]

Well, if it's local to the g.d. I guess I'd try running it, for one. Maybe throw some ice and lemon down there too. Vinegar isn't bad either with a butt-load of hot water to break things up. If it's truly emitting that level of funk, I suspect issues further down the line. Might be Liquid Plumber or snakey time...

Wait, are we still talking about sinks?

 

[CABilly]

Dishwashers are almost always hooked up to the garbage disposal, so could be that line is clogged somewhere also. I'd pull the dishwasher and check to make sure nothing clogged in the drain line that runs from dishwasher to garbage disposal.

I'd mix a bunch of bleach and Dawn (to give it some staying power), shake it up and dump it in and let it sit. Maybe run the thing after a bit and rinse it down. Then use the lemons as a finisher (but I'd juice the lemons and just use the rinds).

Good point on the dishwasher drain. I have to snake mine out about once per year but that stuff is usually soaped and heated and not terribly smelly.

 

[Charmed]

^^^Bleach it from orbit. It's the only way.

:laughing:thumbup

 

[DucatiHoney]

Wait, are we still talking about sinks?

Ew.... :laughing That's a stretch to get from a sink to where you went!

 

[R3DS!X]

Do you have a dishwasher? Is it connected to the disposal?

If not then plug up the drain and fill with water and bleach, then unplug and run the disposal to suck all the crap down

 

[Entoptic]

I took 2 cups of baking powder and then two cups of white vinegar. The smell is gone but it looks and smells like a science project volcano.

Next time I need to add red food coloring....

Thanks everyone for the ideas. If this continues I’ll check the dishwasher and trap.

 

[tzrider]

I'd mix a bunch of bleach and Dawn ...

Don’t do this. Dawn contains ammonium compounds and is not safe to mix with bleach.

If the disposal’s rubber flap at the intake is removable, take it out and look at the underside. It probably has some very stinky slime all over it. Scrub thoroughly with a bleach solution. Stick a scrub brush into the disposal opening and scrub the opening and the underside of where the opening flares out into the disposal. That area accumulates stinky stuff that doesn’t always rinse away.

 

[frozenduc]

Fill it with ice and turn it on. Add a little water to create a slurry. More ice until it's full and the brown gunk is swirling in the sink. At this point you'll know that the discharge pipe is blocked with ice so it's just pumping the slime internally. Most of the slimy crap is at the top of the GD so the abrasion of the ice scrapes it off.

Don't be surprised if it quits and pops the overheat button on the bottom. Wait 5 minutes and reset it. By then it likely will defrost the clog and drain. Do the whole procedure again. It seems to need this twice per year.

** Note that most dishwashers now empty into the GD. From the cleaning some of that rancid slime could go down the hose to the dishwasher. Run a short cycle on that to clean it out.

 

[mean dad]

Handful of aquarium gravel should do the trick.
















:rofl