Get Rid of Unpleasant Garbage Disposal Smells

One of the absolute worst smells you can encounter in your home is the stench that is created by a garbage disposal that is used frequently but not cleaned very often. This is caused by bits of food particles that get caught in the disposal without being churned properly. These bits of food decay and start to stink, mingling with other similar food bits.

The good news is that this is a problem that is easy to eliminate and prevent from happening again.

There are several ways to get rid of your garbage disposal odors. Each are equally effective and should work in just about any situation.

Use Dish Soap to Clean the Guts: Plug your drain and run some water into it—about half full should do. Add some dish soap to the water and the remove the plug while flipping on the disposal. This will send the soapy water through the “guts” or housing of your disposal. This works great in terms of getting deep into the hard-to-get areas of your disposal.

Vinegar: You can use vinegar in the exact same way you used dish soap above. Vinegar is a great natural cleaner and while it may not smell as nice as dish soap, its cleaning abilities can work wonders on your disposal.

Use Ice When In a Pinch: A quicker and easier remedy is to put ice into the disposal and run it. Then add more ice with about a half a cup of salt this time, and run it again. Because salt serves as a good abrasive cleaner, it will scrub away any remnants the ice chunks didn’t knock away.

Using Lemons: This one is easy and works best after completing one of the two solutions above. Peel a lemon and runt he rinds through your disposal. It not only helps get rid of any food remnants but it also helps your kitchen smell nice and fresh with a citrus scent.

To prevent smells from building up, try running the lemon or dish soap solution at least once every two weeks.