The kitchen sink disposal has become such a commonplace appliance that most people wouldn’t think of having a kitchen sink without having one. There is no more convenient way to effectively dispose of many kinds of food preparation and leftover waste.
(Special Note: We don’t recommend you use the disposal to get rid of grease or oil. Even if you heat the grease so it is liquid, and run hot water to get the grease or oil to go down the drain, you are asking for problems. As the grease cools further down the pipe, it congeals and coats the insides of the pipes. Eventually, the pipes can close in with repeated coating of grease, and then it’s time for a plumber’s visit! Instead, pour grease and oil into a disposable container or mass of paper, and discard it with your usual trash.)
The downside is that over time, the disposal unit will start to stink, simply because there is rotting/decaying organic material that builds up in the “nooks and crannies” of the unit. While you can use commercial products to deodorize your disposal, there are other ways, including what our friends Bruce and Diane use; chunks of “past their prime” lime, ground up in the unit with a bit of water, and then rinsed down. In this case, citric acid and the roughage created are doing the trick.
Our favorite approach is using 20 Mule Team Borax. It’s a natural product, mined from arid places on the earth, like Death Valley in California, U.S.A.
Simply put a bit of water down the disposal as you turn the unit on briefly. Then pour about a ¼ cup (60 ml) into the disposal, followed by a quick, small splash of water from the faucet. Then, “pulse” the motor in the unit by turning the switch on and back off instantly. This will coat all the surfaces in the disposal with borax. Now, let the unit sit for an hour or two, then rinse it out. If you have large deposits of material that need to be cleaned out, you may need to do this twice.
About once a month, do this again. You’ll enjoy an odor-free disposal unit without calling a plumber. You can JUST DO IT YOURSELF.
If you want to see more uses for Borax, visit www.20muleteamlaundry.com. You’ll find tips on how to use borax throughout the home and garden.
Buy your DFJ T-Shirt, Cap, or Coffee Mug at https.//www.dirtfarmerjay.com/shop
Follow us on Social Media to know when we’re building projects or releasing new episodes!
Hi, Dirt Farmer Jay here from DirtFarmerJay.com.
Don't you love having a garbage disposal?
Most homes have them now, but they can really stink
when food starts to build up in them or mildew or fungus or all the baddies of bacteria
get down there and they can really stink.
Well, there's a great, easy, inexpensive, readily available solution.
Stay tuned and I'll tell you all about it.
Hey, Dirt Farmer Jay here from DirtFarmerJay.com.
Having a garbage disposal is almost a necessity today.
They get a lot of abuse though, and there's a couple things I'd mention really quickly
about making sure that you use your garbage disposal correctly.
First of all, never run them dry.
Always have liquid running with them.
Secondly, avoid putting hot grease down them.
A lot of people heat up grease, pour it down with hot water thinking they've got it gone.
The problem is the grease cools off further down the pipe and can really clog things up.
Avoid putting grease in them.
Instead, put them in a can.
Put them in your regular garbage stream or out to the garbage can.
Cap that way.
Other than that, there are some really inventive ways that people have used
to de-stinkify the garbage disposal.
Our friends Bruce and Diane, what they do is used up
past their prime lime that they have in their refrigerator.
They cut it up in chunks and using a little bit of water,
grind it up in the garbage disposal, rinse it down,
and the citric acid does a marvelous job in cleansing.
And there's other products you can buy right from the store
that are used to deodorize the garbage disposal.
But our all-time favorite is a great product you've seen many times over,
and that is Borax.
The 20 Mule Team Borax product is a laundry product,
and it actually has several home uses,
both in the laundry, general cleaning, plumbing, all sorts of things.
But it does a bang-up job in deodorizing the garbage disposal.
And no, in case you're wondering, this is not a paid endorsement.
Nobody paid us, nor was any product provided to us.
It's just a great solution we really like.
So here's how it works.
The first thing we're going to do is we're going to come over here to our sink.
And boy, if I sniff down in there, it's getting pretty rank.
It's been a little while since it's been cleansed.
So here's what we're going to do really quickly.
We're going to use about a quarter cup of Borax to do this,
but here's the step-by-step on how to make it work.
First thing you're going to do is turn on the water a little bit
and just simply turn on the garbage disposal
to spread around all the moisture in there, then shut that off.
Then you're going to use about a quarter cup of Borax,
and you're just going to pour that in here.
And then take this and simply dump it in the center of this.
And you can coat some on the flaps that are around there also,
the anti-splash flaps.
And go ahead and get that in there.
Now, instead of just leaving it there,
go ahead and just give that just a little bit of water like that.
And then what we're going to do is pulse it.
I'm just going to turn on for a second,
and I'm going to do it one more time.
And what that has done is spread around all the product
and all the parts down there and put a little bit down the drain.
Now let's wait an hour and let's come back and see the results.
Okay, so an hour has transpired.
Let's see what we've got.
Already, I can't detect any odor,
but let's go ahead and clean out the Borax.
So what I'm going to do is just turn on a little bit of water,
rinse the anti-splash flaps right there,
and let's just go ahead and run the garbage disposal
to run the product down the drain.
We'll go ahead and shut it off,
and I'm going to scent it one more time.
I'm going to really...
I got nothing.
It smells like nothing.
It just smells like the day it was installed.
So it really, really works.
This product is also usable for other things,
and we'll give you another video at a later date
on how to use it in the laundry.
Hint, it can actually be used as a substitute for color-safe bleach,
and it's also a water softener.
It's a natural mineral.
So it really works really well.
Do you have a problem with your front loader washer stinking?
Does it build up and doesn't seem to matter what you do to wash it out?
You can't get it clean?
Well, have we got a solution for you.
Check out this video where nearly 2 million viewers have looked
and seen a great answer on how to stop the stink.
And if you find this video to be helpful, won't you like it?
Better yet, subscribe.
And when you do, ring the bell so you'll be notified
of brand new videos approximately every Friday.
Check us out at DirtFarmerJay.com
and our store is well there.
Thanks for tuning in.
Until the next time, Dirt Farmer Jay from DirtFarmerJay.com
