The term “garbage disposal” might make you think they can dispose of anything you put into them. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, and some common items around your kitchen can actually lead to damage or plumbing issues. If you want to avoid that in your home, it’s essential to understand your garbage disposal’s limitations. To help, here’s a list of seven things you should never put into your garbage disposal.
1. Coffee Grounds
As surprising as this may be, you should never put coffee grounds into your garbage disposal. You might guess why if you’ve ever looked closely at used coffee grounds. It’s that coffee grounds get clumpy and sticky when they get wet. Those properties make them frequent drain clog culprits. Instead of your garbage disposal, discard your coffee grounds in your garden as compost or your trash.
2. Fats, Oils, and Grease
Fats, oils, and grease are some of the most common kitchen waste products. They can come from meat trimmings, the bottom of frying pans, or even deep fryers. They’re also something you should never put in a garbage disposal. All three can congeal when cooled, creating clogs in your plumbing. You may even worsen things if you run hot water while disposing of fats, oils, or grease. Then, the clog can form deeper inside your plumbing system, making it harder to remove.
3. Stringy Food Waste
Although they may seem innocuous, things like corn husks, banana peels, and celery should never go in your garbage disposal. They all feature stringy, fibrous strands that can wrap around your disposal’s impeller and damage its motor. They can get entangled and form clogs even if they escape the disposal’s inner workings.
4. Bones or Shells
Tossing bones or shells into your garbage disposal is a bad idea, too. It’s a common misconception that garbage disposal units have blades. Instead, they have impellers that push waste against a grinding ring. That misconception makes some people think their disposal can cut up solid objects like bones and shells. Instead, those things get flung around the inside of your disposal and can cause jams or damage to its impellers.
5. Fruit Pits or Seeds
Fruit pits will cause the same problems as bones or shells in a garbage disposal. They’re too hard for a disposal to grind down. If they’re large, like the pit from a peach, they may damage your disposal. Seeds often have the opposite problem. They’ll slip past your disposal’s grind ring and potentially rattle around endlessly.
6. Starchy Food Items
When cooking anything starchy like pasta, potatoes, or rice, discarding leftovers in your garbage disposal may seem harmless. After all, they’re all soft foods you wouldn’t expect to cause a problem. Unfortunately, starchy foods can adhere to the inside of your plumbing and cause clogs.
This applies to anything that absorbs water, too, like oatmeal. (If you’ve ever tried to wash oatmeal out of a bowl after it’s sat out, you’ve seen how sticky some starchy foods can be.) Sticky, starchy foods can catch other food debris that goes through your disposal, raising the chances of a clog occurring. Even if stickiness ends up not being an issue, these foods’ ability to absorb water means they can swell up within your pipes and block them as well.
7. Eggshells
Eggshells are among the most fragile types of food waste imaginable. Some people believe that makes them a perfect candidate for the garbage disposal. Unfortunately, the inside of an eggshell has a thin membrane that’s much tougher than the shell itself. It can work its way inside your disposal’s impellers and gum them up, leading to an overheating motor. The good news is that eggshells make a perfect companion for the coffee grounds you’re hopefully going to start putting in your garden.
Your Local Garbage Disposal Experts
Midstate Plumbing & Air is the place to turn for all your garbage disposal needs in Bridgeport, WV. We offer various plumbing services, ranging from water heaters to remodeling jobs and slab leak repair. We also offer drain and sewer services to keep your pipes flowing freely. Our team of plumbers has decades of experience and the latest training. Look at our review section to find out what you can expect when working with us. So, for garbage disposal installation and kitchen plumbing repair in Bridgeport, call Midstate Plumbing & Air today!
