How To Keep Garbage Disposal Hot Or Cold Water?

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The garbage disposal constantly crushes and removes waste from your kitchen so that you may be worried about its maintenance and well being. Since it requires water to operate correctly, you might be wondering how to keep garbage disposal hot or cold water?

Generally, cold water is most preferred and recommended for garbage disposal usage. But if you want to keep your garbage disposal running perfectly, there are some maintenance tips you need to follow.

In this article, you will learn everything regarding your best garbage disposal, including what type of water to use, avoiding problems, and solutions for some common issues.

Table of Contents

Do You Run a Garbage Disposal with Hot or Cold Water?

If you own a garbage disposal, you will know from its user manual that it requires a constant and steady stream of water to dispose of the waste. Cold water and hot water both have their separate uses.

When to Use Cold Water

Ideally, you will be using cold water most of the time. That is because most food wastes contain some oil and fat. Using hot or warm water will cause those oily substances to melt and become sticky, which will make the grinding chamber dirty.

Cold water prevents this from happening and keeps the wastes fresh.

When to Use Hot Water

There are not many situations where you will have to use hot water. Hot water is recommended while you are cleaning the disposal as it helps loosen the dirt particles. It can also be used with dry waste such as bread.

Which One Is the Best for Garbage Disposal Hot Or Cold Water

Now, setting everything aside, cold water is the most recommended type of water while grinding waste in a garbage disposal. Using cold water every time will not harm the disposal. Whereas using hot water while grinding may cause the internals to become dirty.

Tips to Avoid Garbage Disposal Problems

how to keep garbage disposal hot or cold water

Garbage disposals are generally made to last for a long time. So, as long as you read the instruction manual correctly and don’t do anything that can harm the disposal, you should be fine.

But if you are worried about it, here are some tips to avoid some very common issues –

1. Don’t Put in Things You Are Not Supposed to

Despite what you may know, garbage disposal can’t grind everything. There are certain things that it can’t grind and will damage the machine instead. These things can vary depending on your disposal’s power and model, so check the user manual.

But generally, you should not put in slippery things such as banana peels, oily and greasy waste, and anything other than food, Egg shell.

2. Always Run Water

Never start grinding waste in the garbage disposal without running a steady stream of water. Without water, the disposal will not flush out the trash, and it will stay inside the disposal. It will severely impact the lifespan of the garbage disposal.

Using water also reduces the impact of the waste on the internal components and helps it grind better. Run the water for some time before starting to put it in the garbage, and use clean water.

3. Keep It Clean

You don’t need this tip if you follow the previous steps carefully. But just in case, you might want to clean it once in a while. You can use ice cubes and warm water to do the job.

Ice cubes shake up the internals of the disposal and shake off dirt and residue. Warm water helps loosen the dirt and also kills germs.

If you want to do something more advanced, you can use baking soda, bleach, citrus fruits, vinegar ice cubes, etc.

4. Some Additional Tips

These are some essential tips that apply to any electronic device. You probably already know these, but in case you don’t, here they are –

Turn off the power when you are done. It helps protect the device from voltage fluctuations.
Avoid placing it near stoves or hot places.
Please don’t keep it running after the waste disposal.
You can use a stabilizer if the voltage fluctuation is a major problem in your area.

Some Common Problems and Their Solutions

These are some very common and relatively easy to fix problems that you might face if you own a garbage disposal.

1. Garbage Disposal Hums But Does Not Grind

If you power it on and hear a humming noise, but it isn’t grinding the waste, it means that the flywheel (the spinning disk) is probably stuck, and there is some waste stuck in between the flywheel and the motor.

Solution:

Turn off the disposal and insert the offset wrench that came with the removal into the grinding chamber. (You can get one from a hardware store if one wasn’t included with yours)
When you hit bottom, turn it clockwise. It may take some force, but it is totally risk-free. That will unclog the flywheel.
Once it starts spinning freely, you can patch up everything and start using it again.

If you don’t have an offset wrench, you can also use something like a long wooden handle to get the job done.

Water Builds up on Garbage Disposal Sink

This is usually caused due to some clogging. The clogging can happen at the sink pipe or the drain pipe.

Solution:

Disconnect the pipe from the sink to the disposal and check for clogs.
After cleaning it, if the problem still occurs, take out the drainpipe by removing the screws holding the discharge pipe to the disposal.
Check and remove clogs.
Run a stream of water for a while to make sure everything works.

Leaking Pipes

If you notice water dripping from the pipes, there is a leak.

Solution:

Examine all the pipes and figure out where the water is actually leaking from. Usually, it occurs at the sink flange and drainpipe.
Once figured out, try tightening the screws that hold the unit.
If that doesn’t fix it, try removing the screws and tightening them again.

Additionally, you may need to replace certain parts that are faulty and causing the leak. Rusty bolts and cracked pipes are some rare instances.

Noise and Odor

These are some fundamental issues that don’t really affect the operation of the disposal. Noise may be caused by some stuck waste or any metal object inside the chamber.

Solution:

Use a flashlight and take a look inside and see what’s making the noise.
Remove the object carefully with any tool.
Use some amount of baking soda and bleach while grinding. You can also use lemon and other citrus fruits.

Conclusion

Reading through all the discussion, hopefully, you now know the answer to how to keep garbage disposal hot or cold water? Cold water is clearly the way to go for most people. Also, you now know the solutions to the most common garbage disposal issues.

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Williams Kane

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