How To Unclog A Garbage Disposal
So you look in your sink and see that you have some standing water over the garbage disposal. Well it’s a pretty common problem, especially for those of us who love to stuff potato peels or shredded carrots down there rather than just throw them out. So just how do you unclog a garbage disposal? Well it’s not as hard as you might assume, there are really two ways you can go about it and it depends on what is causing the problem. Let me explain.
Let’s say you dropped a piece of steak down the drain either on purpose or by accident (we won’t judge you), and as we know steak can be very tough so garbage disposal blades will probably have a hard time grinding it up. Since the blades can’t move through or around the steak chunk your garbage disposal is jammed and you need it unjammed in a hurry. The good news is that it really isn’t very difficult to free it up.
The first thing you need to do is shut off the power at the main circuit breaker. Let me repeat that… shut the power off! You are dealing with electricity and water here, don’t mess around.
Next, your disposal should have come with a special wrench that is essentially a big allen wrench (the one that looks like an L). If you cant find yours you can try using a regular allen wrench or you can buy an InSinkerator Jam Buster Wrench which will cost you around six dollars.
Once you have the power off and you have located your jam buster wrench, get underneath the clogged garbage disposal and you will notice a hole directly in the center of the disposal. Place the jam buster wrench or allen wrench in the hole and turn clockwise until you feel resistance. Once you feel resistance turn counter clockwise until you feel the resistance again. The resistance you are feeling is whatever is causing the clog, so in order to unclog garbage disposal you need to knock it out. Keep repeating until the resistance is gone.
When you no longer feel resistance, turn the power back on at the breaker and underneath the disposal press the red reset button. Flip the switch and test the disposal out to make sure it was unclogged. Just one suggestion… you may want to stand back from the disposal especially if there is standing water as debris and water may spray out when you start the disposal.
That’s it, you’re done.
Now some of you will try this and wonder to yourself why you don’t feel any resistance. If you don’t feel any resistance from your clogged garbage disposal, your garbage disposal may not be clogged… the drain pipe may be. What probably happened is that the disposal was able to process the food, but it was too much for the pipe to handle. This is very common with carrot or potato peels especially as they seem small but they stick together easily and don’t decompose as rapidly (just think of how long it takes for them to get mushy when you make soup).
Don’t worry this one isn’t hard to fix either. First find a plunger. I would HIGHLY recommend that you buy a new plunger rather than use the one that you use on your toilet, but hey to each their own. If you have a double sink, plug the non-garbage disposal sink with a rubber stopper, if you don’t have one buy one.
Place the plunger over the opening of the garbage disposal sink and press firmly which will force air down in to the pipes. Repeat a few times, unplug the non-disposal sink and try the disposal to see if it is unplugged. If not repeat a few more times and try again.
If the plunger still doesn’t work you could let the water stand for a little while (not too long though) and try the process again. Sometimes the pressure building from the standing water is enough pressure to clear the clogged drain, but more than likely you will need to call a plumber to take the pipes apart. If you are familiar with plumbing and drains you can try taking it apart yourself, but for 99% of the folks reading this article I would highly recommend a plumber.
There you have in, unclogging a garbage disposal isn’t that difficult, in fact if you have the right tools it can be downright easy.
© How To Unclog A Garbage Disposal
Related posts:
{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the simple yet so effective info! Made it a breeze to fix the problem and save a ton of money on a repairman!
Thanks! Tried the allen wrench first, no resistance. Tried the plunger and it worked. Thanks again!
Thank you so much. I shoved many potato peels down the garbage disposal, tried the plunger method, and it worked!
Thank you very much, your information saved me so much time and money. I tried the plunger on my garbage disposal, but it did not work.
I then learned from this site to stop up the other side first. Wow! A simple solution to save me a service call or money down the drain with drain products
Thanks again!
I had tried and tried to unclog the garbage disposal to no avail. Nothing was stuck and plunging didn’t work. I didn’t realize till reading your post that I needed to stop up the other side to effectively unclog it. Thanks for the great info!
Thanks for the strait forward, simple and effective advice…. without any strings attached. I unclogged my disposal drain in two minutes and saved $40 !!!! You guys are awesome !
I feel like a garbage disposal superhero thanks to you! The plunger worked to clear out those carrot peelings that someone – ahem – mysteriously put down the disposal.
Glad to hear it Nordy! Carrot peels (and potato peels as well) can be a major issue w/ garbage disposals, unfortunately nobody tells us this until AFTER we get them stuck!
Thank you so much. The plunger idea worked.
Glad to help Pat!
Wow that was easy! You are my new hero! I feel like I should break something else so I can see what other advise you have….. Well almost!
I’m hoping this works, we shall see. Sounds easy enough.
Thank you SOOOO much!!! My husband is deployed and I thought I was going to have to call a plumber. Darn carrot strings! Plunger (new one) worked immediately. Thanks, again!
You’re very welcome Kim.
Please tell your husband “thank you” and “stay safe” for all of us!
The plunger worked great! I can’t fix anything in the house, but my wife was impressed how quickly I fixed this. Thanks for helping me score points
Never putting potato peels in there again. Thanks for the advice probally saved me 300.00 and having my husband find out and fuss at me.
Thanks for the succinct instructions! Fixing my disposal took me about 3 minutes, saved from a smelly kitchen and a visit from the maintenance man.
Need to try sealing off the other side- my issue- banana peels!!! eeek!
Thanks. The thing I was doing wrong was not plugging up the second sink. Once I did that the plunger worked like a charm. Saved me $$$ on a plumber and/or new disposal. Plus I learned what not to put in it for next time!
Thanks for the instructions! So easy AND I got to teach my son something. He thinks single moms know everything.
Thank you , thank you , thank you!!! I’ve been plugging up garbage disposals for years and a plunger never occurred to me. It worked great! I had to put some more water in the drain so that the seal of the plunger was submerged. Everyone should invest in a $1.50 mini plunger!
Thank you so much, you saved the day! I didn’t have a plunger, but used a 16 oz cup right-side-up. It worked like a charm!
Just did the plunger trick and it worked perfectly. Thansk for the advice and the monetary savings!!!
I found out yesterday that you’re not supposed to put onion peels down the disposal… I didn’t know, new to cooking and all that comes with it. Any old way, the plunger method just saved me a $200 call to the plumber. Thank you very very very much!
You’re quite welcome… glad to help!
thank you so much for this information. I tried everything. well almost everything. I will try that as soon as I get home.
what’s the problem when you finally get the standing water in the sink to drain but the water is coming out the bottom of the disposal. I took the pvc pipes apart and cleaned that part. Is the clog actually in the disposal itself? Running the tap water doesn’t make the sink fill but the water is coming out the bottom of the disposal. Call a handyman, right?
Hi Linda,
If the sink is draining out it sounds like you might have fixed the clog but you might have a rubber gasket that is either worn out, broken or just on crooked… if the water is coming out where the disposal meets up with the pipe itself then I would assume this is the case.
I had this happen to me actually about 2 months ago… water was draining in the storage area under the sink and the gasket was to blame. In my situation it was just on crooked so took the pipe apart, re-aligned the gasket and tightened it up.
If the gasket is worn or broken you will need to replace it… best bet is to take it out and bring it in to your local plumbing store, or possibly Lowes / Home Depot (I prefer Lowes myself) and see if they carry a new one. Make sure you don’t lose it after you take it out so you know what size you need.
Good luck!
thank you!! the plunger(from toilet:()worked! darned potato peels:)
Thanx for the info… after I kept meeting resistance and the resistance wouldnt go away, I shined a flash light down the drain only to find a damn wash rag hanging out in the disposer… haha actually pretty comical!
Haha thats hysterical!