How to Repair a Clogged Garbage Disposal

It always happened when I was rushing to clean the kitchen. With a sink full of water and waste, my garbage disposal unit would stop dead. Luckily, it's easy to repair a clogged garbage disposal in a few minutes. Here's how I do it.

Locate the shut off button

At the base of your garbage disposal unit you'll find a small button (typically red). This is the unit's safety shut off button, which protects the engine from burning when something clogs the garbage disposal. With the water running in the sink, try to press this button. Your garbage disposal unit may come on again.

Unclog the garbage disposal

If the garbage disposal unit remains clogged, shut off the main power supply or unplug the unit to protect yourself during the repair process. Shine a flashlight under your garbage disposal unit. At the center you'll see a hexagonal hole. Look in your tool box for an Alan wrench (L-shaped wrench) that fits perfectly in the hole. Use the wrench to manually turn the garbage disposal blades, then turn on the electricity again and press the shut off button to reactivate the garbage disposal unit.

Turn the blades

If the Alan wrench won't turn or if the unit shuts off again, turn the electricity off and insert a broom handle through the garbage disposal opening in your sink. Tap the blades of the unit a little and try to turn them. Next, take the broom out and bend under the unit again. Use the Alan wrench to manually turn the blades as before. Then turn on the electricity again and, with the water running, switch on the shut off button.

Clear the blades

If something is still clogging your garbage disposal, turn the electricity off and slip your hand through the unit's opening in your sink to manually pull out the item clogging your unit. It can be a plastic bag, foil lid, bottle cap. Next, repeat the previous steps: turn the blades with the Alan wrench, turn the electricity back on and, with the water running, press the shut off button.

Tap like you mean it

In rare cases when my garbage disposal unit would still refuse to come on, I would turn the electricity off again and bang a little harder on the garbage disposal blades with the broom handle. Next, I would turn the blades with the handle and bang a little more. This would release whatever was stuck on the other side of the blades. Finally, with the water running, I would press the shut off button again.

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