Protect Your Garbage Disposer: The Ultimate "No-Go" List for Your Kitchen Sink
1. Fats, Oils & Grease (FOG) - The Arch-Nemesis
Why: Liquid grease might pour easily, but as it cools, it solidifies into a stubborn, concrete-like mass inside your pipes. This is the prime cause of severe drain clogs, affecting both your home's plumbing and the broader municipal sewer system.
Solution: Allow fats, oils, and grease to cool and solidify. Then, scrape them into your trash can or a dedicated disposal container.
2. Fibrous & Stringy Materials - The Tanglers
Examples: Celery stalks, corn husks, onion skins, artichoke leaves, asparagus ends, pineapple tops.
Why: Their tough, stringy fibers are designed by nature to resist breaking down. They can easily wrap around the grinding components and impellers, potentially jamming the motor or obstructing the drain pipe by creating a net that catches other debris.
3. Hard Materials - The Abrasives
Examples: Large, dense animal bones (beef, pork), hard fruit pits (avocado, mango, peach), thick seafood shells (crab, lobster, clams, oysters).
Why: While our high-torque DC motor and advanced 7-stage grinding system are built for durability and can effortlessly process small bones (chicken, fish) and eggshells, excessively large and hard objects can be overly abrasive. They can cause premature wear on the grinding components. Small bones and eggshells are actually excellent for helping to clean the grind chamber walls!
4. Non-Food Items - The Absolute No
Examples: Glass, metal, plastic, rubber, cigarette butts, paper, fabric, twist ties.
Why: This should be evident, but these items have zero business in a disposer. They will cause immediate and often catastrophic damage, leading to severe jams and irreversible unit failure.
5. Harsh Chemicals - The Corroders
Why: Avoid pouring bleach or commercial drain cleaners into the disposer. These harsh chemicals can corrode the metal components and damage the motor seals over time, shortening the unit's lifespan.
Natural Cleaning Alternative: For a fresh and clean disposer, periodically grind citrus peels (lemon, lime, orange) or a small amount of baking ice cubes (a handful of ice cubes with a quarter cup of baking soda) to scour the chamber walls naturally.
Pro Tip for Optimal Performance:
Always run a steady stream of COLD water before, during, and for about 30 seconds after grinding. Cold water keeps any residual fats solid so they can be ground up and flushed away, whereas hot water would melt them, only to re-solidify later in your pipes.
Feed waste gradually. Avoid overloading the chamber to allow the motor to maintain its powerful grinding speed.
Conclusion: Smart Use for Longevity
By respecting these simple boundaries, you empower your disposer to be the reliable, powerful kitchen companion it was designed to be. It's engineered for food waste—treat it wisely, and it will deliver unparalleled convenience.
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