My waste disposal is jammed. The blades are going around because the water is spinning, but it won't drain. Any ideas?
By Rebecca Burton from TX
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I have had it happen. I put dishwasher on rinse cycle and as water pushes up into sink. I plunge like crazy with a plunger and the force of the water can unclog the blockage further down in the pipe. Give it a try before you call the plumber. It has worked for me a couple of times.
Needs to be cleared this is correct. As a plumber I see many people put things in their disposal they would never put in their drain. NO citrus, No hard vegetables etc. Remember this stuff just gets chopped up and goes in your drains (which no-one values until they don't work)
Put 1/2 cup vinegar in there (without much water bail if you need to) follow with 3 tbs baking soda. Now boil water pour a bit down at a time. this clears your drains naturally and eco friendly.
However if you suspect there is something hard in there...loosen the joint with a bucket (under the sink) it. and get a hand auger from your hardware store. now you have a valuable tool that is only 8 dollars.
If the blades are not turning after remember there is a reset switch (usually red) on the bottom you may need to press. If you do need to disconnect the tailpiece ensure it is straight and only hand tighten (careful not to cross thread) this will ensure you have no leaks. take your time use your logic you will be fine.
Chances are the elbow past the Disposal clogged. If you have the tools just open the elbow and remove the obstruction.
Just tried the plunger method of clearing our clogged disposal, it stopped draining again (after paying a guy $115 to snake out the pipes about 3 weeks ago) and this worked beautifully! We had to do it for awhile, off and on for about 2-3 minutes at a time, but after about 15-20 minutes or so of off and on plunging, we heard the wonderful sound of a clog clearing and water draining normally.
Who knew that a plunger was all it took? Thank you so much for the info. just saved myself a call in to the plumber and some $$. Thank you again!
Blocking the none disposal side and running the disposal with water worked like a charm! It took about 5 minutes of trying to loosen the potato peels dumped down there. Turned disposal off and on several times and periodically moved the plug to allow air in. Thanks for saving a plumber visit!
I had the identical problem. Garbage disposal blades were turning but the water did not drain. I grabbed my plunger and went to work. However, it did not solve the problem and I was forced to go to the internet. So as you can see, I found this site and realized that I was on the right track but was missing one key element. I needed to place the stopper in on the other sink to create pressure. Plugged in the stopper and in two plunges on the "stopped up" sink it started draining immediately! Good Luck.
We just tried the vinegar/baking soda/hot water. it worked. Thank goodness, because company will be here in 15 minutes for dinner!
My disposal was making noise but the water was not draining. After minutes of plunging with no results, I added vinegar with baking soda, plunged for about minutes and finally unclogged the drain. Thanks for the tip!
Thanks so much for your advice! The baking soda and vinegar + plunging with the other side plugged did the trick and saved me a plumber visit! You rock!
After relentlessly plunging with no luck, thankfully I found the post about putting old pasta down the disposal, which is exactly what I did (an old, full box). So, I unscrewed the trap connected to the disposal and sure enough it was completely clogged with ground up pasta.
I scooped out as much as I could and when I turned on the disposal, the water drained and it's working perfectly! Thank you everyone for all of the great advice but especially to smartfell-r for the pasta tip.
Great advice with the vinegar and baking soda! Cleared potato skin clog that my wife gave up on before I got home. Even Liquid Plummer wouldn't touch it! I went online read this post and, Boom! It's outta' here! :) Many thanks to the author. You've made me the hero, yet again.
This worked like a charm. I didn't use any baking soda but used red wine vinegar. By sealing off the othe drain it caused that suction firce and allowed my plunger to push the tater skins clear away.
I had no idea about the potato skins! After reading about the vinegar, baking soda and hot water, tried it and Zappo! No plunging needed, less than a minute my drain was totally clear. Thanks a million.
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