I thought I had already posted this but does anyone know if egg shells are good or bad for your garbage disposal? One plumber told me that it is good because it sharpens the blades and the other plumber told me it was bad because it clogs the pipes. Anyone know a good plumber?
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A plumber once told me never to put anything in the disposal that you wouldn't eat yourself. Egg shells, coffee grinds, etc.
However, recently my dispposal clogged when I put potato peelings down it and I do eat the skins of potatoes, so go figure!!!
Hope this helps - Smoochie :)
Any number of things can clog a disposer, even those things that are "ok" to put down it, if you stuff enough of in there at once. I just installed a new disposer last week. Here's a paraphrased list of DON'T's and DO's that came w/the instructions:
DON'T pour grease or fat down the disposer drain. It can clog it.
DON'T use hot water when grinding food waste. It can clog it.
DON'T fill disposer with a lot of vege peels all @ once. It can clog it. Turn water on 1st & feed them a bit @ a time.
DON'T grind extremely fibrous materials like celery, corn husks, artichokes, etc. It can clog it & block the drain.
DON'T turn off disposer until grinding is completed & only motor sound and water is heard. It can clog it.
DO 1st turn on a moderate to strong flow of cold water before turning on disposer. Continue to run water 15 seconds after grinding is completed.
DO grind hard materials such as small bones, fruit pits and ice. This creates a desired scouring action by the particles inside the grind chamber.
I have had a disposal for years and I put anything and everything down it. Potato peels, broccoli, egg shells stalks from grapes. The only things that I don't put in it are corn cobs and popcorn.
Just have the water running before you start it and when the stuff inside is ground up and there is only water, shut off the disposal, but let the water continue to run for @20 seconds longer.
Regarding potato peels and disposals - I've read that potatoes and potato peels are like putting concrete in the disposal. Maybe a tiny bit at a time (like the peel of one potato, but no more than that).
Ice will clean it just as well, and won't clog the pipes.
I had some bad kitchen sink drain problems a while back so I am quite careful about what I put down the drain now and I don't put eggshells, that's for sure. Even if they sharpened the blades, I'd rather use something else for that purpose than have a clogged drain cuz that is the pitts!
I have had a garbage disposal for years. The only time I ever had any trouble with it was when I put a large number of egg shells and potato peeling in it. The membrain was the problem with the egg shell not the shells them selves. The membrains just aren't big enough for the blades to chop up.
I eat meat but thats one thing that does not go in my disposal.
Hi, I have always put eggshells down my disposal and never had any problem...of course I never have that many eggshells at a time to put down the disposal. However, large amounts of potato peels have clogged our disposal so now we only put small amounts down at a time or we just throw out the potato peels in the trash.
One other thing to avoid putting down a garbage disposal is a large amount of cooked spaghetti---odd as that seems.
Egg shells clean & sharpen the blades. Just start the water, cold, & add shells. The thing with potato & carrot peals, is that if you wait till you are done or the disposer is full, the blades chop up the peals in not always small enough pieces & it clogs the holes in the bottom of the disposer & can clog old drains, cause they often have protrusions in the old pipes, which catches the peals. So if u want to do that, just start the water & disposal & put a little bit down at a time, but vegetable peals & what not are good for composting, so I don't do that.
They aren't bad for the disposal. I was told not to put them down there because they aren't biodegradable and such matter will not disintegrate in the septic tank. That means the tank wiil need to be pumped out more often.
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