# Smelly garbage disposal **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-garbage-disposal/359416 "2006-06-04T23:16:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![midwestgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@midwestgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/midwestgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-garbage-disposal/359416/1 "2006-06-04T23:16:12Z")
What to do? My garbage disposal smells like garbage. I have poured Clorox down it with hot water and ran it, and it still smells like, you guessed it, garbage. Any suggestions on how to remedy this problem, other than never using it again? ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-garbage-disposal/359416/2 "2006-06-04T23:27:31Z")
Dump in some baking soda, about a good cup or so. Be generous. Let it sit for a few minutes. Call in any young children to watch the next part, 'cause it’s cool, but make them stand back. Pour in about a cup of plain white vinegar and watch the fun foaming action. Turn on the water, a light medium stream. Then turn on the disposal. Toss in some lemon peels if you have any. That should clean and deodorize it. ---
**Author:** ![midwestgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@midwestgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/midwestgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-garbage-disposal/359416/3 "2006-06-04T23:40:54Z")
Sounds like that’ll do the trick. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Marconi\_Schmeese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Marconi\_Schmeese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marconi_Schmeese)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-garbage-disposal/359416/4 "2006-06-04T23:41:01Z")
Seconding cutting up lemons and oranges and dropping them in while the disposal is running. ---
**Author:** ![midwestgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@midwestgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/midwestgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-garbage-disposal/359416/5 "2006-06-05T00:05:21Z")
The baking soda/vinegar worked… used ReaLemon though… the smell’s gone, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-garbage-disposal/359416/6 "2006-06-05T03:46:55Z")
Lowe’s stores carry a product called Disposal Care. It comes in a box of four packets and costs under $5. (Can’t remember the exact amount.) I love watching this stuff work. Like the vinegar and baking soda, it fizzes and rises through the grains, but it’s a vivid bright blue foam. Wicked cool-looking. (It also cleans your drain trap in the process.) ---
**Author:** ![Zulema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-garbage-disposal/359416/7 "2006-06-05T04:24:46Z")
Here is the free, disgusting way to clean your disposer, for those who have no baking soda or vinegar and need to clean it now. Pull off the black rubber flappy thing that keeps the silverware out of the drain. Notice another less sturdy flappy thing; don’t pull that one off. Poke that open and look in the drain. Look! Slimy rotting garbage is clinging to the walls of the drain. Scrub it off with an old toothbrush. Blech. The underside of the flappy thing needs to be cleaned too. Ick. I might try that baking soda trick next time. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-garbage-disposal/359416/8 "2006-06-05T11:38:32Z")
Yeah, I forgot about the rubber flappy thing. One should pull off easily, one should be firmly attached. Pull off the first one - there’s probably all sorts of nasty slimy scum on the edges. Wash that clean and pop it back on. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-garbage-disposal/359416/9 "2006-06-05T11:52:13Z")
Is RealLemon bottled lemon juice? That won’t really help. I do have a disposal, but it’s more for just clearing out the drain than actually disposing of stuff. I compost–but not my lemon peels. I find that citrus peels have the perfect consistency for cleaning the disposal, and the natural oils in the peel have a good anti-stink property. What I do is wait until all the dishes and everything are done. Then I run the disposal until it’s clear. Then I put in the lemon peels. Just doing the lemon peels alone maximizes the effect. Maybe if your drain is really stink-o-rific, doing the baking soda/vinegar thing and _then_ the lemon peels would be the best thing. Oh yeah. I third (fourth?) the thing about cleaning the rubber flappy thing. Ick. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-garbage-disposal/359416/10 "2006-06-05T12:19:17Z")
You can also make vinegar ice cubes and run them though the disposal. Makes a lot of noise, but cleans it out. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-garbage-disposal/359416/11 "2006-06-05T12:41:04Z")
> [@midwestgirl](#): > > What to do? My garbage disposal smells like garbage. I have poured Clorox down it with hot water and ran it, and it still smells like, you guessed it, garbage. Any suggestions on how to remedy this problem, other than never using it again? Just out of curiosity, where are you from? I just overheard this conversation on Saturday during a party I was at, and they were all women and from the Midwest. 🙂 Are you at least from the Milwaukee area? ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-garbage-disposal/359416/12 "2006-06-05T12:53:43Z")
> [@Green Bean](#): > > Is RealLemon bottled lemon juice? That won’t really help. I always thought the lemon peels cut the odor of the vinegar. I know they don’t really clean it or anything, they just make it smell better. I hate the smell of vinegar. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-garbage-disposal/359416/13 "2006-06-05T15:54:13Z")
As a kind of light maintainence, do this once in a while. Making sure the disposal is off, stuff it full of ice cubes. Just keep cramming them in there. Sprinkle baking soda in occasionally as you full it. Once it’s heaping with ice cubes, turn on the water slightly, and then turn on the disposal. The ice gets ground up and thrown around in the disposal. It scrubs out a lot of that slime that builds up inside. After that, follow with lots of hot water, to rinse everything out. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smelly-garbage-disposal/359416/14 "2006-06-05T17:00:53Z")
> [@midwestgirl](#): > > Any suggestions on how to remedy this problem, other than never using it again? Now that you have the disposer deodorized, never using it again is exactly the wrong thing to do. The disposer will be less stinky if you use it regularly.