Keep your Kitchen Clean: Avoiding Mold in your Garbage Disposal

6/9/2014 (Permalink)

It is often said that the kitchen is the heart of the home, and indeed it is. It is also the last place you want a hazardous fungus growing, as it should be the most sanitary room in your home. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people that are sensitive to molds can develop skin, eye, and throat irritations due to the presence of mildew or mold. Oftentimes mold can grow undetected right under your nose—in the garbage disposal in your kitchen.

The garbage disposal, or waste unit, is installed under the kitchen sink and shreds food waste so that it is thin enough to pass through the pipes and down to the street.  A garbage disposal can be a helpful appliance in your kitchen if it is maintained properly. If not, your disposal can smell, clog, and turn into a plumbing nightmare. The experienced technicians at SERVPRO Brea/Yorba Linda, a mold cleaning company, specialize in fixing plumbing disasters but will also analyze why your mold problem has occurred—maybe there is a leak in the piping between the garbage disposal and plumbing.

In order to avoid any unnecessary mold growing in your garbage disposal here are some tips on how to maintain cleanliness in the appliance:

• Locate large objects: Whether it is a piece of chicken or a chunk of pineapple, sometimes food particles don’t get completely chopped up the way that they should or sometimes they get stuck in the nooks and crannies of the appliance. Make sure your garbage disposal if off and stick your hand in the unit and remove any excess food.

• Don’t pour grease: After cooking a delicious chicken dish or frying bacon you may be tempted to get rid of the grease by pouring it down the garbage disposal, but that is absolutely the worst thing you can do! Grease clogs the drain and impedes your garbage disposal’s grinding ability. Once it cools off it hardens, which makes it difficult for the grinding mechanism to function properly.  

• Run the water: At least once or twice a month let your water get as hot as it possibly can and run the garbage disposal for 5-7 minutes. The hot water helps break up or loosen any food particles and grease. Allowing the disposal to run for a long period of time helps flush everything down through the pipes and to the street, where the city’s pipes will take over.

Mold grows best in dark, damp conditions and your garbage disposal could be the perfect environment. To make sure it is not, pour a little dish soap with some ice cubes inside the garbage disposal and let it run for a few minutes. If you are suffering from unwanted mold, SERVPRO Brea/Yorba Linda can help alleviate some of your stress. The goal of our dedicated technicians is to make sure you are comfortable in your home, and if we can’t, then we aim to make the process as quick and painless as possible.