Garbage Disposal not Working? Learn How to Fix a Garbage Disposal.

Learn how to fix a garbage disposal and keep it running properly with these 5 simple and easy garbage disposal troubleshooting tips.

Garbage disposals work great and make dish cleaning easy.

But misconceptions lead us to believe that we can toss all kinds of foods down the garbage disposal.

And these appliances are not meant to grind up or destroy big particles of food, like bones, fruit pits, uncooked vegetables, pasta or rice.

Some of these foods, if thrown down the garbage disposal, can jam, clog or potentially break your machine.

That’s why it is always recommended that you scrape your plate at the trashcan before putting it in the sink.

But, why is your garbage disposal not working?

Let’s find out how to fix a garbage disposal…

1. Is your Garbage Disposal not Turning on?

Just like other appliances around your home, garbage disposals require an electrical plug in.

Like the picture below, most of the time, the electrical outlet is located under the sink, behind the garbage disposal unit.

So, if your garbage disposal not turning on and it’s not creating a humming sound when you flip the switch, the first step is to check that the cable from the garbage disposal unit is plugged into the electrical outlet.

If the unit is still not turning on, then the next step is to ensure the breaker switch that corresponds to the garbage disposal in your breaker box is turned on.

Sometimes too many appliances pull power at the same time, tripping the breaker switch and stopping the flow of electricity to your garbage disposal.

How to Reset your Garbage Disposal

If the problem continues and your garbage disposal is not turning on, there is no humming sound when you flip the switch, and the problem is not the electrical power to the unit, then there is one last thing to try.

The garbage disposal reset button!!!

Sometimes the garbage disposal unit can be tripped when it becomes overloaded with food or an eating utensil that fell down the drain.

Because of this, most garbage disposals have a reset button at the bottom that can be used to restart the unit if the garbage disposal is not turning on.

To reset it, find and press the reset button in order to reset the unit.

If the reset is successful, the power to the unit should be restored and the garbage disposal should start working again.

2. Is your Garbage Disposal not Spinning?

Sometimes large food items or foreign objects, like an eating utensil, can fall down the drain.

These large items can clog and jam the garbage disposal blades; not allowing them to spin correctly.

If that is the case, first ensure all power to the unit is cut off by turning the power switch off and then unplugging the power cord from the electrical outlet. This is very important!!! Safety first.

If you can see the item down the drain, it is best, for safety reasons, to use a tool like a pair of needle nose pliers to carefully and gently pull out the item.

If you can’t see the item, with the power and the switch turned off, reach in and gently try to remove any debris, utensils, plastics or anything that is foreign to the unit and may be jamming the blades from spinning.

After all clogged items jamming the garbage disposal blades have been removed, plug in the power cord to the electrical outlet and flip the power back on.

If the jam is successfully removed, the garbage disposal should work properly again.

3. Is your Garbage Disposal not Jammed but Humming?

There are garbage disposal jams that can’t be detected by looking down the drain or can’t be removed by hand.

So, if your garbage disposal is not jammed but humming, it can mean that there is a jam further down in the internal mechanisms of your garbage disposal.

In order to remove this type of jam, first ensure all power to the unit is cut off by turning the power switch off and then unplugging the power cord from the electrical outlet.

Most garbage disposals have a hex-shaped hole at the bottom of the unit that lets you insert an Allen wrench and crank back and forth to remove any possible jams.

With an ¼-inch Allen or Hex Wrench, insert it into the Hex-shaped hole at the bottom of your garbage disposal.

Then with your hand firmly on the wrench, push it back and forth a few times in order to free-up any internal jams.

Next, remove the Allen wrench, plug the unit back on, ensure no items are in the drain and flip the power switch on.

If the internal jam is removed, the garbage disposal should come back on as normal and the humming should be gone.

4. How to Unclog a Garbage Disposal

Your garbage disposal is linked to the plumbing under your sink.

For that reason, in most cases, when your sink is not draining properly, it is the drain pipes that are clogged and not the garbage disposal itself.

In order to fix this issue, you will need to disassemble the drain trap under your sink and remove any clogs that may be slowing down your drain.

Depending on how updated your plumbing is, removing the drain trap can be as easy as turning the slip nuts or threaded fittings off, until the drain trap section can be removed.

Once removed, ensure the drain trap is clean of any debris and clogs before re-inserting and tying the slip nuts.

When tying the slip nuts, be sure to not over-tighten as these plastic fittings can sometimes break off if over-tightened.

If the clog has been removed and the problem persists, it could be a clog further down the drain line.

For that, you can further disassemble the drain line in order to search for the clog or you can use a sink auger to remove any blockages.

5. Is your Garbage Disposal Leaking from the Bottom?

There are several possible leakages that can arise from or around the garbage disposal.

In order to find the leak…

First, ensure all power is cut off from the garbage disposal by unplugging the power cord from electrical outlet.

If it looks unsafe to unplug the power plug due to water around the area, turn off the power by turning the switch off from the breaker box.

Next, dry all the water from the garbage disposal unit and drain pipe connections from your sink.

In order to find the leak, you may have to slightly turn the water faucet on and get some water in the garbage disposal and drain line.

Carefully examine and search for the root location of the leak.

Looking at the drain pipes and the garbage disposal unit.

If you find out that your garbage disposal is leaking from the bottom, unfortunately, the unit’s internal gaskets have been worn out enough to create a leak.

Unfortunately, this may signal an irreparable break and it may be time to replace your garbage disposal.

We hope these tips helped you learn how to fix your garbage disposal. If they did, please share this article or leave us a comment and let us know how you got your garbage disposal working again.