Garbage Disposal Smell

[retro-man]

I have a cheap GE disposal. Its about 4 years old. It is getting pretty rusty inside the chamber and plate. The only thing still shinny are the cutting blades so they must be stainless steel. It was fine till 2 months ago. Then it started to smell and the rubber piece really picks up the smell. I have tried everything I can think of. Baking soda and vinegar, dawn dish detergent, bleach, tide laundry detergent, ground up lemons, limes, oranges, ice cubes. It goes away for a little while but is coming back. Drainage is fine no slow down at all. Is it possible that because of the rust that it is retaining odors? The only way to get the odor out of the rubber part is to put it in the dishwasher. Also the dishwasher drains into the disposal. Always run it after the dishwasher has been run. Cold water, warm hot makes no difference. About ready to replace it soon if I can't control this odor. Any ideas or suggestions?

Jon

 

[tomturbomatic]

You say that you run it after the dishwasher runs. Do you mean you run it to dispose of garbage or just run it empty? Ideally, you should run it to dispose of garbage before running the dishwasher and then run it while the wash water is draining into it to sort of let the spinning cutter swirl the water to help wash down the insides. Let it sit until the last rinse and, if you catch it, run it during that drain also. Doing that a few times should sweeten its breath. Disposers have nooks and crannies, too, and they need periodic cleaning.

 

[turquoisedude]

Have you tried purging the disposer?  I used to do this every week or so by stoppering the disposer, filling the sink at least 1/2 full, then pulling the drain stopper and powering the disposer on.   I can't say I ever recall having any unpleasant odors from the last disposer I had (a really el-cheapo Sinkmaster) using this method.  

 

[user 3941]

I second the purging! It works really well...fills up the disposer completely with water while flushing it at the same time to remove and bits of gunk stuck where just running water can't reach.

 

[yogitunes]

I liked the GE Dispo-Alls for the fact that the rubber was removable.....

you may need something like a full round toilet brush, or something similar, to place in there and scrub all areas, up and under, and then purge with water....food and grit hide everywhere....

I would even go as far as using actual toilet cleaner, the type that has the bent nozzle to spray upside down...like a thick blue liquid.....that stuff will clean almost anything...

sometimes you have to go outside the box.....

 

[tomturbomatic]

or bowl

 

[gusherb]

When ours stinks I'll drop a lemon in there and let it grind up, then take the ice tray from the freezer and dump it in, run the cold water turn it on and watch it make slushies. Once I've had enough I'll switch to hot water and watch it drain down. That has always dislodged anything stuck in there and cleared the stink.

 

[murando531]

Ice works really well to help scour the inside. I usually take a long dish brush and remove the rubber mouth and scrub it clean, and then use dish soap to scrub down into the chamber as far as I can. Then some ice and the some hot water and vinegar.

 

[johnb300m]

I really have a love-hate with the GE disposers.
They have faster RPMs (2600), sharp blades, removable splash guards, cheap.

BUT,
They're loud when mounted on stainless sinks.
Made in China.
They don't rinse themselves well at all, so they STINK up pretty quickly.
The splash guards are a weird, cheap rubber that lose their shape over the years, and I find it difficult to push stuff down them.

Otherwise they're pretty decent.

I'm an ISE guy through and through. But I have long time familial ties to Racine......(shrug)

 

[rp2813]

We hardly use our disposer because the sewer pipes here are really old, and they have clog-prone 90-degree turns.  The occasional stray scraps make their way into the disposer and sometimes just running the water will generate a smell.

 

If I'm in the vicinity when the dishwasher drains from the main wash, I'll run the disposer until the flow of water stops.  Other than that, once in a great while if I feel it needs a treatment, I'll pop a couple of "Plink" deodorizing marbles in there and use as directed.

 

 

 

 

[yogitunes]

lookey, breath mints for disposers.....what will they think of next.....lol

 

[murando531]

Ours is a cheapo GE Disposall. The only "appliance" in the house that I didn't choose myself, otherwise all our appliances would have been BOL GEs when the house was built. I'm trying my best to kill the thing because I'd much rather have an ISE Evolution Excel, or a nice KitchenAid since they're ISE anyway. In all truthfulness, the GE isn't terrible; I've never had it clog, and as much as I cram into it, it gobbles it up and keeps on running. My only complaint is the noise in general and the rumbling if there is any amount of water more than just the faucet running, and that it only has the one grinding stage, so I avoid string fibrous foods if possible.

Despite all that, smells and grime never seem to be an issue for me. I usually scrub it out at least once a week though, so that may be helping.

 

[user 3941]

I have a fairly new ISE. It works great but it's one with the magnetic top on it. Pain in the BUTT. I've had to replace the cap because it gets warped and almost impossible to turn. The lady I bought my condo from had a daughter with autism so she probably got it for safety. I hate to get a new one though...unlike my other appliance binges and purges. LOL.

 

[kb0nes]

I assume you can't remove the rubber splash guard from that model? Only time I have ever had odor from mine is when food debris built up on the bottom of the splash guard.

My ISE guard just pulls out. I have two of them and I just swap them in and out of the dishwasher on a regular basis.

The purge is a good idea. I also grind old stale ice with mine and I think that helps.

 

[tolivac]

DON'T put toilet cleaners and such in disposers-they can ruin the water seal for the motor.The disposer cleaners made for that are safe.Another is just run a tray or two of ice cubes down the disposer.The ice as it is shredded will clean the "slime" off the disposers cutters.Chicken bones help keep them clean as well.I replaced an ISE Evolution Excell with a vintage Maytag disposer I got from Volsboy.The VINTAGE machines are better than the new ones.The ISE Excell was excelling at SLOWWWWWWW-!!!!Took it a long time to shred a load-and you figure the WATER used in this.The Maytag is faster adn better.The vintage GE is better than the ISE.

 

[retro-man]

Thanks for all the info and suggestions. I have done the power purge many times as all the other hints. The only thing I have not done is take a brush to the innards.
Yes I can remove the rubber piece that goes into the top. That has now gotten so bad that even the dishwasher is not removing the odor from it. I run the disposal prior to using the dishwasher with just water to make sure it is clear. Then I run it again with water and Dawn after it has finished to really lather up the inside to clean it out. Our hot water temp is really high probably 150-160 degrees. Never had this issue before with any previous disposals. I am on the 10th floor of a high rise and no odors out of any of the other drains in the house. It looks clean on the inside except for the brown of the rust. I check it all the time and its clean and dry but smells bad esp when we get back from being gone for a few days. Have gotten to the point of putting the drain stop in while we are gone so it doesn't hit you in the face when you open the door.

Jon

 

[delaneymeegan]

It sounds like the smell is NOT the disposal, but perhaps the plumbing lines connected to it.
Over the years, I've seen some really ridiculous plumbing installations. These are the things where the owner has tried to DIY.

If water/waste cannot fully drain out of the disposal OR the pipes leading away from it
OR
if the disposal does not have an elbow (that's what it sounds like), there is going to be odor, and possibly more seriously, sewer gases leaking into the apartment and building.

Another problem could be that the inside of the pipes leading away from the disposer are covered in gunk. I had a tenant once that routinely put oily substances down the disposer. That gunk sticks to the pipes and will create odors. Disposers are to be used only with water soluible substances.

Do you have a picture of the plumbing under the sink?

All these pictures show an incorrect installations (some hilariously so):

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

That picture reminds me of the plumbing we had under the sink when our garbage disposal broke...

 

So we had to have the plumbing re-routed and re-done; a friend of mine did the work, even replacing our broken garbage disposal...

 

And even though you should never do business w/ relatives or friends, this was definitely an exception in that years later everything still works!

 

 

-- Dave

 

[tomturbomatic]

When I moved into this house, I wanted to replace the continuous feed with a batch feed. The ISE like I had before was too big for the height of the drainline so John said to go with a Maytag which had the drain outlet higher up.It will kill a disposer if water sits in it, to say nothing of the stink that can result.

 

[mattl]

One other possibility is a block vent stack.  If the vent going up through the roof is blocked the sewer gasses may travel up the drain line, you may get a smell if the trap is draining completely - which it's not supposed to do -- sometimes a blocked vent can cause that when for example a toilet is flushed.

 

A relative had an issue with a vent, a squirrel crawled in, or fell in and died, bad situation to resolve.

 

[askolover]

round toilet brush

I bought a round toilet brush at Walmart that will just fit through the opening of my ISE/Kenmore with stainless chamber.  A little Comet on the brush, stick it in and scrub around.  When I pull the brush out it reverses the rubber baffle and scrubs it too.  I sometimes still take a paper towel with comet and reach up under the "rim" so to speak and scrub it by hand (far away from the grinder).  Usually a gallon of hot water with bleach in it poured down while running is all I need.  Mother's old Kenmore was rusted like that inside and it also stank.  Replaced it with a stainless chambered one and no troubles since.

 

[retro-man]

Taa Daa the smell is gone.

Had some extra time yesterday. Kept thinking about it. I did 3 full sink power purges in a row. Well with a large rectangular deep sink I discovered it takes over 15 minutes to get the sink 3/4 filled. Damn low flow faucets. Did it with warm water and a couple of squirts with Dawn. After the 3rd purge it did not smell except for the rubber insert. Soaked that in Dawn and water in a dish. Put that into the dishwasher last night and ran it. Did not have and odor to it this morning. Did another power purge this morning. No smell. Put the rubber back in place and left it to go back to the other house this morning. Will be back down Wednesday night to see. I think the problem has been solved hopefully. I wasn't doing such a large purge before. Thanks for all your suggestions. The plumbing is correct under the sink with all the correct angles.

Jon