When washing your dishes, you should not feel any movement from your garbage disposal. A slight movement, or better yet no movement, means that your blades are held firmly against the impeller. This is normal.
What’s not normal?
It is not normal when your blades move up and down instead of side to side. This means that you have loose blades.
A garbage disposal with loose blades can be potentially dangerous. The blades in a garbage disposal are designed to grind food waste into small particles, but if they become loose or damaged, several risks may arise:
- Ineffectiveness: Loose blades may malfunction, leading to ineffective food waste grinding. This can result in clogs and backups in your plumbing.
- Increased Wear and Tear: Loose blades can cause additional wear and tear on the motor and other components of the garbage disposal. This can shorten the appliance’s lifespan and lead to the need for repairs or replacement.
- Safety Hazard: Loose blades pose a safety risk, especially if someone attempts to reach the disposal while running. The blades may cause injury to the hands or fingers.
Why Do Garbage Disposals Have Blades?
The blades in the garbage disposal are there to chop down scraps, bits, and pieces of food into even smaller pieces so that it can go down the pipe with water. These blades should be tight and move smoothly.
Your garbage disposal may make much noise when in use because of breaking down things you throw into the sink. However, loose blades in garbage disposal have this sound like your unit is ready to fall apart at any moment. If this happens to your garbage disposal, it is time to check your blades to see any loose parts.
How to Tighten Garbage Disposal?
Many people replace their devices when their blades start to feel loose when in use. Instead of calling a technician, it makes more sense budget-wise to buy and install a new one after all. However, is it the only solution to the trouble?
No, it is not.
Before buying your new unit, you can try to fix it yourself. To do this, ensure you have turned off the power to your garbage disposal. Then, unplug the garbage disposal since you must stick your hand in it.
Check whether any object is stuck under the blades with the garbage disposal unplugged. Wear safety gloves and remove any food waste on the blades. Continuous food waste clogs can make the blades lose their grip on the impellers.
After your blades are clean from any stuck objects, grab and lift the blade. Feel whether the blades are moving vertically. Any vertical movement on the blade means it is loose, and you must replace the impeller plate and blades.
If you have no experience in it or cannot afford to do trial and error, it is best to call a professional. However, you should know that replacing those tools and calling a professional have the same spending as installing a new unit.
Read also: Remove the Broken Glass in Garbage Disposal
Then, can the garbage disposal’s broken blades be repaired? It can. Still, the budget will be best spent on a new unit.
Loose blades are usually caused by age or by how much it has done its job. To avoid garbage disposal loose blades too soon, you should keep your garbage disposal blades clean. Overloading it with hard materials like potato peels can be damaging, so do less. Last but not least, remember not to throw grease too much into it. Grease hardens when the cold comes, which then could clog your pipe.
