How to Fix Garbage Disposal Won’t Turn Off and 3 Troubleshooting Tips

A garbage disposal can be nominated as one of the best inventions in terms of house chores. The machine allows you to be not bothered by scraping the remnants of your family meals.

With a simple turn-on through a switch located near the sink, the machine is ready to use various power. However, in some cases, the machine does not function well.

So, if even after turning off the switch on the wall, the machine is still humming, you need to do something about it. Check out the simple troubleshooting below on how to fix the garbage disposal that won’t turn off.

Garbage Disposal Won’t Turn Off

There are thousands of sites mentioning the basic knowledge on what to do when the garbage disposal won’t turn off. Those sites may also state this, ‘never touch the garbage disposal with your bare hand’.

Well, a cliché tip, of course. But it is what that is. Don’t do that for your safety. Below are the things you should do.

1. Keep the switch on the wall ‘off’. You can find these garbage disposal switches somewhere near the kitchen sink.

2. Grab the flashlight and go beneath your kitchen sink. Find where the cord powering the machine. Then, unplug it from the receptacle. Remember not to touch the garbage disposal with your hand.

3. Next, plug the cord again into the outlet above or below the initial one. Be careful while plugging it in.

4. Once the machine doesn’t start immediately, you’re on the right track – there is nothing wrong with your garbage disposal. Things go wrong when the machine starts suddenly after you re-plug the cord. If this happens to you, place a call to a trustworthy electrician to fix the rewiring.

5. Lastly, turn on the switch again. Hear if the machine’s working or not. The machine should be working properly by now.

Read also: Sink Only Drains When the Garbage Disposal is On

Garbage Disposal Problems and Solutions

1. The garbage disposal turned on, humming, yet not working. Check on these three possibilities:
   1. Ungrounded food waste: maybe a bony object or strings
   2. Foreign objects present on the machine
   3. Lack of electrical connection. Directly turn off the power. Do a quick check on the machine for any objects fallen. Don’t use your hands. Use a thing like tongs. Lastly, push the reset button and manually help the machine to rotate.

2. Garbage disposal smoking

Well, in this case, unplug the cord immediately and don’t hope too much. If the motor is ‘fried’, this means you need a new replacement. Call your electrician to make sure.

3. Garbage disposal not turned on

Below are things you can do:

1. Check the reset button located below the disposer. Once overheated or overloaded, the machine will automatically trip the reset button down. Press that button and see if that works. Do several repetitions but give 10-minute intervals per repetition.

2. Check out the electrical connection, or

3. Call out a technician for quick help.

This is because some information related to how to fix garbage disposal won’t turn off and troubleshoot some problems related to this useful machine.

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Always remember not to let these objects go through the garbage disposal: string objects, grease, and lastly, bones. Those things will make the machine work harder, which can ignite shortcomings.