How do you get rid of that icky smell in the garbage disposal?

Grind a lemon. You should cut it in half, though, because they can be a tad big and hard for the garbage disposal to grind all at one time.

I tried that too. It worked for about an hour. But the smell came back. Seriously, when I came home from work I could smell it when I walked in the front door. (gag)

Hmm, that’s wierd. It works for me. You could probably also use Drain-O or something of that sort that helps to clean out the pipes.

Just so everyone knows, it’s HIS garbage disposal. Not his “friend’s”. Teeheeheeeheeehee.

Wouldn’t a caustic chemical harm the disposal? I had thought about oven cleaner briefly, but it seems like too much.

How about very hot ginger tea? :)

That would be such a waste of good ginger. Plus we don’t have any ginger, baby.

Well, we’ve got plenty of very hot.

It might, I’m not entirely sure. Perhaps you should google it?

If I said: “No time for Google, I’m too busy Fluthering” would anybody notice?

Teeheeheee.

Haha.

Bleach

Try an enzyme cleaner like Bio-Kleen Bac-Out with live organisms. I’ve had luck with that in a bathroom drain so it should help in a garbage disposal.

bleach! of course! thank you!
edit: i just tried it. i’ll let you know how it goes.

Take it apart, clean it, and reassemble it.

White vinegar and baking soda is less harsh than bleach and usually works well. Gunk collects also on the rubber flangy thing and the stopper. I use same mixture and a q-tip.

So, in case anyone’s interested, I poured some bleach down it a while ago. Gail, I also thought that sounded a little harsh, so I diluted it by turning the water on lightly while i poured it.

Tim just went in the kitchen, and he said it smelled fine in there now.

Thanks everyone!!

More answers

I agree with AllenGreen. I always use bleach on mine. It works just fine. No need to dilute it though.

For those of you who are interested, here’s an update on the smell situation:

So, we tried just about every remedy you guys could throw at us, and that nasty smell just kept coming back. It kind of seemed like it never went away, like it was just masked by parsely, lemons, bleach, vinegar, etc. Sometimes you could smell it throughout the whole house. It was just gross.

However, today I opened the cabinet under the sink to get out the dish detergent, and I found the true culprit!

You see, a few weeks ago, we had a leak under the sink, which our landlord ostensibly fixed, but he put a plastic bucket underneath “just in case”. When I opened the cabinet this evening, I noticed that the putrid smell got stronger. I examined the contents of the cabinet, and my eyes landed on the bucket. In the under-sink gloom, it was hard to distinguish whether there was anything inside of it, but as my eyes adjusted, I realized it was filled almost to the top with just about the most disgusting liquid I have ever seen. I grabbed the bucket, took it to the bathroom, and threw the contents in the toilet. It had mold growing on top, and the bottom was black and tar-like. ughhhh!!!! I threw all that nasty stuff out, rinsed the bucket, and replaced it. Tomorrow I’m calling the landlord again, and have this whole nasty business behind me. Thanks for all your tips! I’m sure we have the most pleasant-smelling garbage disposal on our street! {eh hemm} cough, I mean, Tim does. ;-)

I found this out through Fluther. I’m so sorry you had to do that alone, chica.

It’s okay. It was empowering.