How to Keep your Kitchen Drain Clean and Fresh

Odors from the kitchen drain can make the entire house smell.

A lot of stuff goes down your kitchen drain, such as leftover food, liquids and soap. An odor can linger long after you have rinsed and cleaned out your sink. A garbage disposal helps clean out food chunks in the drain, but food and grease particles can become lodged or stuck to the blades of the disposal, which makes smell issues worse. Keeping your drain and disposal clean and fresh helps prevent odors in your home and also can limit the frequency of plumber visits for a backed-up kitchen drain.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring cups and spoons
• Ice cubes
• Baking soda
• Bleach, vinegar or lemon juice

Instructions

1. Grind 1 cup of ice cubes in your garbage disposal with the water running to break up any food particles stuck to the disposal blades.

2. Run hot water down the drain for 15 seconds to kill off bacteria. You should see steam coming out of the drain to know that the water is hot enough.

3. Put 1 tsp. of baking soda down the kitchen drain and continue to run hot water for 15 seconds. If the odor persists, continue to the next step.

4. Pour 1 cup of lemon juice, bleach or white wine vinegar down the drain and flush with hot water for several seconds.

5. After every time you use your sink, pour a small amount of dish detergent down the drain and flush it using hot water. This will prevent grease build-up in the drain between cleanings.

References

• How to Clean Stuff: How to Clean a Kitchen Drain
• Best Plumbing: How Do I Keep My Kitchen Drain Line from Backing Up?
• Natural Healthy Home Cleaning Tips; Vinegar and Baking Soda Cleaning Recipes; Michelle Satanek
• House Cleaning Central: How to Clean Your Garbage Disposal