How to Fix a Jammed Garbage Disposal

Introduction

Garbage disposals are simple machines--basically a motor and a flywheel with impeller arms that spin and shred whatever they touch. Sometimes, though, the machine can jam on a bottle top or other debris, or trip a circuit breaker when it's overloaded. If that happens, you just need to take a quick step or two to repair it.

By: eHow Home & Garden Editor

Length: 2:20

Comments: 40

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Instructions

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Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Tips & Warnings:

Never use a chemical drain cleaner to try to clear debris from the garbage disposal. The caustic chemicals can damage gaskets and other parts.
To avoid jams, keep the opening to your disposal covered with a rubber strainer when not in use.

Step1

Turn the garbage disposal on and off quickly and check to see if it has power. If it hums, the power is on but the impeller is jammed. Move on to step 3. If it doesn't hum, it may have overheated and tripped a circuit breaker. Move on to step 2.

Step2

Restore power to the machine. Most disposals have an overload switch that trips when the motor starts to overheat. To reset the switch, look for a small red button on the bottom of the housing, and if it's there, push it in (see A). If your disposal doesn't have an overload switch or the machine still won't run after you reset the switch, reset the circuit breaker that serves the disposal.

Step3

Clear the jam from underneath. On many disposals, you can insert a 1/4-inch (6-mm) Allen (hex) wrench into the bottom of the housing and manually move the motor shaft and flywheel to dislodge the jam. If your disposal has an opening for an Allen (hex) wrench, insert the wrench and move it back and forth until the motor and flywheel turn freely.

Step4

Clear the jam from above. Press the end of a short broomstick against one of the impellers, and jab in one direction and then the other until the jam breaks loose (see B).

Step5

Remove the debris. Turn off the circuit breaker that controls the garbage disposal. Reach inside with a pair of long-nose pliers and pull out whatever jammed the machine.

Step6

Turn on the cold water--this hardens any grease inside and helps the disposal chop it up--and run the disposal until all the remaining garbage is gone.

Comments

fyrefighter451 said

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on 11/5/2008 Hi, thank you for the suggestions, worked like a charm, it was glass in there. But now, when I plug it back in...it will turn on...whether the wall switch is on or off. It can only be controlled by the plug-in now. What's happening? Has to be electrical right? thanks again!

terrilynn70461 said

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on 10/27/2008 OMG! thanks so much for this. it was a tremendous help! so easy! i had the jam-breaker, but i didn't know what the heck it was for. i was poking around from the top. i watched this video, went to work, and not 5 minutes later we were back in business! i feel so empowered!!!! THANKS SO MUCH!

evansnf said

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on 9/29/2008 Only after watching this video did I realize that I had the tools I needed at home itself. A few seconds later, everything went back to my normal routine. I can't thank you enuff! :)

Bonk said

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on 9/28/2008 This was great. I've been to a couple other websites that mentioned the manual turning of motor shaft, but all of them referred to a "special wrench" except your instructions. Your referral to the common Allen wrench saved me a trip to home depot to ask a stupid question. Thanks!!!