What To Do With Leaking Garbage Disposal

A garbage disposal is an electrically powered device, it is usually placed under the sink attached to the waste pipe of your kitchen sink. A garbage disposal works by grinding food pieces into small piece, it shreds them to the right size enough to safely pass through your pipes.

Having a garbage disposal for your sink is really beneficial. You would avoid having clogs and you would also avoid having smelly kitchen sinks because of clogs. You can also have less expenses, why? Because if you don’t have a garbage disposal and you keep disposing of food waste in the sink, your pipe could be a subject to clogging, and if your clog gets worst, you will be forced to hire a plumber which could add up more expenses. Instead of all that I have stated, garbage disposals are affordable and are easy to clean too.

As I have said earlier having a garbage disposal is really beneficial, but on the other hand, you could have problems with it too. Leaks are mostly the type of problem you could have with a garbage disposal. You can have a leak from the top, from the bottom, or on the side. Most of the time, all of these leaks are caused by their sealants, it may have corroded or had loosened over time. But worry not, because here below are the things you can do if your garbage disposal leaks.

Loose gasket
A gasket is located at the top rim where it is sealed to the sink flange. The cause of a gasket leak is maybe the seal has deteriorated, or due to time the gasket have aged causing it to get loose, or maybe it was not mounted properly. Before trying to fix it, unplug the cord first. Next, grab the sides of the mounting nut then twist it counterclockwise. Remove your old gasket and replace it with a new one. After, put everything back together, plug your unit in and test it.

Leaky flange
Just near the gasket is the sink flange, a sink flange is the uppermost part of the garbage disposal. At this point, you might already know where the flange is, so if you see a leak at the uppermost part of your unit, it is most likely coming from the sink flange. The reasons for a flange leak is that the bolts may be loosened, the seals have corroded, or the flange was hit causing the seal or bolt to loosen. To fix a loosen bolt, just tighten it and see if there are any improvements, if there are no improvements, the cause might be your seal.

If the problem is with the seal, unplug the unit and remove the unit, to remove the unit, loosen the bolts, pop the clip that holds flange at its bottom, remove the top flange, clear away all remaining seal, apply new seal, reattach the flange, tighten the screws and clean out all extra seal. Put your unit back in place, plug it then test it.

Unit body damages
Anything ages through time just like our garbage disposal units. As our units age, cracks or damages might appear in our unit’s body, this damages may be caused by deterioration or maybe by hitting it accidentally from time to time. If this happens, it is not time to repair it but it is time to replace it.

​Visit Us On Facebook!

​​​Elizabeth Plumbing and Drain Service
362 Elmora Ave. #323, Elizabeth, New Jersey 07202
(908) 988-0365

Learn more about us - watch this video!