Fear of the garbage disposal! Or just call a plumber
It’s dark, wet and quiet, and it has a set of blades. Sound like something out of a scary movie? Well, yes, but we’re also talking about a garbage disposal!
When you think about it, deletion can be a bit creepy. Of course, the makers of scary movies and TV shows have seized on this idea, capturing our nightmarish imaginations with hair-raising scenes involving garbage disposals that have made their way into pop culture.
Scary scenes involving garbage disposals
In the horror movie “Halloween: H20”, the psychopathic killer Michael Myers is back. During his reign of terror, one of the characters, Charlie, is standing in a dark kitchen. At some point, he accidentally drops a corkscrew down the kitchen sink drain (hmm, I wonder what’s going to happen!?). At that moment, Myers walks towards the house in search of Charlie. There is a camera inside the garbage disposal showing Charlie’s fingers as he fumbles for the corkscrew. Of course, Myers locates Charlie, approaches him from behind, stabs him, and finishes him off by turning on the garbage disposal.
In 2006, the popular NBC series “Heroes” featured a scene in which a cheerleader had superpowers; she was “indestructible”. To prove her point, she reached into a garbage disposal, turned it on, and when she pulled her hand out, it was mangled. However, due to her super powers, her hand was healed in seconds!
There is another elimination scene in the 1989 movie, “Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes.” The sink in the house gets clogged and when an electrician arrives to see what the problem is, he reaches into the disposal. Since the house is haunted, you can guess what happened next!
Take care of your elimination
Assuming you can avoid these rather unlikely scenarios, and the plumbing problems that follow, there are a few rules of thumb when it comes to keeping your garbage disposal running efficiently:
1. Do not put anything “hard” in the disposer. This includes eggshells, plastic, zip ties, cigarette butts, bottle caps, paper, or anything that might be hard to break down.
2. Avoid putting certain foods in the disposer, such as:
• Banana peels
• Celery
• corn husks
• Seeds
• Onion skins
• Potato skins
These items are difficult for debris to process and can become tangled or stuck inside the grinder ring and cause clogging and the inevitable need for plumbing repairs.
In other words, be very careful what you put at your disposal. Although higher-end models have more capacity to shred and process more “tougher” or “harder” items, use common sense with their disposal. Most shredders are intended for softer foods that can be shredded relatively easily.
Also, make frequent drain cleaning a habit. Be sure to run cold water down the drain when running the garbage disposal. Even after all debris has been processed, continue to run water through the unit for approximately 30-60 seconds. This will go a long way in keeping your garbage disposal clean and unclogged, and will minimize potential calls to the plumbers.