Garbage disposal is a handy kitchen tool, for sure. But it can be troublesome sometimes. For example, there are many times when garbage disposal gets clogged due to food clotting.
Not all foods are responsible for this, but a few are the culprit.
Did you ever put carrot peels in your garbage disposal? If you haven’t and are curious whether it would be a good idea, I’ll discuss it in this article. Have a look!
Can You Put Carrot Peels in the Garbage Disposal?
No. Dumping vegetable peels, including carrot peels, is not a good idea in the garbage disposal. They are one of the leading causes of clogged garbage disposals.
Not only the garbage disposal but a carrot peel can also lead to clogs in the piping system if it successfully passes through the garbage disposal.
Do Carrots Clog Garbage Disposal?
Carrots can be a very reasonable factor in clogging garbage disposal.
They form a sticky and grainy paste-like consistency that keeps sticking to the sides of the garbage disposal, the pipes, or the blades.
And further jams up the garbage disposal track or the piping system forming a clot of carrot paste.
Why Can’t You Put Carrot Peels in the Garbage Disposal?
Carrots and many other vegetables are very fibrous. This is because their peels are more fibrous than the body flesh and contain a lot of starch.
That is why the fibrous structure of the carrot peels is very prone to forming clots. They don’t get dissolved in the water anyway. They always create a paste when mixed with water.
Just think about a carrot when put into the blender to form juice. Do they ever turn out runny, no matter how much you blend?
No, right? It would be best if you always strained the carrot juice from a paste inside the blender.
The sticky residue you get on the sieve after straining the carrot juice is the fibrous component of the carrot. Therefore, they cannot be ground into a liquid form even by the best blenders.
That is why, no matter how good your garbage disposal is, frequently dumping carrot peels will lead to clogs in the garbage disposal or inside the piping system.
How Do You Unclog a Garbage Disposal with Carrot Peels?
Unclogging the garbage disposal with carrot peels might sound like a very tough task to accomplish.
But it isn’t that hard. All you need is knowledge about a few handy hacks that successfully solve clogged garbage disposals.
The hack can be as easy as pouring a chemical solution into the garbage disposal and plunging it.
Again, if that doesn’t work, some helpful kitchen or plumbing tools might be the savior.
Chemical Solutions that Help in Unclogging the Garbage Disposal
Several chemical solutions do miracles in cleaning clogged garbage disposal. Below mentioned are a few of the most effective ones among them.
● Vinegar and Baking Soda
Vinegar and baking soda are the easiest yet most effective solutions for unclogging garbage disposal.
We all have vinegar and baking sodas in our kitchen. It is not something difficult to find out or something you need to collect from a chemical lab.
The general cooking white vinegar and baking soda are enough to serve the purpose. Besides, they are a great and cheap substitute for expensive fixing techniques.
All you need is to maintain the correct proportion of them. For example, the vinegar and baking soda ratio should be a quarter cup of baking soda and one full cup of vinegar.
It’s better to try them one by one rather than mixing the two ingredients. So, it better first drop the quarter cup of baking soda in the garbage disposer.
Then turn on the garbage disposal for a while. After a while, please turn it off and let the baking soda sit on the sides and blades of the garbage disposal for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Next, pour the cup of vinegar into the garbage disposal and let the two work together.
Wait for the solution to break down the starches. And then, after a while, pour some boiling water through the garbage disposal channel to clean away the broken-down starches.
● Carbonated Beverages like Coke or Pepsi
Carbonated beverages are a guilty pleasure to many. They aren’t good for human health. But it’s not like they don’t have any advantages at all. You need to discover their utility.
Carbon beverages are beneficial in case of cleaning or unclogging clogs. They can break down the strong fibers of carrot peelings by their acidity.
This is due to the phosphoric acid they contain that can easily loosen stubborn clogs, rusts, and greases from any utensil or tools in the house. Don’t believe me? Try it yourself.
Therefore, pouring down carbonated beverages like Coke or Pepsi can quickly clean up the clogged garbage disposal.
● Lemon Extract
Lemon juice or lemon extracts are the cleansers of the body. They clean the body with just the right amount of acidity the body can take.
Therefore, lemon extracts are a good option for cleaning pipes or other tools in the human body.
Even though they aren’t as strong as vinegar, baking soda, or carbonated beverages, they can help if the clog isn’t too stubborn.
Just remember not to drop the whole lemon or lemon peel along with the extract, as it might strengthen the clog rather than clean it.
Other Kitchen or Plumbing Tools that Can Help
Many other kitchens or plumbing tools can be a good help in terms of unclogging garbage disposal. They are listed below.
- Plunger: Pressurizes the solid elements forming a clog to get detached due to the force of the air.
- Metal Wire: This can push the clogs and filths down the pipe.
- Drain Snake: Works for cleaning clogs in P-traps.
Final Words
Even though there are several techniques for unclogging a garbage disposal, it’s not like it’ll work every time.
Also, you don’t want to go through this hassle and stress no matter how easily it might get solved.
Hence, the goal is to avoid throwing fibrous elements like carrot peels as much as possible in the garbage disposal to prevent such unpleasant clogs.
James is an organic fertilizer professional who owns a successful organic fertilizer company in new jersey. He is an expert in waste management in both houses and community cases. In his free time, he loves to write about his experiences in the field.