My garbage disposal jammed up Monday and I learned a weird fix from a YouTube plumber

I was grinding up some lemon peels (bad idea, I know) and suddenly the disposal just hummed and stopped spinning around 6 PM. I tried the reset button and nothing worked, so I grabbed a 5mm hex wrench from my toolbox and manually spun the flywheel from the bottom. Anyone else ever had to unjam theirs like that, or did I just get lucky with a cheap fix?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_wesley20d ago

oh man, I feel your pain on this one. I had the exact same thing happen to me a few months back, and I was sitting there googling like crazy while the sink was full of gross water. That hex trick from the bottom is actually the go-to fix for a lot of these things, it's wild how simple it is once you know it. I think a lot of people just panic and call a plumber for something that takes thirty seconds and a cheap tool. You definitely got lucky finding that video, saved yourself a good chunk of change and a headache.

vera_lewis220d ago

Haha @the_wesley you are so right about the panic! I did the exact same thing when my disposal died, sat there staring at it like a lemon would magically unjam itself. It is kind of funny how we all go straight to "oh no I need a plumber" instead of just looking at the bottom of the thing first. That hex wrench trick saved me too, and I felt like a total genius for five minutes after. Did you also celebrate with a stupidly expensive coffee afterward like you earned it?

piper77920d ago

Oh man, tell me about it! I had a similar panic attack when my garbage disposal jammed up last spring, and I was literally about to call a plumber before my roommate stopped me. She showed me that hex wrench trick from the bottom too, and it took me all of maybe 20 seconds to get it spinning again. The worst part for me wasn't even the gross water though, it was the smell afterwards (like old coffee grounds and something that might have been a lemon peel). I ended up running a bunch of ice cubes and salt through it after I got it fixed to clean things out, which worked way better than I expected. Saved myself like $150 just for knowing a little trick, which is crazy to think about.