A big fan of hydrogen peroxide, I just found out you can use it to clean your drains and garbage disposal. And it’s inexpensive at Costco – $2.79 for two 32 ounce bottles.
I ran across a video, “7 Things Plumbers Don’t Want You to Know About Hydrogen Peroxide and Your Pipes,” that had some suggestions for cleaning your garbage disposal. They include:
- Start with the garbage disposal turned off.
- Dump a handful of ice cubes and a little coarse salt down into the garbage disposal chamber. Run with cold water for a few seconds. The ice and salt will scour the chamber and knock off the slime, which contains bacteria, that often coats the chamber.
- Turn the disposal off.
- Add ½ cup of 3 percent hydrogen peroxide onto the splash guard and down in to the disposal chamber.
- Lift the splash guard gently and let the hydrogen peroxide get on the underside where the slime collects.
- Let the hydrogen peroxide sit for 10 to 15 minutes. It will foam as it’s working on the slime.
- Turn on the cold water and the disposal for a rinse.
An important tip when using hydrogen peroxide: Don’t mix it with bleach, vinegar, drain cleaners, ammonia, or any other strong cleaners.
Store it in the brown bottle with the cap on in a dark place.
