Garbage Disposals and Ice: Should You Put Ice Down Your Disposal?

When it comes to garbage disposals, there are a number of plumbing myths associated with them.  From lemon peels to baking soda and vinegar and other products and combinations thereof, there are a lot of things recommended to be put down your garbage disposal to help it or your drains.  But the reality is that not all of these recommendations are good, so how do you sort through them to find what really works?

Being aware of what plumbing myths are and aren’t valid is a great first start.  From there, understanding the proper maintenance and do-it-yourself repairs for your garbage disposal can help keep your unit in top-functioning condition.  Of these various recommendations, there are often several related to putting ice down your disposal.  But is that safe, and is it useful?

Why Do People Think Ice in Your Disposal is Good?

The idea behind putting ice down your garbage disposal is that it can help sharpen the blades.  This is a common plumbing recommendation, but does it actually work? 

As it happens, ice cannot sharpen the blades of your garbage disposal.  Understanding how to properly sharpen blades makes it easy to debunk this myth.  Sharp blades dull over time through usage, especially high-impact usage against hard objects.  In this case, as the blades impact against the hard ice, it dulls the blades which achieves the exact opposite of what this myth is aiming for.

Is There Any Value to Putting Ice Down Your Disposal?

Even though ice does not help sharpen the blades of your garbage disposal, there are other benefits to crushing up ice in it.  One problem disposals face is accumulating food particles and in turn bad odors.  Food can get stuck on and around the blades through normal usage.  As it accumulates, it will begin to decay and emit often unpleasant odors.

Food being stuck on your garbage disposal blades can lead to nasty odors with very few solutions to resolve it.  One of those solutions, however, is crushing ice through the unit.  While ice does nothing to sharpen the blades and in fact will dull your blades through normal wear and year, it does serve the purpose of helping to dislodge stuck-on food particles.

How Does Ice Remove Food Particles?

The impact against a mostly-harmless but hard object like ice allows stuck-on food debris to get knocked loose inside of a disposal.  Your kitchen disposal may be stinking up the room now from rotting food inside of it, but a few good runs of hard ice through it can knock all of that loose and allow it to wash away through your sewer system.

What If My Disposal Still Smells After Running Ice Through It?

Besides ice which does great to knock food particles loose, there are other things to grind through your disposal to help deal with bad odors.  Lemons, baking soda and white vinegar, and even garlic gloves are often desired to eliminate odors and replace them with more pleasant smells.

So, Ice is Safe to Put Down My Disposal?

Yes, ice will not harm anything.  It will not help sharpen the blades, and the dulling it does to them is minimal and worth it to cleanse the blades of food particles.  So absolutely, make it a regular thing to crush a little ice inside of your kitchen’s garbage disposal.  

Have Questions?

If you’re unsure how to address issues with your garbage disposal, it might be time to call a professional.  A licensed plumber can take a look at your issue and make recommendations from there.