Garbage Disposal Smell

I've tried a lot of these remedies to no avail. The last thing I tried was to use a brush and thoroughly clean the underside of the rubber splash guard. Inseting the brush all the way into the disposal, and pulling up on the splash guard, inverted the rubber upwards for easy cleaning. There was quite a bit of sludge and was apparently the cause of the smell. The stopper had a build-up of sludge around the rim as well.

the rubber splash guard on the ISE models is replaceable, and not expensive. the tricky part is removing the bottom of the disposal unit to remove and refit the new one.

while it is apart, you can check for sludge on the inside of the unit more easily.

by the way, I did try Tim's trick and it worked well for me. When I had taken off the transvers pipe from the disposal side to the 1 1/2" vertical piece, the entire transvers pipe was coated with about 1/2" of the black sludge as well, so for 8 bucks I replaced this pipe and the rest of them down to the p-trap.

with the cost of the rubber splash guard and the pipes, it was about 3 hours (2 trips to store) and 20 bucks. I also replaced the rubber gasket on the side of the disposal that prevents leaks as the water leaves the disposal


the nice thing about ISE models is that most of this stuff is available and not expensive. It is also interchangeable between models, in many cases.

My dishwasher empties into the garbage disposer grinding cavity and then dumps into the waste line. When my dishwasher goes into a rinse cycle I will turn on the the garbage disposer which "power flushes" the disposer, and cleans the waste line in one operation. I have been doing this about once a week for the last 8 years and never had an odor problem from the disposer.

I just wanted to share a tip. The pipes on our kitchen sink are an odd 1 1/4 inch. I looked everywhere for a plumber's test cap of that size and could not find anything. One place assured me that the disposal would have a 1 1/2 inch drain even if there was a taper, but even the disposal was 1 1/4.

So, in case anyone else has this problem and lives in a small town with limited resources, I folded several layers of aluminum foil and molded it around the drain pipe, covered that with a freezer bag, then tightened up a hose clamp around it. I put a bucket underneath just in case, but there was only a small drip. I wish I had tried this before making four unsuccessful trips (six if you count two returns).

BTW, thanks for this great article. My disposal is cleaning now and I can't wait for that smell to finally be gone!

Hi There,

I just found this site when I googled sump pumps, but when I saw a garbage disposal odor question, I really got excited. We have a garbage disposal on the left side of our sink, but there is a foul odor coming from the other side's drain. Is this from the disposal?
Because the disposal side doesn't smell at all.

I have a problem with a rotten vegetable smell coming from under the sink. The disposal smells fine from the top side and the dishwasher smells fine. We have taken apart all the pipes and there is no smell in them. There is no leak under the cabinet....Could the disposal motor be smelling?

I to have the same smell as K. Engels has. I have even put in a new garbage disposer and still have the smell coming from under the sink.
If anyone has a suggestion on this problem please let me know.

Thanks Curtis

Hi there,

After reading some of the comments about the garbage disposal odour problem, is it possible that tis could cause odour coming from basement drain pipe, even if the disposal is upstairs?

Smell under the sink:
I am pretty sure that this is not a disposal problem because the disposal smells fine - top and bottom. Mark suggests that this may be a drain pipe problem. Although we are on a slab and there is no basement, my next plan of action is going to be to take off all the pipes and tubes under the sink and see if there may be a crack in one of the pipes or tubes that is leaching drain pipe smells. Thanks much.

Here is another option you may want to try if there is also a dishwasher connected to your disposal: If you look under the sink you will see a hose that connects your disposal to the overflow vent on top of the sink. Check to see if that line is too long. You will know that the line is too long if it drops below the level of its connection on the disposal. If it drops below that level, waste water will stand inside the tube and turn septic after a few days. Solution? Either remove the cover and pour bleach down that sink vent every few days or shorten the tube and end the problem forever.

seems like an unnecessary use of lots of water every time you use the disposal. I suggest you do the following every week or so: instead of copious amounts of water, after using the disposal to get rid of waste, use a wet long handled round brush, pour a little bleach on the bristles and clean the sides and underside of the rubber flange, keeping the cleaning activity under the rubber flange - for reasons you'll discover when you first do this - the black slime is quite obnoxious and better left down in the bog. Do this while the disposal is turned OFF (obvious?). Rinse the loosed grime down the drain. The chlorine bleach kills the germs that created the rot in the first place.

Another tip is to ensure that your dishwasher is plumbed through the garbage disposal. This way your disposal gets flushed well with every load of dishes. When plumbed this way I have never had to go through any of the steps here, when i have had them installed without the dishwasher running through them it has been very difficult to keep clean and odor free.

Hi, thanks for the article. I bought a house last month, inheriting a gross, stinky garbage disposal. I sure hope your tips help!

I'm responding also to the folks who smell rotten vegetables from under the sink... Perhaps the smell is coming from the cabinets, not from the disposal itself?

Hello, The comments have morphed into garbage disposal smells. The smell that I am experiencing is NOT from the disposer but from somewhere under my kitchen sink. Thanks

I was told about a really simple solution to eliminating garbabe disposal odor from a high school maintenance man. Toss a handful of ice cubes into the disposal and turn it on.
The jagged edges of the ice will cut through the slim and buildup as they are chopped up. It works great!

A sound, very similar to my disposal (which was NOT on), came on suddenly and lasted for about 15 seconds. I went into the kitchen and noticed a strange smell...part "garbage" and part garage oil type smell (not cooking oil smell). It smell was coming from my disposal. It went away relatively quickly. What caused this ?? I live on the 3rd floor of an 8 story condo building.

I have read your helpful article on how to eliminate garbage disposal ordor. I have a dual sink, would it help at all to pour Liquid Plumber on the side without the garbage disposal. I am right to assume you can't put a Liquid Plumber like product on the disposal side? Looking forward to your reply.

Wow, thanks guys... girl hands fit inside the disposal..

1# Put stopper in drain, filled sink with soapy water; turned disposal on and pulled stopper...

2# same as above with a bleach solution

3# Rubber gloves, kitchen scrubby soaked with dish soap and Clorox..
warm water and dig in!! My hand fits inside, scrubbed the back side of the rubber thing and the inside
of the disposal bowl..

(yep, it was nasty)

4# did the water flush again and BINGO!!!

Let me tell u all my problem..we have been smelling a foul odor in our diswasher for months. We really thought it was a problem with the sewage line out into the street. But no, are u ready ?

My husband took his flashlight and looked down the garbage disposal and saw something..he got some tool to grasp the object and guess what ?
Oh my Goodness ...it was a sac full of maggetts down there. Let me tell you it was disgusting. We are the cleanest people around and who would ever thought this thing was growing down there ? It sickens me every time I think of it. Now we constantly look down there and run our garbage disposal for a long time with running water...we also fill the sink with soapy dish water and then procede to turn on garbage disposal again to keep the sides clean..this fungus was on the sides of out unit...hope this never happens again...it smelt like dead maggetts for a long time...uuughhh
just the thought of it makes me sick..I just hope this helps someone else..

Great information! We had an odor problem so bad you could smell it throughout the house. We filled both sinks with water, added soap and about 1/2 cup of bleach and the problem was gone. We did a second shot just for good measure. Wow, what a difference!

Thanks to you all, I don't have to replace my disposal.

~Z

Is there any way to prevent food build-up around the baffle of our ISE pro excel garbage disposer. We are cleaning the baffle daily. The build up smells. This new design has the removable baffle and I never had to clean a baffle before.

Hello, I've read all sorts of comments regarding disposal smells, mostly including but not limited to putting citrus in the disposal. My new townhouse had the same problem as the previous owners were not great housekeepers. The simple solution, rather than taking apart pipes, etc is to get a bottle brush, pour some dishwashing liquid (preferrably a natural cleaner) on the brush and scrub the inside of the disposal and the rubber gasket. You would be amazed by how much crud comes out of there. Then run the disposal with plenty of water. A biweekly or weekly treatment such as this is a very simple fix for the smells.

Remember KISS.