This just happened to my wife the other day. She called me and said, “The garbage disposal is not working. It’s just humming.” I was able to walk her through the steps and she fixed it herself.

In that case, something was just stuck in the blades. That’s probably the most common reason a garbage disposal stops working. You’ll hear that humming sound, but nothing is moving.

Take your Allen wrench underneath the sink and use it under the disposal itself. You can manually turn the blades and then reach your hand in and grab whatever is stuck. It’s kind of disgusting, but it’s what has to be done.

Sometimes it’s an internal failure. If you flip the switch and nothing happens, it might be mechanical or electrical. Maybe the switch has gone bad.

If you’re having trouble with your disposal, give us a call at 469-336-3435. We have a plumber on-call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We want to find out what the situation is and give you some options right away.

Meet the Author
Randy Kelley
Randy Kelley

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