Garbage Disposal Jammed? The Allen Wrench Trick Plumbers Use

You flip the switch and get a hum, or worse, silence. The sink is full of dinner scraps, water is backing up, and the disposal is just sitting there dead. A plumber will charge you $150 to $250 to come fix this, and most of the time they will be in and out in ten minutes.

Here is the thing plumbers do not mind you knowing: almost every jammed disposal is fixed with a 1/4-inch allen wrench and a little red button. The wrench probably came with the disposal and is sitting in the back of a drawer somewhere. This whole fix takes about five minutes, and it works on InSinkErator, Moen, Waste King, and just about every other brand out there.

The Allen Wrench Trick, Step by Step

1. Turn the switch OFF and stay away from the drain. Not optional. The disposal switch stays off for this entire process. And I am going to say this once clearly: never put your hand down the drain, even with the switch off. Use tongs or pliers if you need to pull something out.
2. Find the hex socket underneath. Get under the sink and look at the very bottom center of the disposal. There is a small hexagonal hole. That is the manual crank socket, and it is there specifically for this job.
3. Insert a 1/4-inch allen wrench and work it back and forth. Push the wrench in and turn it in both directions. You will feel resistance where the jam is. Work it back and forth firmly. You are manually rotating the grinding plate to break up whatever is wedged in there: a fork tine, a bottle cap, a bone fragment, a wad of fibrous food. Keep working it until the wrench turns freely a full rotation in both directions.
4. Press the reset button. On the bottom or side of the disposal there is a small red (sometimes black) reset button. When the motor jams, this button pops out to protect the motor from burning up. Push it firmly back in. You should feel it click.
5. Run cold water and flip the switch. Turn on the cold water, then flip the disposal switch. It should roar back to life. Let it run for 30 seconds with the water going to flush everything through.

That is it. That is the whole thing. I have seen service calls billed at $200 where this was the entire repair.

If the Wrench Turns Freely but the Motor Is Dead

If the grinding plate moves freely and the reset button is pushed in, but the disposal still does nothing when you flip the switch, check the power. Look under the sink for the outlet the disposal plugs into and make sure it is not switched off or tripped. Many disposals are wired to a GFCI outlet, and a tripped GFCI kills the disposal silently. Hit the reset button on the outlet.

If the outlet has power and the disposal is completely dead with no hum at all, the motor has likely burned out. Disposals last 8 to 12 years. If yours is in that range, it had a good run.

What Jams Disposals (Stop Putting These Down There)

I could write a whole article on this, but the short list of the worst offenders:

• Grease and oil. It is liquid going down and concrete coming back up. It coats the grinding chamber and the drain pipes. Wipe pans with a paper towel first.
• Coffee grounds in quantity. A few are fine. A whole pot's worth every day packs into sludge in the trap.
• Fibrous foods. Celery, artichokes, corn husks, onion skins. The fibers wrap around the grinding plate like rope.
• Potato peels and starchy foods. They turn into paste and glue the mechanism.
• Bones, pits, and shells. The disposal is not a trash compactor. Chicken bones might survive, but anything bigger is asking for a jam.
• Non-food items. Bottle caps, twist ties, the occasional spoon. Use a sink strainer and this stops happening.

And always run cold water before, during, and after using the disposal. Hot water melts grease and lets it flow down, where it hardens further along in the pipe. Cold water keeps grease solid so the disposal can chop it and flush it through.

When to Replace Instead of Fix

If the disposal leaks from the bottom of the unit itself (not from a connection), the internal seals are shot and it needs replacement. If it jams constantly despite careful use, the motor is weakening. If it is over 10 years old and acting up, put your money toward a new one instead of nursing it along.

A new InSinkErator Badger 5, the standard 1/2-horsepower workhorse, runs about $100. Step up to the 3/4-horsepower models for around $150 to $200 if you use the disposal heavily. They are quieter and jam less. A plumber charges $200 to $350 for the install, or it is a very doable DIY job if you are comfortable under a sink. The mounting assembly twists off and the new one twists on. Budget an hour your first time.

The Bottom Line

Switch off, allen wrench in the bottom socket, work it free, press the reset button, run cold water, flip the switch. Five minutes, zero dollars, and your disposal is back. Save the plumber's number for the day the motor actually dies.