Garbage Disposal problem

[makattak]

To those with experience, any advice on a locked up garbage disposal?

It makes a loud hum when turned on, but will not spin the teeth. I've already cleared anything in the teeth and tried the reset button. Any other suggestions on what to do before calling a pro?

[WLJ]

Should be a hex socket on the the bottom where you can use a hex wrench to unjam it. They usually come with a wrench for that very purpose.

[K Frame]

Yep, there's something in the teeth below the level of the grind chamber.

Some cheap units don't have the hex key on the bottom of the unit, which means you'll need to use a piece of wood like a broom stick to try and get in and start rotating the grind plate.

The worst thing I found for jamming a disposal? Unpopped popcorn kernels. They're fine if the unit is running when you put them in, but if one slips in before the unit's running it will lock everything up nice and tight.

[charby]

Allen wrench as stated above. I had a small piece of glass lock mine up. I was running it and a drinking glass fell in the sink and broke, before I could shut the disposal off a small piece of glass got wedged in the blades. Used the Allen wrench to reverse, gum on a skewer to snag the glass, disposal was still running when I moved 4-5 years after that.

[Silver Bullet]

The worst thing I found for jamming a disposal? Unpopped popcorn kernels.

Good tip.

Segueing a little towards disposal clogs instead of jams, in my experience the worst thing, for instant clog, is corn husks.  My granddaughter thought that was an appropriate use for the disposal.

And I once had a clogged kitchen sink I couldn't unclog, disposal side.  I called in a fixer-upper and he almost gave up after 15 minutes, then fixed it.  He said my mistake was putting eggshells down the disposal, that they would float in the trap and eventually fill it up.  So I throw my eggshells in the garbage instead of the disposal now.  I throw almost all of my scraps from food preparation into the garbage bin, I mostly only use the disposal when I'm rinsing off plates before putting them into the dishwasher.

[makattak]

You guys are awesome as usual. Grabbed my set of hex wrenches, got the right size and eventually got it clear.

Thank you all. New bit of information for me to incorporate in my "repair" knowledge.

[Perd Hapley]

Did AOC hack mak's account? 

I think a good rule with disposals is, never put any of your scraps in the disposal, if you can put them in the trash can or compost, instead.