Meat down a garbage disposal?? Better to do it with hot water or cold water?

Question

I'm thinking of things like refrigerated meatballs, meatloaf, etc. that have gotten a little old. Will cold water or hot water assure a freer flow through the pipes?

Answer 1

You should always use cold water when you use your garbage disposal. The reason is so that your disposer does not overheat. also, run cold water for about ten seconds after you turn off the disposer to flush any remaining pieces.

Answer 2

always cold water for the garbage disposal, both to help cool the mechanical parts as other people mentioned, and because the warmer something is, the more odor it releases. don't try this with spoiled milk: warm water + already stinky milk = a very unpleasant stink in your kitchen. and because someone will surely mention it later, you can NOT get the water temperature hot enough throughout the pipes to kill bacteria using a household tap, so hot water won't have some antibacterial effect. rather, quite the opposite, it'll provide a temporarily warmed environment which will speed bacterial growth.

but for this one: do NOT put solid objects like meat wads down your garbage disposal. yes, the disposal will chop it up and push it on to the pipes, but it doesn't get magically pureed into a smooth thin liquid. any place where the pipes aren't 100% perfectly vertical (any slopes, and most critically, any U-bends) will slow the flow, and allow the chunks of stuff to cling to the pipes...the fact that meat has a good amount of fat in it will only make this effect worse. stuffing meatballs down the disposal is only a good idea if you think the roto-rooter guy is really hot.

Answer 3

You are always supposed to use cold water. I don't know why but I remember reading that hot water is not good for garbage disposals.. always cold and always run the water for a minute or so after turning off the disposal.

Answer 4

Cold

Answer 5

cold water.
I would throw the bad foods out in the garbage.

Answer 6

There are a lot of things your suppose to be able to put down them, I prefer to remain on the safe side and avoid drain problems and put stuff like that in the garbage.

Answer 7

Someone once told me not to run my disposal with hot water. I can't exactly remember why, sorry.