Ice cubes in the garbage disposal...

@ersmommy1 (12588)
United States
March 31, 2008 10:18am CST
I just found out that ice cubes in the garbage disposal is supposed to sharpen the blades. Has anyone done this? How did it work?
1 person likes this
11 responses
• United States
27 May 08
it doesn't actually sharpen the blades of your garbage disposal, it does maintain its present sharpness. so the earlier or sooner you can start this maintenance the better/sharper your disposal remains. some people also use soft bones like chicken ribs from roasted chicken. they have be soft enough for the disposal.
@babystar1 (4233)
• United States
26 May 08
yes i have heard of this before too. I do use ice cubes to sharpen the blades. But I no what works better I was told this by a plummer. You have to be real carefull when doing this. but just small pieces of glass down the garbage disposal and turn it on while you run water and stand back just in case some of the glass trys to fly out. this will sharpen your blades really well.
@freak369 (5113)
• United States
26 May 08
I was told the same thing by the person that installed the new one; I don;t think that it sharpens the blades but rather that it removes any gunk that can build up on them. It does make sense though; look at how ice cubes get crushed inside a blender. I don't look down the drain all that often so I have no idea how much goop and gunk could be built up but I do know that a tray full of cubes once a week has kept it working perfectly.
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
7 Apr 08
I have never heard this or tried this before. I will have to try it some time but how will we really know if it sharpens the blades. I would be too scared to check it and see. I guess we would know if it chops stuff up real good when using it, huh?
@aretha (2538)
• United States
1 Apr 08
i have done it and it does help. also if you cut up a lemon and run it through it makes it smell good.
• United States
3 Apr 08
I would be inspired to research that one a bit more on some websites which should reasonably professional. See, it is easy for things like this to be tried and accepted without evidence. It appears as likely as the story I heard once about using eggshells in the garbage disposal to clean it. Sounds like a nice idea, but I have no real reason to believe it works. Even if I hear this from a plumber, I would not really trust it too far. I'd want to see some goofy college kids run tests on this and present a paper. An article on GoodHousekeeping's website, for example, indicates that there are no real blades in a garbage disposal to sharpen in the traditional sense. However, the connection of ice cubes and garbage disposals does come up in search engine checks, so I guess it could stand more research.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
31 Mar 08
I haven't heard that about ice, but egg shells are suppose to do the same thing.
@sherrir101 (3670)
• Malinta, Ohio
31 Mar 08
I use ice cubes in my garbage disposal to sharpen my blades. It also cleans them. It works really well. I have been doing this for years now.
@TriciaW (2441)
• United States
31 Mar 08
I had never heard of that but I guess it probably would work since they are hard and it would give something for the blades to scrape up against. I will have to try that one.
• United States
31 Mar 08
I have never heard of that. But if you think about that it does make since you know. So I can not deny what you are saying. I barely use my garbage disposal at my house.
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
31 Mar 08
I have heard it before, but I never tried it. I used to have a garbage disposal. I don't anymore. I have also heard that lemon peels in the garbage disposal help to deodorize it.