Conference turris::cooks

    Have you tried grinding pieces of lemon?
    

         I usually run the disposal when I am draining the
         soapy dishwater from the sink.  
         
         
         -mrs o 
         

    I don't have on now, but when I did, I always used citrus peels,
    orange, lemon, lime or grapefruit. I would do that 3 or 4 times
    a week. Also before going to bed at night, I would dump in 1/4 box
    of baking soda and let it sit overnight then flush it out in the
    AM.

If that doesn't work, and you suspect there are some problems with the disposal,
try the Do-it-yourself notes conference (I think it's at JOET::HOME_WORK).  The
folks in that file are a wealth of information for household problems like that.
If you think the blades are dull, I vaguely remember hearing that you should 
grind something wierd that will sharpen the blades for you.  When I say wierd,
I mean I remember it being broken glass or something on that order.  But my 
memory isn't that good, so please don't try it (unless you hear it from at least
3 other sober people).

    I use baking soda, also.  Dump a bunch in (quarter to half a box) and
    let it sit overnight, then wash it down the disposal the next morning.
    
    I imagine the citrus peel idea works, too, but I seldom have citrus
    peels around (unfortuneately! - I love citrus fruits, but my allergies
    won't let me eat them anymore, grumble!). 

    Don't put broken glass down your disposal as an
    earlier note sort of suggested.
    
    Use ice cubes.  The ice will sharpen the blades.
    
    

I vaguely remember someone saying that citrus peels are bad for septic
systems.  Is this true?

debby

    I use the old soda that I use to keep the refrigerator smellin' fresh.
    When it comes time to change I just dump the old stuff down the
    disposal.  I also discovered that if you take the soap slivers of hand
    soap and start running warm water in the disposal, drop the sliver down
    it the run same.  The soap foams up and does a pretty good job of
    cleaning the disposal.

    Steve

    I use coffee grounds (used) to clean the blades.  
    

According to the handyman who does all our installations of stuff like
disposals, etc.  The primary reason the disposal starts to smell is because
we don't run enough water through it when we use it....apparently, you
are supposed to continue running the disposal until the sound is "steady"
(no more lumps being processed), turn off the disposal, and continue
running cold water for approx. another minute to clean the blades.  We
are faithful about this and we have no odor problems....but it may be
due to other things as well, I'm certainly no expert!  Another hint,
coffe grounds are okay, but, according to my "expert", no egg shells
allowed!  He was real emphatic about that....said they dull the blades
or something....I can't imagine what he would say about ground glass...
Ah well, you have to keep 'em happy or they charge you an arm and a leg
so we throw away our egg shells these days....    

If you can't see anything down in the disposal, I'll bet it's on the bottom 
side of the black rubber thingie that you push the food down into.  I have 
no idea what it's called.  Try taking a brush (like a vegetable brush), 
lathering it up with some Soft Scrub, and run it upside down on the bottom 
side of the black rubber thing.  If that's where your odor is coming from, 
you'll get some gunk off on the brush and your odor problem will go away.  
Good luck!

							Pat

P.S.  You might try pulling the black thing out altogether.  Mine is 
removable, and I stick it in the top rack of the dishwasher periodically.