Valentine’s Day is a major holiday this month, and that means showing some love to the people in your life. Some folks like to make a big splash for the holiday and go all out with a dinner date or overnight trip. Others prefer to keep it simple, and some even forget about the day of love altogether.

But, regardless of how you celebrate, there is one thing that needs love in your home all year round and that is your garbage disposal.

This is the appliance in your kitchen that rarely if ever gets seen but, is used several times throughout the day. Every time you rinse your dishes or cups into the drain, the garbage disposal catches all of the solid materials and grinds down the materials so that they can wash out through the drain.

The blades in garbage disposal need to stay sharp and clean so that they can work to break down the food material to a size that will move through the pipes. Any kind of food build-up or soap scum that gets left in the garbage disposal drain will cause the blades to dull.

Here are some dos and don’ts for your garbage disposal:

• When there is a clog in the disposal DO turn the switch on to see if the clog will clear.
• If the clog does not clear, DON’T put your hand into the disposal drain to feel around for what is causing the problem.
• DO put hot water into your disposal while it is running to get rid of bad smells. Add a few drops of dish soap to create suds.
• DO NOT put drain cleaning agents into clogged disposal. These chemicals are highly-caustic and will cause corrosion and breakdown.
• DO add vinegar to your disposal once a week to disinfect and kill germs. This will reduce the number of smells that come out of your disposal as well.
• DO NOT put oranges, squash, or other stringy vegetables and fruits into your garbage disposal. This can cause the fibers of the foods to get wrapped around *-the blades and prevent them from moving.

Keeping your disposal in top working order all year round is an important part of plumbing maintenance. Clogs in your kitchen sink will halt the production of your day and can make meal preparation impossible!