Garbage disposal is about 3 years old. It got jammed , so i tried to find the reset button on bottom. It wouldnt budge so i got a flashlight and got on the floor to make sure i was pressing right thing. I was horrified when i saw this nasty sight in the middle of the garbage disposal. Looks like dried slime. It doesnt run down the machine or to the cabinet floor but something definitly is wrong. I got disposal un jammed and it works fine but underneath scares me. Is it worth tryin to fix ?
Can this garbage disposal be saved ? Black gunk doesnt drip down to cabinet floor but the skin crawled when i saw this
garbage-disposalleakingmold
Best Answer
It looks like whoever installed the disposal didn't tighten up the locking bracket enough. You have three brackets in there. Two are for the mounting to the sink and they are not leaking. See picture below of standard installations.
The lowest bracket is what holds the disposal to the sink fitting. You can undo that bracket by turning it counterclockwise with a screwdriver or allan wrench like in the picture. You'll want to disconnect the pipes and turn off the power first. Once you unlock that bracket the disposal will drop down. Clean it off, make sure the rubber flange is securely in place and put the disposal back in place and turn the locking bracket clockwise while holding the disposal in place.The bracket has to attach to the upper bracket in three spots, make sure they are all engaged. Make sure you tighten the bracket all the way.
This requires some strength and working in a slightly confined area so if you don't feel comfortable doing it, get some help ahead of time