Respect your garbage disposal and it will serve you well for many years. But it has some limitations, good as it is for helping get rid of food waste that might cause odors or attract rodents if you put it in a garbage can. Just feed your disposal with small gulps so it doesn’t get overloaded and give it lots of cold water (never hot water) when the power is on.

Never give your disposal any fibrous stuff like corn husks or cobs, celery, artichokes, onion or banana peels, coffee grounds or anything else that’s stringy. Resist putting in fats or oils because they can solidify and clog it and your pipes, too.

Be sure to continue to run cold water into your disposal for a minute or two after the solid material has passed through and you have turned the power off – just so that nothing remains

that will cause unpleasant odors as well as to clear out any fats or oils that may have gone in.

A little preventive maintenance is a good idea, too. Run through a handful of ice cubes, again with cold water, once a week or so. And consider disposal cleaner or degreaser, too, every so often but never a corrosive piping cleaner.

If your disposal does jam, shut off the electric power and water connected to it. Then insert the service wrench that came with it (or a ¼-inch Allen wrench) in the hole in the bottom of the unit and rotate it back and forth until it turns freely in both directions. Then use tongs to remove whatever caused the jam. Press the reset button, if there is one, on the bottom of the disposal. Turn the power and water back on. If this doesn’t solve the problem, call your licensed professional plumber.