Emerson E20 disposal backing up!!

[rblissc]

My Emerson E20 garbage disposal is backing up and in turn causing my dishwasher to back up!! I don't have a manual and I need to know the best way to locate and remove a clog. I have tried DRANO, no luck! Please help, I'm over handwashing everything!

[LazyPup]

DO NOT use any chemical drain cleaners to clear clogs in a disposal. Most disposal bodies are made of cast aluminum or pot metal and the harsh chemicals of the drain cleaners will react with the metal resulting in severely shortening the anticipated service life of the disposal.

In fact, chemical drain cleaners should never be used in a kitchen drain. Many chemical drain cleaners are Lye based and when Lye combines with animal fats it produces lye soap. That was fine for the early settlers who made their own soap by cooking animal fat with wood ashes but in today’s world when the lye combines with animal fat residue on the interior of the drain pipes it produces a hard yellow soap coating which is almost impossible to clean off the interior of pipe walls.

Fortunately the pipes under the sink are not difficult to disassemble for manual cleaning.

If your disposal is mounted under a double sink the most common point of clogging is the baffled Tee in the center or end waste kit. (See illustration).

If the clog is not in the Tee or if you have a single bowl sink that does not have a tee, the next most common point of clog is in the P-trap.

If checking the Tee and the P-trap does not reveal the clog you will then need to clean the drain line with a wire snake or a powered auger.