Said It Here

How to clean mold and swampy smells off a garbage disposal rubber flap

Persistent mold and swampy odors hide on the underside of the rubber garbage disposal splash guard where standard scrubbers cannot reach. This buildup survives routine liquid cleaners like bleach or vinegar, causing foul smells to return within a week whenever you use the sink.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Using baking and vinegar
  2. 2
    Pouring diluted bleach
  3. 3
    Using hydrogen peroxide
  4. 4
    Using baking soda and vinegar, diluted bleach, or hydrogen peroxide down the drain
  5. 5
    Scrubbing the rubber flaps with a toothbrush and baking soda
  6. 6
    Pulling out the rubber piece and soaking it overnight in hot water and a strong bleach mix
  7. 7
    Replacing the rubber splash guard with a metal one and washing it in the dishwasher
  8. 8
    Looking up the manual to run a clean cycle or tub clean with chlorine bleach
  9. 9
    Running the cleaning cycle with citric acid
  10. 10
    Pulling out the detergent tray to soak it in hot water and scrubbing the slot with a toothbrush
  11. 11
    Using a narrow tool like a skewer or chopstick to clear out trapped gunk and running the machine on hot with Affresh or bleach

In their words

Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.

“The Washing machine at my new place is gross. It smells musty and I can see grime/mold around the drum. Water sits in the front and stinks. How do I clean it? I can't get in there with a cloth; it's a weird angle.”source ↗

Adunn20 · r/CleaningTips · 1 upvotes

“There is this persistent mold(?) that keeps creeping up the kitchen sink drain. I have tried on separate occasions: baking soda & vinegar, diluted bleach, and hydrogen peroxide. It keeps coming back fully within a week, but even when it's not going strong, I can smell it anytime I am washing dishes or my hands.”source ↗

“I fear it is hanging onto the bottoms of those disgusting rubber garbage disposal flaps that I can't get a scrubber through. What do I do?”source ↗

c0mradec0wgirlv2 · r/HomeMaintenance · 1 upvotes

“There is this persistent mold(?) that keeps creeping up the kitchen sink drain. I have tried on separate occasions: baking soda & vinegar, diluted bleach, and hydrogen peroxide.”source ↗

“It keeps coming back fully within a week, but even when it's not going strong, I can smell it anytime I am washing dishes or my hands. It smells awful and swampy.”source ↗

“I fear it is hanging onto the bottoms of those disgusting rubber garbage disposal flaps that I can't get a scrubber through. What do I do?”source ↗

c0mradec0wgirlv2 · r/Plumbing · 1 upvotes

Where this came up

r/CleaningTipsr/HomeMaintenancer/Plumbingappliancescleaninghome maintenancekitchen maintenancemoldmold removalodor removalplumbing

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