Garbage disposal leaking

[Annie]

Hello. I was wondering if someone could please help me out?

I did something very stupid. I had a back up in my kitchen sink and I put some drain cleaner down it and I think it may have eaten away at something in the garbage disposal. The liquid did not go down at all and I ended up having to scoop all the water out of the double sink and then take the P-trap apart – which is something I should've done first-- unclog it, and then put everything back together.

Everything was fine for two days. But then the other day after my friend used the garbage disposal for the first time since cleaning out the P-trap, it started to leak a little bit. And then the next day it was just leaking a lot – water just spilling out of the dishwasher inlet. We don't have a dishwasher so it's not that the hose attached to the inlet is leaking, but rather it's leaking out from the inlet instead of from the dishwasher hose into the garbage disposal, if that makes sense?. It still has the plug in it and when I went to touch it and it was very smushy for lack of a better word. I am assuming that the drain cleaner ate the plug?

I was reading that you cannot put a new plug in, however you can buy a rubber cap and clamp it. However, I am not sure if that will fix the problem, considering the water is flowing out of it. Am I thinking right in terms of the way the water should not be flowing out of it but rather the water from the dishwasher should be flowing into it? I ask because I am just worried that it would not be the answer to just replug the inlet. What if something else was eaten inside from the Drano? Do you think that's the problem? I've tried to Google this issue but I haven't read about anyone having this particular problem I don't think.

Any suggestions or advice on how to fix the garbage disposal would be greatly appreciated. It is insinkerator. I don't know the model.

Thank you In advance.

 

[frodo]

you need to get a flash light, look down in the disposal. most have a metal "knock out" plug in the disposal
leave the plug in if you do not use the dishwasher, knock the plug out if you hook up tyhe dishwasher

your plug is either loose or has fallen off. look in disposal to see if you can find it. get it out of there

to get it out...turn off the breaker to the disposal """""DO NOT attempt this with breaker on!!!!!!!!!""""""""
stick your hand into the monster and retrieve the plug

after you have removed plug. cap off the dishwasher connection.

as far as the rest of the disposal, if it aint leaking now, leave it alone

 

[spete112]

If you buy a dish washer rubber and a coper 1/2 cap with no hub clamps that will seal up your DW inlet for good. I would do this all the time if we were finishing up a house that did not have the DW on site. It was always so much easer taking the plug out before it was installed. So I would use the items above to seal the hole up till I came back to install the DW. There is no reason why this can't be a permanent fix. Good luck

 

[Annie]

you need to get a flash light, look down in the disposal. most have a metal "knock out" plug in the disposal
leave the plug in if you do not use the dishwasher, knock the plug out if you hook up tyhe dishwasher

your plug is either loose or has fallen off. look in disposal to see if you can find it. get it out of there

to get it out...turn off the breaker to the disposal """""DO NOT attempt this with breaker on!!!!!!!!!""""""""
stick your hand into the monster and retrieve the plug

after you have removed plug. cap off the dishwasher connection.

as far as the rest of the disposal, if it aint leaking now, leave it alone

Thank you for your help! I looked for the metal plug and don't see it. But you've helped me to remember something-- when our friend was installing the garbage disposal, I think he may have taken the plug out, thinking we had a dishwasher or were soon getting one. So I think that's why there's putty coming out of the dishwasher inlet and I can't find a metal plug. I think he already took it out, then just puttied it as a temp fix. So when I put the Drano down the sink, I think it started to eat the temp putty fix. Does that sound plausible as to what might have happened since I cannot find the metal plug?

 

[Annie]

If you buy a dish washer rubber and a coper 1/2 cap with no hub clamps that will seal up your DW inlet for good. I would do this all the time if we were finishing up a house that did not have the DW on site. It was always so much easer taking the plug out before it was installed. So I would use the items above to seal the hole up till I came back to install the DW. There is no reason why this can't be a permanent fix. Good luck

Thank you for the info and help! I will go to Home Depot and look for the items to fix it.