Pro Handyman Blog

When you run your dishwasher and it rinses and drains, you typically hear a draining noise as it empties into the garbage disposal. There are times though, that instead of draining into the disposal, it backs up and runs out onto your countertop via the air gap device. You probably don’t need to call your handyman, but this indicates a blockage in the line at some point between the air gap and where it is draining in the disposal.

If your garbage disposal is new, it may be that the knock-out plug was not removed which would prevent the water from draining properly. Otherwise, remove the discharge hose where is connects to the disposal and snake a coat hangar or long screwdriver up there to dislodge the compacted food particles. You can then stick the end of the hose into bucket and run the “rinse and drain” cycle on the dishwasher to clean out the hose. Then just re-attach the hose to the disposal.

It may also be that there is a kink in the hose with is restricting the volume of the waste water. You may need to rotate the hose or even cut it slightly shorter to get rid of the kink.