Ideas for garbage disposal- necro post

[mozar]

Hello, my garbage disposal (insinkerator) is leaking. I had plumber come and look at it and he said it was broken and I need to replace it. Is it worth getting a second opinion or trying to fix it myself? A new one on amazon.com is $78, does that seem alright?

Many thanks.

[mires]

If it is leaking out of the bottom or along the seam where the dishwasher drains into, then it is toast and needs to be replaced. I'm a plumber and have seen it countless times. That's just what they do. It is a pretty easy to change it out yourself though. If you have a few basic hand tools, there is no reason you can't do it yourself.

[terran]

Replace it with a drain and find another way to get rid of your food scraps (compost or trash). A plumber told me garbage disposals are the cause of most of the clogged pipe problems he sees, plus they always seem to smell, so when ours died I just replaced it with a regular drain with a strainer. Cheaper and less gross IMO.

[mozar]

Replace it with a drain and find another way to get rid of your food scraps (compost or trash). A plumber told me garbage disposals are the cause of most of the clogged pipe problems he sees, plus they always seem to smell, so when ours died I just replaced it with a regular drain with a strainer. Cheaper and less gross IMO.

I was thinking this.

[Frankies Girl]

YES to just removing it and installing a regular drain. We'll be doing that when our current disposal dies.

It wasn't working when we first moved in, so I insisted it be replaced, but our plumber told me that he personally won't have them in his own house and if it dies again, maybe consider getting rid of it. He said it causes folks to throw stuff down their pipes that end up clogging and costing lots of time and effort (and money) to fix and it's way better to just compost or trash the scraps.

[SilveradoBojangles]

As someone who has lived for the past three years without a garbage disposal and hated every minute of it, I am shocked to hear people advocating eliminating the disposal. Without one our sink clogs constantly, and I hate having to scrape out the food trap, which gets gummed up easily (especially from baking!). Ugg, it makes me gag just thinking about it. I never had as many clogs or as much sink smell when I had a garbage disposal, and I can't wait to move to a house with one (22 days!).

[Spork]

I'm not a plumber... but IMO the issue with disposers causing clogs is misuse.  Don't dump an entire bucket of moldy leftovers down there.  But if you have "gringles" after scraping stuff into the trash/compost... it's better to run them through a spinning sieve than to just dump them down the drain.  Gringles can also happen in the bottom of handwashing dishes and in the output of an automatic dishwasher -- even when the dishwasher has a grinder.

They're super simple to replace.  More often than not, the mounting bracket for your old disposer will mesh with the new one.  Don't bother swapping them.

Cost variances are usually:
* how quiet is it
* can you put an entire chicken (with bones) through it?   But don't do this.  (In other words, if you need that much horsepower, you probably are clogging your drain.)

We did live 5-6 years without one.  Our kitchen sink drained on the ground outside.  You damned sure don't want to put anything down it or you'll smell it rotting 20 feet behind the house.

[mozar]

Thanks. A lot to think about. I tend not to put food scraps in it anyway.

[jeromedawg]

I'm not a plumber... but IMO the issue with disposers causing clogs is misuse.  Don't dump an entire bucket of moldy leftovers down there.  But if you have "gringles" after scraping stuff into the trash/compost... it's better to run them through a spinning sieve than to just dump them down the drain.  Gringles can also happen in the bottom of handwashing dishes and in the output of an automatic dishwasher -- even when the dishwasher has a grinder.

They're super simple to replace.  More often than not, the mounting bracket for your old disposer will mesh with the new one.  Don't bother swapping them.

Cost variances are usually:
* how quiet is it
* can you put an entire chicken (with bones) through it?   But don't do this.  (In other words, if you need that much horsepower, you probably are clogging your drain.)

We did live 5-6 years without one.  Our kitchen sink drained on the ground outside.  You damned sure don't want to put anything down it or you'll smell it rotting 20 feet behind the house.

I agree - despite it being tempting to dump an entire tray of food down the sink and turning on the disposal, don't do it. I've had my disposal for 10 years now and it has locked up once (required turning with a hex key to get unstuck). I haven't had issues with it otherwise but I avoid dumping whatever I want into it if unnecessary. It is useful though when food does go in that *could* cause a jam-up and that *should* be obliterated, just don't overuse

[COEE]

I'd DIY.  Spring the extra $100 or so instead to get the quieter, more powerful, two cycle model.  The cheap ass Badger's that everyone has is horrible.  I value silence more.  I agree with throwing the big stuff in the trash and only putting the small stuff down the drain.

I think this is the one I put in the last house:  It did require some small pluming changes that probably required 14 trips to the hardware store, but I was 100 happy with the upgrade when it was done.  I need to do it on my new house.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/InSinkErator-Evolution-Compact-3-4-HP-Continuous-Feed-Garbage-Disposal-COMPACT/100466655

[mozar]

Thanks for the link, though I can't afford that right now.

[redbird]

Replace it with a drain and find another way to get rid of your food scraps (compost or trash). A plumber told me garbage disposals are the cause of most of the clogged pipe problems he sees, plus they always seem to smell, so when ours died I just replaced it with a regular drain with a strainer. Cheaper and less gross IMO.

This is what I had in Japan. Japanese houses don't generally have garbage disposals. It worked out super well. I had to clean the small things out of the strainer after every single time I did dishes, but the drain never got clogged or stinky.

And even if you do install a new garbage disposal, I don't suggest putting big things in it anyway. That's what trash/compost is for. You should only use it for any small bits that get stuck on your dishes and get washed down inside of it when cleaning them.

[mozar]

So I followed the plug around and I'm pretty sure its hardwired into the dishwasher. It looks like the plug from the garbage disposal goes into the electrical box like in the video below.
https://youtu.be/fEZNNTsXBxs
I have no electrical experience. Does rewiring or unwiring if I decide not to have a garbage disposal seem like a job for an electrician?

[Spork]

So I followed the plug around and I'm pretty sure its hardwired into the dishwasher. It looks like the plug from the garbage disposal goes into the electrical box like in the video below.
https://youtu.be/fEZNNTsXBxs
I have no electrical experience. Does rewiring or unwiring if I decide not to have a garbage disposal seem like a job for an electrician?

It's not difficult.  It's do-able.  If it makes you uncomfortable, there's nothing wrong with calling an electrician.  I got over this hump by having a friend that was an electrician.  It didn't take but a couple of jobs with him observing and telling me what to do before I felt comfortable digging into things.  Worst case: Hire an electrician and watch him/her do the job.  You'll be surprised how simple it is.

[mozar]

It's not difficult.  It's do-able.

Thanks.

[nobody123]

If you have a dishwasher, it most likely drains into the garbage disposal via a hose, so you'd need to accommodate for that if you eliminate the disposal.  I agree the electrical job is pretty simple.  Just buy the $3 circuit tester idiot light tool to make sure there's no current after you shut off the breaker.

[Spicolli]

I have both a garbage disposal and a strainer...I use the strainer to get any of most food parts but always have trouble getting every little scrap to get over the lip of it. That's when the garbage disposal comes in handy.

[KarefulKactus15]

Ill weigh in. 

If you connect to sewer REPLACE IT, I think the drain ideas are silly honestly.   If you are on septic, replace with a drain. You should have never had a disposal anyway with septic system...


As far as electrical, It shouldn't be intimidating, but no shame if you call someone.  With a disposal were talking maybe 3 wires and some wire nuts in a juntion box?  Turn off the breaker and also turn off the switch to the disposal. ( VERIFY POWER IS OFF, I cant stress this enough.  Stuff is often labeled wrong..)

Good Luck!   

ALSO if you do change the disposal, please dont forget to remove the plastic cap where the dishwasher drain hose connects. So many people forget then cant figure out why the dishwasher wont drain....

[mozar]

If you connect to sewer REPLACE IT

You mean get a new garbage disposal?

it most likely drains into the garbage disposal via a hose

Hadn't thought of this.
This all sounds really complicated. I need to watch some more videos.

[KarefulKactus15]

Yes if you have the funds , get a new mid grade model.  No sense buying bottom of the barrel.      If not, I guess stick a bucket under it till you can replace it lol.

[nobody123]

<snip>
This all sounds really complicated. I need to watch some more videos.

It's not complicated at all.  The attachment to your sink is most likely a universal bracket that any brand of disposer should be able to re-use.  I always swap it out and re-putty the fitting, but you don't have to.  There will be a punch-out in the body where you use a screwdriver and hammer to open it up.  The dishwasher hose then clamps onto that nipple.  You'll have to screw on a small drain pipe (it will come with the disposer) to the side of the disposer that will hook into your existing drain plumbing.  One gotcha is that low-end disposals often require a separate electrical connection kit (they don't come with the power cord).  Since it sounds like your existing disposal is hard-wired, you might be able to get away with unhooking the other end of the wire inside your existing disposal and attaching the wires to the new disposal.  Should be a small phillips screw for the ground (green) and wire nuts (tape them) for the red and black.  If you want to make it really easy on yourself, buy the same model you are replacing and everything should line up perfectly.  I recently swapped out my mother in law's and it took all of 20 minutes.

[mozar]

Well people are suggesting I don't get the same model. It's a badger.

[nobody123]

Well people are suggesting I don't get the same model. It's a badger.

A garbage disposal functions the same same no matter what one you buy.  A motor spins a metal plate that has a couple of metal lugs on it that smash up what you put into it until the peices are small enough to fit through your drain pipe.  The higher priced models just have more noise-reducing insulation and/or horsepower, and very high end ones might have a fragrance dispenser so it will smell like lemons after you run it.  If you rarely run your disposal and / or don't care about 30 seconds of noise when you're running it, just get the Badger, which is the Insinkerator entry level model.  As for quality, Insinkerator has 80%+ share of the global disposal market for a reason.

[mozar]

Ok, thanks.

[Fishindude]

Replace it with a drain and find another way to get rid of your food scraps (compost or trash). A plumber told me garbage disposals are the cause of most of the clogged pipe problems he sees, plus they always seem to smell, so when ours died I just replaced it with a regular drain with a strainer. Cheaper and less gross IMO.

This is very good advice.
Throw your table scraps in a compost bin or just put them in the trash.

[AnxietyFly]

Don't by the cheapest one. I had multiple bad experiences with cheap garbage disposals.

[mozar]

Holy necro post batman! I did hire someone to replace it and I'm glad I did because it was old and broke apart in the guys hands. But I did uninstall and reinstall it myself when I renovated my kitchen last summer.
I agree it's nice to have a drain but I usually have roommates who are used to them.

[ebella]

Don't use a garbage disposal at all.  My father in law is a union plumber.  My husband used to run maintenance on a building.  They forbid us from installing or using pre-installed ones because, if you think about it, they are the worst idea ever from a plumbing and environmental perspective.  Just aim to minimize your food waste and compost.  We live in a condo apartment but still pay for a compost service and I know some cities do composting for free or as part of garbage collection. Do your pipes and planet and favor and stop throwing money away on plumbing services by using garbage disposals.

[seattlecyclone]

We compost essentially all of our food scraps, but I love that when the occasional pea or noodle ends up in the sink I can just let it go down the drain and flip a switch to disintegrate it rather than needing to fish it out of there.

[mozar]

I updated the title. Hopefully people will stop replying.