So our house is about 6 years old, and I noticed a steady leak from the disposal under the sink when it’s on. It’s coming from the bottom, and some of the water drips onto the power cord, which freaked me out a little… looking online, it sounds like it might be an issue with a bad gasket.
I’m notoriously bad about taking stuff apart and leaving bits out when reassembling… and I’m not a huge fan of this disposal. It can’t deal with bits of onion, bell peppers, carrots, potato and carrot peelings, etc… I pretty much just freeze all of our food waste and toss it when the garbage goes out. It would be kind of cool to go ahead and upgrade the unit if I have to go through the hassle of taking it off.
The current model is a 1/3 HP Insinkerator Badger. I assume I need more HP - just how much? It seems like the max size is 1 HP, and those suckers go from $300-600 at Lowe’s. I was hoping to spend a little less.
So handy types, what should I be aware of when replacing this bad boy? Recommendations on good brands? How much horsepower for a family of four who usually has 1/4-3/4 lbs of waste to dispose of down the drain weekly? Can you throw bones down the chute? Any and all advice welcomed… looks like my Saturday morning is booked under the sink.
I replaced mine with a Kitchenaid 3/4 HP about 6 years ago and love it. IIRC, it was around $150 at the time. Powerful and quiet. There is a 1/2 HP model too.
Yeah, the installation is usually pretty simple. There’s usually a collar that has a quick-twist fitting on it. You might need to do some simple plumbing to realign the pipes, but that’s pretty easy.
1/2 to 3/4 horsepower should be fine for just about anyone. The trick to keep a disposal/disposer working for a long time is don’t feed a lot of stuff down it at once. A little at a time, with the water running. NO BONES. Oh, and don’t get any small gravel down there either. I spent a couple of hours taking ours apart when I accidentally got some of the gravel from my daughter’s turtle tank down there. They got wedged between the teeth and it locked up the whole thing.
To clean my disposal, whenever I’m done with an orange, lemon, clementine, (or any citrus), I cut the peel up into 8ths and grind it up in the disposal. Takes away any of the nasty smells.
Also, NEVER use a drain plunger (plumbers helper) on a clogged sink that has a disposal installed. The air pressure will break or blow out the seal.
I would advise against putting too much down a disposal. And if you do use plenty of water and keep the water on a few minutes after it grinds up the last piece. My reason for this advice is the disposal will grind the food up into a fine gooy mess that can stick to the pipes.
And never put potato peels down the disposal. They can pass by the grinder and plug the drain.
I just did this very project a few weeks ago. It was super simple! EXCEPT. We had a bitch of a time getting the new disposal up far enough to lock onto the existing collar, because you have to essentially compress the seal with brute force. Keep in mind this is in a small space. We ended up using my boyfriend’s motorcycle jack, which worked like a charm. You may need to do something similar.
In the technical sense, however, easy as pie. Just make sure you have the power turned off first, and put a bowl or a bucket under it when you’re taking it apart because there will be some water.
So an update - after doing some research and seeing what was available, I went with the 1/2 HP Insinkerator Badger - the next model up from my old disposal. $100 at Home Depot.
There are about 50 YouTube videos on how to remove/install a disposal, so I watched the Home Depot one. Straightforward, and once I was able to break the old unit loose from the collar, it was really easy. One crappy thing - the Badger doesn’t come with the power cord assembly - had to go back and get one after I had the whole thing on the kitchen floor.
It just so happened that the new Yellow Pages arrived that day - so I was able to rest the new disposal on the phone books, and just lift a few inches and screw it into the collar/bracket from the old unit. (This is one very good reason to stick with the previous brand - the collar fit perfectly and it cut out about seven steps.)
So far so good. New unit isn’t much quieter, but it definitely is more powerful.
When I was in college, my sink was clogged, and the plumber claimed it was due to me putting egg shells down the garbage disposer. Egg shells are a no-no? Sure, he said, they attract grease and clog up the drain. Well, if eggshells are out, what can you put down the disposal. Nothing, was his reply. Well, practically nothing. According to him, you are suppose to scrape your plate clean in the garbage, then rinse it off in the sink with the disposal.
I’m just glad I didn’t call his about a clogged toilet. “No wonder it’s clogged! Look what you’re putting down there.”
If you have to install or re-install a disposer, it is very helpful to go get the scissor jack from your car and use it to lift the disposer back up into the locking collar, rather than have to manhandle it up and turn it.
Usually the jack fits nicely below the disposer and will lift sufficiently to get it into the perfect position. If not, you can use wood blocking to raise the jack.
How I wish I’d read this information about using a jack a few years back when we replaced our first disposal! We thought of the car jack only after a long frustrating evening!.. The second disposal, we called a guy who came to the house to replace it, and showed me a book of garbage disposals, to pick out the one I wanted. Not a car, jewelry, or even pots and pans, but a freakin’ garbage disposal! :rolleyes: (“pick a good one, Sali, you deserve it!” :rolleyes:)…The third disposal, I ran some ice cubes through, and was standing there at the sink washing some dishes when my feet suddenly felt cold and wet…damn thing had rusted right through! Who inspects such a thing for signs of rust??..Fourth one just stopped. Maybe clogged. Pushed re-set button, nothing…Enough! Took the thing out, put in a pipe, and now I have a nasty little wire strainer in the drain hole I have to shake out over the trash can. (I think there was some way to fix it using a special wrench, but too late now.)…This concludes all I have to say on this topic, thank you for your patience!
It’s never occurred to me to use a jack - I just wipe a little smear of dishwashing soap on the rubber where it mates to the fitting that’s attached to the sink and it just pops right in.
If you’re of the “Buy it once and it better last eternally” sort, spring for the 1 HP model with stainless steel parts, but otherwise, unless you’re desperately low on cash, get a 1/2 HP model with noise insulation, and get back to life.
