What do I need to know about dishwashers and garbage disposals?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Ok, since the new server hamsters ate my original attempt:

We just purchased a house 4 months ago. Currently we have a non-functioning dishwasher and a non-functioning garbage disposal, which we plan to replace with functioning models when Uncle Sam gives me my damn refund.

Having never had a garbage disposal and dishwasher before (actually I used to have a portable dishwasher that hooked up to the sink, but I’ve never had a built-in), is there anything I need to know about the relationship between the two? I’ve heard horror stories about gunk from the disposal backing up into the dishwasher; is this a common problem? How useful is a disposal anyway?

Advice, anecdotes, funny disposal jokes welcome.

2

Get an In Sink Erator. That’s my only advice.

3

Both of those items are musts for me. I don’t know how anyone can live without them.

Disposal = good because you don’t have to worry about scraping plates into the trash or peeling potatoes into the trash, just do it in the sink and wash it down. You don’t need those sink strainers that get filled with mushy stuff all the time.

As far as dishwashers, well, my house didn’t have one when we moved in, but it was the FIRST project taken on and involved some cabinet renovations, all done in a day and totally worth it. Make sure to measure the depth of your counters so you don’t get one too deep to fit.

And as an aside, here’s a little tip I learned from Mom = run the water in the sink till it’s hot, so that the water going into the dishwasher is hot from the start.

4

I’ve never seen gunk in a disposal back up into a dishwasher, but the drain line that goes into the disposal does need to be cleaned every now and then, or when the dishwasher drains, the water will end up in your sink and make that dirty.

Disposals are very handy, but do be careful what you put into them. I don’t recommend putting potato, or any other stiff peeling, into them, since they don’t grind up easily and can clog your pipes. Whatever you do put into one, make sure your water is running, and put in small portions at a time.

Whatever disposal you get, make sure it’s one that has a reset button on the bottom, and that you can use a disposer service wrench to manually turn the blades if it gets jammed.

5

What the heck kind of disposal do you buy that has problems with potato peelings? I’ve had disposals all my life, and put potato peelings, bones, whatever down them. About the only thing I remember really causing a problem is a popsicle stick when I was about ten. Of course that was forever ago - for all I know nowadays that would be fine.

6

Don’t install a disposal if you have a septic tank. Well maybe you can if you get one bigger than the standard size.

The added organic matter will overwhelm a standard sized tank serving a 4 person household very quickly.

7

I did extensive research into this when I moved into a house with a well & septic.

The opinions are pretty evenly divided between people who say what VunderBob says and people who say “don’t worry about it, it’s fine.”

We decided to believe the latter. That was 3+ years ago. So far, no problems.

8

Disposal: go for power (3/4 HP at least) and quietness. When you go to buy one, you’ll notice some that have extra sound dampening in their shells. Those are totally worth it.

Dishwasher: we just bought a new one a year ago, and I’ll tell you what I felt was most important: silence (MOST important, IMHO), towerless design, disposer/filter, delay timer. These features are pretty standard on just about any washer of $400 or so.

The quietest kinds cost more, but man, they’re so sweet; you can actually hold a conversation in the kitchen while they’re running! Joy! A towerless design means that there’s more room in the bottom rack, plus there’s no chance that you’ll put something in there that keeps the tower from coming up and end up with a load of dishes with a hardened filth-crust on them. The disposer/filter thing’s handy, since it keeps your drain line from getting clogged with food gunk by grinding the garbage before it goes down. And, the delay timer is great, because you can run your dishes at night or during the day, when no one’s using hot water.

Other options: a stainless steel tub is super-nice, but such dishwashers are a lot pricier than models with similar features. I never felt the need for a “turbo-zone” to power-wash pots, but if that’s important to you, go for it. I do kinda wish ours had a china cycle. It does have a “smart wash” feature that uses sensors to figure out how much washing it needs to do, which saves energy and thus money. In short: figure out what’s important to you, and get that.

9

DISH SOAP IS NOT THE SAME AS DISHWASHER SOAP.

I learned this the hard way.

10

My dishwasher wiggles the dishes enough to chew through the vinyl coating on the rack. All my dishes have little rust spots around the rim. I bought a new rack, and it’s doing the same thing. Are there dishwashers that don’t do that?

11

It shouldn’t be doing this. Check your diswasher that it is leveled properly and that the feet are steady enough to prevent wobbling. If it does wobble, adjust the individual feet until it is steady.

12

I just remodeled my kitchen - okay really only replaced the countertops, dishwasher, sink, disposal, and microwave, but eh, close enough for me.

Got little kids or plan on having them? Get the dishwasher with the buttons NOT on the front. Not only do you not have to worry about bumping it and turning it on, but the kiddos can’t play havoc with your settings. Also, a breeze to wipe down. They now come with a disposal (of sorts) of their own so less work (although I still find I scrap and swipe before loading). As suggested, get the most quiet you can afford. You will love it.

For the disposal, I used to have problems with potato skins - of course was only on the holidays and when guests were arriving. I suggest the biggest motor you can afford. That’s what I did. I was giddy stuffing those skins down at Thanksgiving!

13

Just because a disposer can eat a field’s worth of potato peels doesn’t mean it should.

More to the point, the machine can handle it, but what about the pipes? One of the worst clogs I was ever face to face with was the result of someone putting spinach into the disposer. The 2" diameter pipe was packed with green goop.

Stringy stuff like celery shouldn’t go down unless it’s in short chunks - otherwise the strings just tend to tangle on the impeller.

Soft stuff like lumps of fat, gristle or meat will take longer than you might expect to be ground up. The stuff seems to just bounce off the grinding ring and it’s more a process of wearing it down than grinding it.

Whatever you put down the disposer, you need the cold water running at full open to flush it on down, and keep the water going for a while after turning the thing off.

I’ll heartily second or third the suggestions to buy what will probably be the model just under the top of the line - 3/4 hp with extra sound insulation. In-Sink-Erator is probably the best brand - certainly the best-known and probably the oldest. They also make the units for Sears - I’ve got a Kenmore that’s been doing nicely for me and it was a direct snap-on replacement using the ISE tailpiece that was already installed in the sink from the old disposer.

The only time I’ve seen gunk from the disposer or sink back up into the dishwasher was in a house that did not have an airgap (that little cylindrical gazakus on the back corner of the sink. It’s there to break the suction that would otherwise pull stuff from the disposer into the dishwasher.

Don’t cheap out on the dishwasher either. Go for the midrange model and you’ll be enjoying all the nifty features like a tall tub with no center tower, flip-out racks and pegs for stuff like stemware, extra flatware baskets and little covered baskets that are the bee’s knees for washing small things like stove knobs) and most importantly, sound insulation.

A few months ago, we had a dinner party, and I had the dinner dishes merrily washing away while the after-dinner coffee was perking. We’re all in the living room, and one of the neighbors inquired about our appliances as he knew we’d recently replaced some. His exact words: "It’s running?!" His is so loud that we can hear it if they leave the kitchen window open. :eek:

14

Firbrous stuff and bones (artichoke hearts? nobody eats that stuff anyway, right?) don’t go well with a disposal. Everything else is pretty much fair game. Every now and then you’ll want to run a half dozen or so ice cubes down there to help keep it clean.

A side note for dishwashers - you don’t need to scrape the dishes off or wash them prior, which is just about impossible for some people, for whatever reason. It’s a dishwasher, but some don’t believe it. I would recommend a water softener though, it increases efficiency quite a bit, and for laundry too.

15

Don’t be dumb about what you put in there.
When I got my last place the machine rattled and made grinding noises. I removed the guard and pulled out, with tongs, plastic milk caps, dimes, rubberbands, and those things that tie sixpacks together.
What a dork did that.

16

That was the disposal.

The dishwasher made noise too, and removing the guard I fished out a bunch of glass bits.
I guess a glass had broken and pieces too big for the drain were just cycling and grinding against each other. They were worn down like bottle shards you find at the beach.

17

Why do brides wear white?

Because the dishwasher should match the refrigerator.

18

Having recently moved into a house with a garbage disposal and struggling to find any worthwhile use for it, I tried putting potato peelings down it. It rewarded me by blocking and spewing foul water all over the kitchen. This cost me a plumber visit. I have yet to find a worthwhile use for the evil device. My wife and I simultaneously clean off scraps from plates - I scrape them into the garbage bin under the sink. She scrapes them into the sink, then washes them down the plug hole, then prods the incalcitrant bits down the hole with her fingers, then runs water and turns on the GD. By then I’m sitting down and am half-way through a cocktail.

Seriously - what good are these things? They take longer, server no purpose, and reward you with an occasional flooded floor and expensive repair bill.

19

They’re almost completely unknown around here (Australia) and not just because of our water shortages. At my house, veggie scraps are either fed to the bunnies or composted. Everything else is scraped into the garbage. Australian sewerage systems just aren’t designed to deal with food waste, and I would assume it makes the processing of wastewater that much harder and more hazardous.

Compost bin! Worm farm! Think green!

I’ll settle down now.

20

Install an “air gap” device in the drain from the dishwasher. This will offer a great deal of protection against the disposer backing up and draining into the dishwasher. This is an off-the-shelf item required by code in some places, but available anywhere. Any plumber should know what you are talking about. It may require an extra hole punched in a stainless steel sink, or a hole in the counter top for installation.