Garbage disposal repair

It is jammed. The motor is energised but the impeller plate cannot turn. Switch it off at the breaker, then use the hex wrench that came with the unit in the socket on the underside and rock it back and forth until it moves freely. If there is no socket, lever the plate round with a wooden broom handle from above. Remove whatever caused it, restore power, press the reset button, and test with cold water running. Never put your hand into the chamber.

Usually not. Check three things in order: the reset button on the underside of the unit, the breaker, and any GFCI outlet inside the cabinet. A tripped GFCI under the sink is one of the most common causes of a disposal with no signs of life. If it resets and then trips again within seconds, the motor is failing and replacement is the answer.

Look at where the water starts, not where it pools. A drip at the top rim is the sink flange seal, which is resealable. A drip at the side is the dishwasher inlet or discharge gasket, which is a cheap part. Water coming from the bottom of the housing is the internal shell seal, and that is not repairable. The unit needs replacing before water reaches the motor and the cabinet floor.

Eight to fifteen years, with usage and diet making most of the difference. Past ten years, replacement is generally the better value than any repair beyond clearing a jam, because a new mid-range unit fitted costs about the same as two service visits and comes with a warranty.

No to both, despite the folklore. Coffee grounds pack into a dense sludge in the trap. Eggshell membranes wrap around the impellers and the shell grit settles in the line. The genuinely bad ones are grease, oil, pasta, rice, potato peel, fibrous vegetables and anything with bones or pits. Small quantities of soft food scraps and a little citrus peel are what it is designed for.

Cold, always. Hot water melts fats so they flow down the line and then re-solidify further along, which is exactly how kitchen drains block. Start the cold water before you feed anything in and let it run for twenty to thirty seconds after the grinding stops, so waste is carried well past the trap.

Because the problem is downstream. The disposal has done its job and the reduced waste has met a restriction in the trap, the branch line or further along. Kitchen lines block with grease more than any other drain in a house. Replacing the disposal will not change it. The line needs clearing, and for grease that means jetting rather than cabling.

Be cautious. A disposal roughly doubles the solids load going into the tank, which shortens the pumping interval and raises the risk of solids carrying into the drain field. The most expensive part of a septic system to replace. Either do without, or fit a small unit, use it sparingly, and pump the tank more often. Some localities restrict disposals on septic outright, so check.

Half a horsepower for one or two people, three-quarters for a typical family, one for heavy cooking. But horsepower matters less than grind design and build: stainless impellers, a multi-stage grind chamber and good sound insulation make more practical difference than the motor rating. Insulation in particular is the feature people appreciate every day in an open kitchen.

Yes, and it is a perfectly reasonable choice. We do it fairly often. A standard basket strainer and a new tailpiece and trap replace the unit, the assembly gets simpler, and the kitchen gets quieter. It costs less than a new disposal and it suits septic houses and households that compost.