Care & feeding of a Franke disposer

[Fat Guy]

For the first time in my life I have a kitchen sink equipped with a garbage disposer. When I was growing up in New York City nobody seemed to have one. I'm not even sure they were legal. Now I know a lot of buildings still forbid them. But I moved into a place that allows them. The unit I have is a Franke. I haven't the slightest idea what to do with it. I haven't put anything down the sink yet. Is anybody familiar with the Franke line? If so do you have any advice for a newbie?

[abadoozy]

I don't have any experience with Franke in particular, but I have always had a disposal in my sink - don't know what people do without them!

You hear lots of horror stories about them getting clogged, but there's really only one trick to not clogging it. Assuming the Franke is not significantly different than any other brand, never ever ever run it without the water running, and after you turn it off, keep the water running for a few more seconds.

You can put almost anything down there, including things like soft bones (chicken, etc), if you just keep the water going. About the only thing that's occasionally been a problem for me is lots & lots of peelings - like potato or carrot. A few is no big deal, but if you're peeling veggies for a crowd, throw them away, don't put them down the sink.

Another tip: throw your lemon/lime/orange peels down it and grind for to get the scent of them in the kitchen.

Edited April 22, 2011 by abadoozy (log)

[heidih]

I am not familiar with the Franke - Insinkerator is the brand I have seen most frequently in home and office kitchens.

Another good general rule is to know where your reset switch is before the thing gets stuck. Avoids head injury as you thrash around under the sink right when the guests are about to arrive.

Funny, I have always heard them called garbage disposals, but I just looked and mine says right around the opening "food waste disposer".

[weinoo]

Good advice all. Of course, there will be the inevitable ring or fork or spoon that ends up getting slightly chewed up. I find that avoiding things like banana peels, canteloupe rinds, etc. (i.e. things that are extremely fibrous) leads to fewer problems.

[hathor]

They are illegal in NYC. When I asked some 'green' friends about it, seems garbage disposals produce a large amount of methane and biogas and most water treatment plants in the US can't remove the biogas.

The flip side is that food is going into landfills.

Do your research on this and decide.

Is composting an option?

[Toliver]

As a general rule, I tend not to intentionally put anything at all down my Insinkerator disposal.

I will rinse my meal dishes and pots and pans on the disposal side of the sink and the disposal will grind the bits and pieces all up and send them on their merry way. When I wash dishes by hand, the dishwater gets dumped down the disposal side of the sink.

But why risk grinding up all those peels (and bones? ) and possibly clogging up your pipes? My mom used to dump her coffee grounds down the disposal but when a plumber had to be called he said you may as well dump sand into your pipes.

So my garbage disposal is rarely put through its paces. It gets light duty and that's it.

[weinoo]

I'm with Toliver.

[the old cook]

Would hate to be without the use of one: After all these years of cooking, I have learned a few things about them..never put celery, banana peels, or huge amounts of vegetable peelings, do little at a time. But never the celery or banana peels...

A couple of bones from chicken okay, but have learned to our sorrow that too many bones can also clog. We also compost as much as possible, however, when needed, a disposal works great! Especially since you can't add meat/dairy products to your compost. Another thing with disposals or plumbing in general; wipe out as much of any grease and toss in trash, never down sink!

If it DOES clog, and you have reset the button, to start it again (NEVER with your hands), use broom handle to "push" it..THEN and only then turn on the start button. Since you have one, enjoy how much it can help you!

[Chris Amirault]

Yeah, me too. It's best to remember that you're one of many people putting stuff down there, and unless you've hung a laminated copy of the dos and don'ts at the sink and trained everyone to follow it obediently you're likely to end up with who knows what going down there. Then you get to clean out the lemongrass, beef sinew, and broken shards of shot glass....

[Joe Blowe]

They are illegal in NYC.

Correction: They were illegal in NYC.

http://www.google.com/search?q=garbage+disposer+new+york+city+legal

Whether building management allows you to install one in your kitchen is an entirely different matter.

I stand by my original statement and continue to use mesh strainers.

[Lisa Shock]

I do okay with melon rinds, I slice them up a bit before disposing them.

What I always avoid are banana peels, artichoke leaves, nut shells, pineapple tops, and, anything that would be difficult to run a knife through. The first three of these items I have personally witnessed others clogging and ultimately destroying disposals with, so I am certain they should be avoided.

If you don't use it for a while, you should at least run some ice cubes in it about once a week to keep it sharp. I knew a woman who never used hers and it became uselessly dull after about 2 years of inactivity.

[Chris Amirault]

I don't understand. How do ice cubes keep it sharp?

[abadoozy]

I've never sharpened mine - in fact, I don't think the blades are that sharp to begin with. It's run fine for going on 8 years now.

[PetersCreek]

I too am unfamiliar with the Franke brand but I do have one of the nicer InSinkErator models.

Mine happily chews bones as long as they aren't too heavy. In fact, the manufacturer's literature stated that it is not only okay to do it but beneficial as well. Evidently, they have a cleansing effect.

Mine also handles fibrous foods like vegetable peels, brussels sprouts, and such...but...the weak link in the chain is the outlet-drain adapter. Fibrous waste may go through your disposer like *ahem* though a goose but it can back up at the constricted junction of this T-shaped bit of plumbing. Every single back-up I've had was for this reason.

We're on a septic system so we try not to put everything down the disposer but since we have it pumped on a regular basis, we're not very strict about it.

[Kerry Beal]

Never, never, never put artichoke leaves in your disposal.

Took me days and days to get all the fibre out of the pipes.

[LoftyNotions]

I think what happens, at least on the InSinkErators is that the knives actually pivot on the plate they turn on. If you don't throw bones, ice, lemon / lime peels or something else fairly tough, they freeze in place and don't get thrown out to the periphery of the drum where they do their work.

Another thing we never throw down our disposal is onion peels.

Larry

[Lisa Shock]

I don't understand. How do ice cubes keep it sharp?

Some online sources state that they don't actually sharpen it, they just knock crud off. But, I think that LoftyNotions has the real answer. After a couple of years without moving, but with water and grease being poured over them all the time, something is bound to seize up.

(edited for clarity)

Edited April 23, 2011 by Lisa Shock (log)

[Kerry Beal]

I don't understand. How do ice cubes keep it sharp?

I think LoftyNotions is correct. I heard this advice from the plumber who was replacing the woman's disposal. I think the blades on some models get honed a bit like a knife on a steel while in use. That, and, it seems reasonable that through changes in the metal over time and accumulated scummy stuff that the moving parts could just be frozen in place.

I used to throw broken glasses down the disposal when I had them - nice way to get rid of them - and supposedly it 'sharpened' the blades.

[LindaK]

I don't understand. How do ice cubes keep it sharp?

Some online sources state that they don't actually sharpen it, they just knock crud off. But, I think that LoftyNotions has the real answer. After a couple of years without moving, but with water and grease being poured over them all the time, something is bound to seize up.

I've heard that over the years too and never knew it if was just another urban myth. But I always throw citrus pieces in mine, to keep it healthy (as was once said to me) and to freshen any odors.

Like Heidi, I'd always thought it was a garbage disposal. My Insinkerator says "disposer" and I've never noticed until now.

[nibor]

If you don't use it much it may start to stink. I throw in a tray of ice cubes and a quartered lemon about once a month.

[jmolinari]

Don't throw the shells from 12 eggs all at once. Or the peels from like 12 carrots. Bad things happen.

[Lisa Shock]

Another good general rule is to know where your reset switch is before the thing gets stuck. Avoids head injury as you thrash around under the sink right when the guests are about to arrive.

It's also good to know that sometimes, when they are stuck, you'll need to stick a broomhandle or something in there and push a little and turn to get it to move a bit before the reset switch will allow you to click it.

[lstrelau]

I have never had one of these and frankly, they scare me - but we have a garden and can compost most of our organic (not meat) waste).

But as far as the sharpening with ice cubes is concerned, my Thermomix manual recommends throwing some ice cubes into it and grinding them up once in a while as a good way to sharpen the blades in the machine. So guess there is enough abrasion from the ice to hone the blades in this sort of thing.

[Pierogi]

Ditto to what most have said. The unit itself may be able to handle bones and heavy peelings, but your plumbing is the weak link in the picture. Remember, they just grind....they do not liquify. You still get chunks 'o' stuff going into your plumbing.

My plumbing is old.....like 60 years old, and I personally don't feel much like having my main line replaced while I still own this house. I'm perfectly willing to let that be SEP (*S*omeboy *E*lse's *P*roblem.... )

For me, I find even a moderate amount of peelings like potato peels, apple peels, carrot peels, etc. causes me grief. So does leafy greens (lettuces, spinach, chards, etc.) in any great amount. So they all go in the trash. We don't have green recycling, and I don't compost. I'd pay for green recycling if it were an option though. Citrus peels, although they do freshen the unit, also cause me some grief....

Last time I had the clean-out, well, cleaned out, the plumber (at his base rate of $125 per hour) told me "these things like chunks. They don't like thin slivers or leaves". I read that as no peels or leafy stuff of any sort. Chunks of non-fiberous stuff. No strings. No corn-silk, no pea trimmings, no asparagus, no artichoke trimmings, no celery. Ends of carrots, trimmings of potatoes (NO PEELS), ends of cukes, a bit of rice rinsed off my plate, no problem. No peels. No strings. No leaves in large amounts. Tops of carrots, radishes, beets, etc.? Into the trash.

And I've never, ever known anyone to put bones of any ilk down one.

Frankly, like Toliver and Weinoo, at this point I run it only after I've rinsed plates into that side of the sink. Everything else goes into the trash (or the dogs....maybe the same thing??? )

Edited April 23, 2011 by Pierogi (log)

[nibor]

Garbage disposals do not have to be so finicky. I recently replaced my old one with a 1hp Insinkerator. It has no problems with celery, peels, etc.