Garbage Disposals

[Radio7]

Recently moved, I am now living with a kitchen that has a garbage disposal in the sink. This is only the second time in my life I've had the use of one.

My lack of experience in this area leaves me feeling extra delicate when using the contraption, so I look to you all for expertise/advice:

Is it wrong for me only to use it for very soft items (ie: scrambled eggs residue, mushy cereal, crumbs)? Or is the disposal also meant to get rid of vegetable skins and the like? Are little carrot bits lethal? Are chinese food remnants, for example, too greasy? (for the GD, natch, not me lol)

.....Wouldn't want the GD to explode it all out at me or just go 'on strike' completely....

Also, I was brought up (in Canada) calling these things garburators. Is this some sort of regional term, a trademark, or was I kidnapped by aliens?

*edited for color error

Edited June 17, 2004 by Radio7 (log)

[sparrowgrass]

Us country folks call them "electric pigs".

I don't have one--I have dogs and chickens.

[britcook]

It depends on what kind of garbage disposal you have becaue they range from the puny little continuous flow things that clog at the first hint of anything firmer than Jell-O to the big batch monsters that will handle anything up to and including a chicken carcass. The only thing they all hate is grease which can solidify downstream and generally clog the system.

[Marlene]

Recently moved, I am now living with a kitchen that has a garbage disposal in the sink. This is only the second time in my life I've had the use of one.

My lack of experience in this area leaves me feeling extra delicate when using the contraption, so I look to you all for expertise/advice:

Is it wrong for me only to use it for very soft items (ie: scrambled eggs residue, mushy cereal, crumbs)? Or is the disposal also meant to get rid of vegetable skins and the like? Are little carrot bits lethal? Are chinese food remnants, for example, too greasy? (for the GD, natch, not me lol)

.....Wouldn't want the GD to explode it all out at me or just go 'on strike' completely....

Also, I was brought up (in Canada) calling these things garburators. Is this some sort of regional term, a trademark, or was I kidnapped by aliens?

*edited for color error

It's ok. I call mine a garburator too . The items you listed are fine to go down the garburator. Vegetable skins, potato, carrot, egg shells, coffee grinds, onion skins, corn husks all go down my garburator. I don't put bones down though, and my garburator is a pretty heavy duty unit. No grease.

Do run cold water into the unit before, during and for a few seconds after turning the unit off though.

[Suzanne F]

I live in NYC, where (for the most part) we are not allowed to have garbage disposals. However, I had them when I lived in Detroit and in Washington, DC, so I know firsthand how to break them.

DO NOT put down your unit:

a half-dozen emptied shells from picked-clean, boiled blue crabs;

the stripped leaves of two (or more or less) artichokes

These are sure to choke the poor thing.

[memesuze]

I have a middle-of-the-line InSinkErator. I'd recommend that you find a manual for the brand and model you have, either on-line or by going to a big box home store and opening a carton to read the manual. Be sure to return the manual to the carton when you are finished.

My model recommends strong cold water during the grinding and for at least 15 seconds after - never hot water. Corn husks, artichokes, and other fibrous materials are verboten. Citrus rinds and ice cubes can be ground to keep the unit sweet-smelling.

[srhcb]

I remember when my Mother first had a garbage disposal installed. One of the selling points was that it could grind up a Coke bottle, and this was back when Coke bottles were made of thick glass.

Much to we kid's dismay she only did this once. Of course those Coke bottles did carry a deposit.

[chickenlady]

Definitely find out what type of unit you have--some can handle more than others. Also, don't put too much down at once. But in my experience, the fastest way to clog one up is to put in leftover rice. You would think we'd learn after the third plumber visit...

[Pickles]

Yes...never put artichoke leaves down them, in particular! Or any tough, fiberous fruit or veg skin. That's asking for it. Never use hot water while it's running (it can cause your motor to burn out....plumber told me that)....and never run it "dry"--always with plentyof cold or at least cool water. Drop some ice cubes and lemon slices in it while it's on every so often to clean the blades and keep it smelling fresh.

Edited June 17, 2004 by Pickles (log)

[Mayhaw Man]

Good advice above.

Especially about the stringy, fibrous vegetables. Don't do it. Just don't. You should be composting that stuff anyway.

No shrimp shells. Ever. Yuck (my wife has had some difficulty remembering this-if she had to take the trap apart she would remember )

[browniebaker]

I have learned my lessons from having to pay the plumber.

Not OK:

onion skins

cauliflower or cabbage cores that have not been cut into smaller pieces

surprisingly OK (at least in my disposal):

rind of watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew

My plumber also says to run the water before, during, and at least 15 seconds after turning on the disposal.

[klc14]

Mine doesn't handle citrus peel too well, unless I chop them up a bit. Makes the kitchen smell nicer....

My mother's disposal "froze up" once and the maintenance man at her apt complex gave her 2 tips:

1. Pour some cooking oil (OIL only, not bacon grease!) down to lubricate it once in a while.

2. Take a long wooden spoon and put the handle down the drain and "stir" the little jagged thingys. Sometimes they get out of sync and hit each other. Then they get stuck.

Hers was rather old as is mine. I used the cooking oil tip when mine froze up in my condo and it worked fine. Haven't had to "stir" it up yet.

Also: if there is a slight but hideous odor in the kitchen and you've cleaned everything else, it's probably something that didn't get totally ground and washed away. You could try tossing in a few ice cubes, running cold water and turning it on to clean it out. I have reached down in the disposal area and pulled stuff out (above mentioned citrus peel; it just abraded them a tiny bit, they were still whole.) But I don't recommend this. Yuckiness.

Don Aslett (housecleaning business, books, on Oprah, must know what he's talking about?) recommends filling sink with warm soapy water, unplugging, turning on disposal, to clean it. I do that once in a great while when I am super-cleaning the kitchen (to avoid doing something else).

[Toliver]

The only thing that goes down mine are egg shells. Better safe than sorry, I always say. I had a very bad incident one time with some pasta that just clogged it right up. Who knew?

So now what does go down there are the incidentals....from rinsing off plates, bowls, pots & pans. Everything else (peels, parings, coffee grounds, trimmings, etc) I put in the garbage can.

I also do the "let the water run" trick during and after to help keep the pipes flushed.

[JerzyMade]

Is it wrong for me only to use it for very soft items (ie: scrambled eggs residue, mushy cereal, crumbs)? Or is the disposal also meant to get rid of vegetable skins and the like? Are little carrot bits lethal? Are chinese food  remnants, for example,  too greasy? (for the GD, natch, not me lol)

.....Wouldn't want  the GD to explode it all out at me or just go 'on strike' completely....

Look under your sink and check how powerful your unit is. If it's greater than 1/2 HP you can pretty much grind anything, less than that and you should pay attention what goes in. Originally my house had 1/3HP unit. It was about 5 years old when it died, without any abuse. I replaced it with a 3/4HP unit. It will chew up half a lemon without sweat.

[phaelon56]

I can hardly recall how many times my father had to unstick or in some cases replace the disposal. It happens far less frequently now that my mother does composting yet he still keeps asking when I'm going to put one in my new house (the answer is NEVER!).

[Marlene]

Mine is a 1 HP, model 777SS. Maybe that's why I grind corn husks with no problem!

[srhcb]

If you get at least a 3/4 horsepower induction motor, (1 horsepower would be even better), it should last indefinately. Also, units that are activated by a seperate wall mounted switch are generally more reliable.

[Marlene]

If you get at least a 3/4 horsepower induction motor, (1 horsepower would be even better), it should last indefinately. Also, units that are activated by a seperate wall mounted switch are generally more reliable.

Yes, mine has a wall mounted switch as well.

[KatieLoeb]

I put in a pretty heavy duty (1.5 HP, I think) one when doing some minor home renovations a few years ago. Haven't had any issues with it like I did with its predecessor. Then again I haven't put a whole bunch of horseradish root peelings down it either. Having to remove the elbow joint under the sink and getting bombarded with the fumes of horseradish in that confined space was punishment enough to teach even this dense soul her lesson.

I always put the citrus fruit segments and shells down because it makes the kitchen smell so nice.

[JerzyMade]

I put in a pretty heavy duty (1.5 HP, I think) one when doing some minor home renovations a few years ago.

I'm jealous. I bought the most powerful one that Home Depot had at the time. Of course when your kitchen plumbing is disconnected you don't have a lot of time for comparative shopping. Nonetheless, 3/4HP does the job.

[Radio7]

wow - thanks for all the great replies. So much good information! Not to mention amusing annecdotes. lol

I love the citrus rinds & ice cubes advice; I'll definately be using that one.

I would have thought hot water would be preferable to run during use, now I know to keep it cold.

Unfortunately, there is no place for composting where I live. So that's out.

I do need to do more research on this - figuring out what HP I have etc. I suspect it's a pretty old unit, by the looks of things, and also considering the age of other appliances in the building. We've actually had a repairman in once in the short time since moving - the motor died after a few runs.

All in all, I now feel more confident in taming the dragon!

[jackal10]

Thay are OK in town, except that they provide the sewer rats with a nutritious diet; in the country they are death to septic tanks. However in the country one can, and should, compost.

Main issue I found witth mine was a distressing tendency to eat teaspoons

[memesuze]

Have you considered worm composting? Perhaps you don't have that small bit of unused space it would take - but even city-dwellers can compost. To keep my dragon running smoothly, I try to compost everything except the plate-rinse scraps and wipe grease/oil out of pans with paper towels. That downstream grease is murder on pipes - it usually manages to congeal just past where a home plumber can reach.