Fix your Garbage Disposal Unit from Schmeg.com

  

DISPOSER TROUBLE TOOL & MATERIAL CHECKLIST

• Length of Broom Handle
• Phillips/Standard Slot Screwdriver
• Adjustable Wrench

• Plumber's Putty
  

Sink-mounted garbage disposers are efficient and almost maintenance-free. Problems usually are within a do-it-yourselfer's skills to solve--once the problem has been diagnosed.
To help in the diagnosis, you need a little information and understand how a disposer operates:

Garbage is dumped into the hopper of the disposer. The disposer is the motor drives a flywheel, impeller, and cutters which pulverize the tiny bits by throwing the garbage against a shredder device. The tiny bits are now flushed down the drain/sewer pipe with water from the kitchen sink.

What can go wrong is detailed below:

Stuck grinding wheel - This is probably the Number 1 disposer problem. It almost is always caused by bones, silverware, bottle caps, or other very hard objects becoming jammed between a cutter and the shredder ring around the flywheel of the disposer.

First, turn off the disposer, if the motor is running or making a humming sound.
Most disposers have an automatic overload switch that shuts off the power in the event the flywheel sticks or there is another malfunction of the unit. The "switch" operates similarly to a circuit breaker. At the bottom or along the side of the housing you will see (usually) a red button marked "reset". By pushing this button down, the electricity is reactivated to operate the disposer.

First, turn off the disposer, if the motor is running or making a humming sound. Most disposers have an automatic overload switch that shuts off the power in the event the flywheel sticks or there is another malfunction of the unit. The "switch" operates similar to a circuit breaker. At the bottom or along the side of the housing you will see (usually) a red button marked "reset." By pushing this button down, the electricity is reactivated to operate the disposer.

Look down into the hopper of the disposer and see if you can spot any object in the hopper that could be causing the stick-up. If you can see this object, turn off the power to the disposer at the main electrical service panel. Check to make sure this power is off by turning on the disposer motor or pushing the reset button. You will hear a humming sound from the motor if the power is not off. Once you are sure that the power is off, use kitchen tongs or the hook of a flattened wire coat hanger to remove the object for the hopper.
Never, under any circumstances, put your hand down into the hopper of the disposer. They have been to restart.
Use tongs, pliers, or even a coat hanger/hook device to retrieve ungrindable debris.

Then, with a short length of broom handle or a rolling pin, go into the hopper and try turning the flywheel in either direction. If it doesn't turn, double-check the hopper for objects; you may not have removed all the hard debris that's jamming the flywheel.

You will feel (and sometimes hear) the flywheel break free. At this point, turn on the power, run plenty of water into the hopper and flick the disposer switch on/off in quick sequence. This jolt should spin the flywheel and the water will flood away any loose debris in and around the hopper component.

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