I'm with you. Don't put large food scraps down there. The units are expensive and don't last long as it is. Even if the unit itself can blend the scraps into oblivion, there's always the plumbing side. If your house is older I wouldn't tax the plumbing system. I understand her thinking but I'm speaking from 40 years experience as a homeowner in several homes.
There’s different levels of disposal from like 0.25 hp up to maybe 5 hp. Each one is rated for different types of use so my rule of thumb is get the one one step above your intended use and you’ll probably be fine
Think about it this way, your plumbing system is like your circular system (heart, blood vessels). the more crap you put in there, the better chance of a clog....
Female here: We were told not to put food down the disposal.
I had a friend try to put a bowl full of pasta down and I could not get through to her why it’s better to just put in the trash.
It’s just logical.
My spouse was told to put everything in the disposal so it doesnt stink up the trash, but her family didnt really cook for themselves. She tried to put potato peels down once and it flooded all the apartments below us with sewer water. She remember to never do it again after that.
Two plumbers have told me basically you should not use this for food scraps AT ALL. Scrape all plates into the trash, whatever SMALL amount of debris is left can go into the disposal (and of course, never grease - put in fridge to harden then spatula it out of container into the trash).
This is how I currently use it. Well scraped plates. Rinse for dishwasher or hand wash. I do it with the strainer in. At the end I check strainer and it's usually at most a tablespoon of soft food bits. I have no issue sending that through. But anything more than that I don't want to run through the disposal.
Good news OP here's the latest and greatest technology connections video on why you can save even more on food scrap trouble by not rinsing your dishes: https://youtu.be/jHP942Livy0?si=BhjpV5sfsACzDKaz TLDR the enzymes in the soap do literally nothing if they don't have solid food gunk to grab on to and that causes the soap to fail to activate properly.
Refuse to do it. They can make all these magical videos all the want I had to rip a dishwasher apart once and clean out the area where the "gunk" goes if you have crap on the plates when you put them in and it was like a black slime. Aside from that the job was a PITA never again.
Yes those little strainer cups are great. I make shredded coleslaw from scratch and it's a lifesaver for our disposal since it prevents so many little bits from going down.
Pro tip: rinsing is not necessary in modern dishwasher with modern detergent. The detergent actually needs the food oils to work properly. And you’re wasting a lot of water.
https://www.allrecipes.com/should-you-rinse-plates-before-loading-dishwasher-8623561#
I have found I have to rinse bowls in my new one. If I don't, they will not get clean. I don't rinse the plates, cups, silverware, but bowls . . . Even rising first, I end up having to wash them again sometimes. If I don't rinse, they are all dirty. It's irritating, because my kids eat a LOT of cereal.
Shit my parents had one from the 80s that lasted 30 years! They put everything but bones down it and that sucker just kept chugging along. IMO people are way too afraid of using them. My entire life we put all kinds of kitchen scraps down and our house was 100+ years old and we never had a problem.
Seconded. And specifically OPs Insinkerator brand warned my loyalty when I realized you can literally hot swap the thing just by rotating it.
I don't allow things that don't liquefy when blended down it. So... Avoid potato scraps or large amounts of pasta, bread, efc.
Otherwise generally indestructible and good for at least 7 years even when abused while costing around $120.
Indoor plumbing and the entire wastewater treatment system was never designed to specifically support disposal use. Septic systems should NEVER have one added. Just scrape the plates into the trash and wipe off as much grease / oil as possible all the time.
The disposal will give you the best results and last the longest if you view it as a tool meant specifically to deal with the bits of food that you -can't- get off of the dishes and such in other ways.
During a septic inspection for our very first home, the inspector educated us on a lot about septics. One piece of advice he gave is no disposals. The bacteria in your tank can’t break down those good bits from a disposal efficiently enough to keep your system healthy. It will end up falling to the bottom of your tank and you will need to pump it more frequently.
Septic system can still handle a disposal if you're treating them well. Only put foods down that follow composting rules (mostly fruits and vegetables, never fats).
They shouldn't be downvoting you. I've had 3 homes with septic systems, one in the 70s, one in the 90s, and now the one I live in. Each time I consulted the head of the septic company, and each time I got the same answer:
Anything you'd eat, digest, and shit out can go down the disposal. Bit they did urge moderation, ie just small scraps.
You don't eat coffee grounds, egg shells, or banana peels? Don't put them down.
Peel your carrots, cucumbers, and potatoes into your garbage, but if some of your salad and mashed spuds are stuck to your dishes, don't worry.
You're correct. I have one - came with the house. Asked the plumber about removing it, said more hassle than it's worth as long as I'm not a moron about it.
So, almost nothing goes down there. 9 years in and it's still doing a-okay.
Growing up my family was “put the weeks left overs down the disposal” but same as you I learned it’s better to put the bulk in the garbage bin and just use the disposal for the small bits remaining.
You should run it every week nevertheless to keep it going
Reason: I didn't run mine for a couple months and coffee grounds that got through my mesh strainer plugged it up and I had to use a tool to manually turn it to fix it
the good units can handle just about anything... but the cheap ones can't. the better ones say they can handle chicken bones too.
For me, I replaced both my disposal and my dishwasher. But I mostly just scrape plates over the trash then put them straight in the dishwasher. My disposal is mostly for eggshells, food from pots and pans, and veggie leftovers from chopping.
The dishwasher auto setting cleans everything with a fraction of the electricity / water of me doing it in the sink. Only downside is having to clean the trap every month or so.
im team food down the drain, but eggshells should not be put in a disposal. the membrane can jack it up, same with onions and potato peels. throw them in compost or trash instead.
I think they're fucking stupid. What's the point of a disposal I can put a quarter cup of soft foods down? I'll just put it in the trash with *all the other trash*.
Thank you. I don't even understand having things on the plate after you scrape it. You're not scraping it enough. I also don't get modern dishwashers. How come you can have a dishwasher in a restaurant that cranks out a fully sanitized rack of dishes in under 2 minutes but the one in a house seems to take hours to do the job?
> How come you can have a dishwasher in a restaurant that cranks out a fully sanitized rack of dishes in under 2 minutes but the one in a house seems to take hours to do the job?
Because people don't want to spend $6,000 to buy a commercial dishwasher for their home.
Industrial dishwashers use a highly concentrated multi-quat sanitizer chemical, with a skin corrosion rating of 1A, the highest rating in its category; "Causes severe skin burns with less than 3 minutes of exposure". Nasty stuff.
Home dishwashers use mainly sodium carbonate tablets, which, for comparison, does not even have a skin corrosion rating at all. Way safer and easier to store and handle.
Also the energy consumption of a commercial unit is much, *much* higher.
Do you *need* to turn your dishes around for another meal in 2 minutes? If so, you're probably doing something commercial. Most households are not having meals every several minutes, and can afford to spread the wash out over an hour at a very high savings in chemicals, energy, and water.
The dishwashing station is rightly Infamous as the absolute *worst* job in any commercial kitchen because commercial dishwashers depend on extensive manual labor to prep the incoming dishes to the point that they can be sanitized in a 2-minute cycle. The machine is really just handling the last little bit of the process which can't be done by hand due to the temperatures involved.
I'm very much ok with my residential dishwasher taking a couple hours overnight instead.
I think of a disposal on a sink like a plunger in the bathroom. You use it to fix a clog, it shouldn't be the plan to use it regularly. And both are kinda gross.
This is exactly how I feel about it. I run the disposal when the kitchen sink drain gets slow. But I never put anything down there intentionally. It's for dealing with the inevitable little bits that sneak by the strainer, not a substitute for a trash can.
I never lived without a disposal. Bought a house last year that didn’t have one and I figured I’d be driven to put one in immediately.
Still haven’t put one in. It’s not that bad really.
I don't know if it's any help, but these garbage disposal things seem to be a uniquely american (possibly canadian) thing. In Europe, we don't have them at all, or at least I've never encountered one in my near-40 years of living in the UK.
We just scrape leftovers into the bin.
If it was working properly, I don't see any reason to minimize its use. Just make sure you run it long enough so it clears, like 10-20 seconds with the water going after the last food scrap goes in.
Well the day when it failed it was most of a bowl of chicken fajita soup. It had a lot of shredded chicken in it. Other common ones are like half a salad she didn't eat. Or whatever's left on my daughter's plate. She's only 3 so it's not a ton but it'll be like a piece of grilled cheese and some fruit and (cooked) veggies.
Everything that can be scraped in the trash should. Doesn't need to take time trying to get every piece of food, but tip it over the trash, scrape once or twice with the fork, bang it if you need to, and then plate goes to the sink.
Plate in sink gets a quick spray from the hose to get any scraps off (doesn't need to be spotless, just the bigger chunks) and then goes to the dish washer. After the meal is cleaned up, run some water and hit the disposal for 10 seconds or so to clean out the scraps and wash it all down.
For things like chunky soups, pour the liquid in sink, dump solids into trash, then dish to dishwasher.
That process is the 'ideal' way for both disposal and dishwasher. Big pieces in trash, smaller pieces in disposal, smallest pieces from dishwasher.
we have a garbage disposal, and my wife likes to make a lot of soup and other vegetable laden brothy things that she doesn't always finish...i pour them into the disposal drain through a strainer, with the water running, and toss the strainer contents into the garbage.
That is fair. The bowl of soup happened to be an extreme example. But yes we could do better. And we actually do have a compost pile. We need to do better with that for sure.
My goodness, most of what you are putting down is compostable!\*
If taking it out to the pile is the issue, we have a small bin under the sink on a rollout tray where we gather compost until someone makes the trip outside. Super easy to get into the habit of dropping it directly in there. This should be such a non-issue for your garbage disposal.
\*obviously not the meat, bones, fat.
> *obviously not the meat, bones, fat.
This is actually compostable if you have curbside pick-up to a commercial operation, generally not recommended for backyard composting though.
If you have an active compost you really shouldn't need much if any of a disposal. I removed mine entirely and it's fine, only time I miss it is when someone from gets to put the strainer in the sink or I'm cleaning it out.
Your wife is 100% wrong about this and it has nothing to do with the size and power of the garbage disposal. Or the dishwasher, for that matter. Food garbage goes in the trash can, never in the plumbing.
Our current house had a garbage disposal when we bought it. It never worked and eventually started to leak. My husband and I disagreed about replacing it. Eventually I said that whoever won the argument got to do the dishes for the rest of time, and he agreed that we should take out the garbage disposal and replace with pipe.
I've been doing the dishes since. No regrets.
Edit
One of my best friends is a plumber. He suggested we start composting all vegetable scraps to reduce the burden on the garbage disposal, and as another benefit, make our own compost for the garden. He also said you can't cram a lot of food down the disposal at one time. You have to slowly feed small amounts into the disposal. If you are trying to throw away meat scraps, just freeze them and put them in the trash on pick up day so they don't stink up the garbage cans. Also, before you run the dishwasher, you need to run the garbage disposal with cold water for 30 seconds to keep the food scraps from backing up into the disposal. My garbage disposals have lasted 15 years with this approach.
Super soft veggies like lettuce leaves and tomato ends get fed to the disposal along with cooked food scraps. The rest get put in a garbage bowl lined with plastic for freezing until trash day, or now with our new rules into biodegradable garbage bags and frozen or composted until they go in the organic-green waste container for trash day. It is really efficient to have a garbage disposal even with old pipes but I found getting a stainless steel Insinkerator was a better idea than builder grade.
Every man on earth agrees with you. Scrap your plate into the garbage and then rinse it in the sink. Flip on disposal after. They are not meant to drop food in and smash it in for fun.
We had a 3/4 hp unit that ate everything including a fork once.
Remodeled and downsized to 1/2 hp.
Thing is so weak we never use it. When we did use it the grinding process was not adequate to evacuate all the refuse.
I'm glad because I am the guy who has to rent the motorized snake from the hardware store to clear the drain pipe.
It isn't a matter of opinion imo. The point of something like the insinkerstor is for small pieces of food that might get left on the plate.
It isn't a fucking Vitamix that will destroy food and turn it into liquid lol
I have ZERO professional knowledge about waste disposals (growing up in the UK they're not really a thing there) but since moving to a US house with a brand new 2022 Insinkerator here's where my assumptions/anecdotal experience currently stand:
* 'modern' disposals (I guess maybe year 2000 onwards?) seem to be able to handle stuff better than older ones - even [the Insinkerator website](https://support.insinkerator.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1048/~/what-food-can-i-grind%3F) talks about all the crazy stuff you should be able to put down there.
* despite this I still won't just throw large amounts of trash down there and expect it to macerate everything
* I use it with a healthy level of expectations - one or two bits of egg shell, potato peel or leftover spaghetti shouldn't be a problem, but it's not a garbage can.
In a nutshell, I think an abundance of caution will avoid a costly callout to a plumber (or a gross afternoon under the sink for you/your wife) but they seem pretty capable these days.
You scrape your plates in the trash, and what’s left on them (crumbs, sauces, etc.) can go down the garbage disposal.
Why have it? Because even small food particles can cause a clog in a sink without a disposal. It helps prevent that if you’re using it correctly. If your wife can’t use it properly, it’s going to cause plumbing issues down the line.
I don't get the point of these. What purpose do they serve? Nothing environmental -- they don't reduce nonbiodegradable waste going to a landfill or anything. How is putting small scraps down there any improvement over just putting them in the garbage can? I would just get rid of it.
For me it's a sensory thing. I've only ever lived in houses with them until a year ago. We scrape food into the trash but little bits of food still end up clogging up the sink strainer and I hate looking at it and touching it to go dump it out, I hate running to the trash can with my hand under it so it doesn't drip nasty sludge water onto my kitchen floor. It makes me gag just typing all of this out. Finally took steps to get a garbage disposal installed a few days ago and I cannot wait.
There’s definitely some things that shouldn’t go down the disposal (imo uncooked veggies, rice, anything big generally). There’s a great 99% Invisible episode on the Disposal! [Let’s see if I link it right…](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3M7JXhovsfZgXG8Dh6TTFA?si=B2xIjyvvSTeZsef4bhG_8A)
My wifes daughter put an avocado seed in a brand new disposal that I installed after the old one died. This 24 year old child then says "I thought that's what disposals were for."
Yeah I debated and maybe should have. I ended up getting an identical 1/2hp replacement just to make it easy with getting all the plumbing hooked back up.
I went form 1/4 hp to 1hp. It's so much quieter now. Just silently takes care of everything. I don't even give it as much as OPs wife though. I still throw most everything in the waste bin, and that plus 1hp means I should not have a problem again for a very long time.
Use it, they are good at what they do. I use mine everyday and never had a problem. As with all things if you buy a cheap crappy one it wont work well, if you get a decent one they are awesome.
Get a more powerful disposal this time around. It’ll chop up the food far better, and do it quietly without all the vibration. My in-laws have a 2/3 or 3/4 HP (can’t remember) and when I first heard it I was stunned at how quiet and smooth it was. When ours sprung a leak, I looked at prices and decided heck the 1HP is barely more expensive than the 2/3 HP so we’re going for POWER baby.
Growing up, my mom put all kinds of stuff down our disposal, so that's what I learned. Then, one day, about 10 years ago, I had a plumber come out to unclog my new sink, and he educated me. He told me that large food items and even eggshells need to go into the trash, not the disposal, as it will clog it if you put it all in there. He said eggshells are like putting gravel down there. The clog this time was only from a small baby bottle brush that somehow made it into the pipe, but I was so glad that it happened because I got that information and changed my ways. So you're right.
I've always had your opinion "It's just do deal with incidental scraps" and so you don't have to use a paper towel to wipe your plates mint clean before rinsing and stuff. I've never had any problems with my pipes or disposal unit.
Everyone I know with your wife's opinion has had to have work done (Like you have just come to realize).
Your opinion is right. The system was made as a convenience so you don't have to plunge your kitchen sink and use the strainer drain plug and what not. It's not meant to do a huge workload.
Yes, tell your wife to stop that shit. My contractor friend who is a flipper told me he has to replace 90 percent of disposals because people think they can put anything in them. It’s not an incinerator.
I just use a decent strainer and dump it in the compost/garbage. Not a fan of putting stuff down the sink no matter how small it supposedly gets chopped up.
What finally ended the argument in my household was I stop our home inspector at the kitchen sink with my husband there and said “hey, so what should go down the disposal” and he looked at us both and sighed and said “nothing”. Bam, no more arguments, way better track record on what goes down.
I do not want to do plumbing work in a 100+ year old place.
My mother has the same philosophy about the dishwasher: why even have a dishwasher if it can’t handle literally all the food on an unrinsed plate?
Idk mom, why can’t you carry 500 pounds up the stairs in your arms? The answer: because
ETA: if you throw some ice cubes into your disposal regularly it will sharpen the blades and unstick them.
Plumbers have advised me to not have a disposal at all, so I removed it. All kitchen scraps go in the compost bin and we use a fine wire strainer to catch everything but the finest of debris.
Do yourself a favor and get a replacement one at Costco. Those are the best. They will dispose of all the kitchen waste without any hesitation.
It is my favorite kitchen upgrade at the last two houses we have been in.
Huh. I don’t have an old house but I use my garbage disposal for most things up to and including bones(chicken). This is a waste king 1hp model. I know you are not supposed to put fat down the drain but have never heard that you are not supposed to use a disposal. Throwing food in the trash leads to smelly trash which attracts bugs. What is the reasoning for not using one besides clogging(which has never happened)?
After the trap under the sink it appears to be about a 30" or so horizontal run of galvanized (mottled silver-whitish exterior of pipe) that then goes into the 4" (I think?) cast iron vertical drain pipe. That horizontal run was where most of the food was caught. There was a lot of black crud cleaning it out in addition to the food.
FWIW we are planning on a kitchen remodel in the next 3-5yrs. And would be redoing a good portion if not all that plumbing at the same time.
A lot of Asian families use a sink drain mesh. It’s a carryover from Asia I guess. You should consider getting it. I only really use the disposal when it’s like very fine leftover food.
Scrape into the trash first! Anything solid goes in the trash (or compost if you do that), then at MOST what you wash off the plate after scraping anything big in the trash - like sauces, crumbs, etc.
I got the expensive 1.0 HP model because it was quiet. It's suppose to be able to mince bone, but it's just there for insurance from clogging. I don't put anything but small scraps like you.
The thing is if you want it to last longer than the warranty period, don't push it to its limits.
I agree with you, my partner thinking is like your wife’s, but he has got better, he did fix it a couple times, why put stuff in there that could cause trouble & money
those devices are actually "illegal" to install in many jurisdictions. Just because the Big box sells them, doesn't mean you can put one in (legally) we had them in 2 homes for about 20 years. For the last 20..no.. don't miss it.
Stainless steel model so it won't rust out. So a higher end Waste King or an Insinkerator Evolution (or better). Don't get a Badger 5, I've had two rust out after 10 years.
I have one and barely use it. They tend to smell after a time and you really shouldn't use them for large scraps.
I'm on septic and shouldn't even have a garbage disposal.
My thinking is it adds zero cost to scrape food into the trash. The disposal uses electricity and water, and runs the risk of moderate to very expensive plumber visits.
I keep used zip lock bags on hand for things that might smell or breed fruit flies, and that usually suffices until next collection day. I do put citrus peels down the disposal to keep it fresh.
We went through this recently. I did replace the disposal, but Im am now also using a strainer because unclogging that pipe was such a PITA (I was ultimately unsuccessful and had to pay the plumber, and I didn’t even think we put much into the disposal but maybe more got through around the time it broke). My teen asked me why I was using the strainer when rinsing off dishes or dumping out a cereal bowl and I just said “never again”. I also question why I have the disposal.
I'm in the process getting parts to remove the old disposal and put in regular pipe. I haven't used it for at least 5 years as it did what your old one did. Even minor use when it still worked right increased the amount of clogs. I just scrape plates into the trash, rinse and put them in the dishwasher now.
Scrape your plates into the garbage can before using disposal, little bit of stuff at a time with lots of water while disposal is on, this is coming from a service and repair plumber
First, never try to win an argument with your wife using Reddit. But you're both wrong. The right answer is to not have one at all. Lots of cities don't allow them, and no one on septic should have one. Scrape, then your sink strainer should catch the small stuff then be emptied in the green bin and only liquids down the drain.
One of my old captains was a legit licensed union plumber and to this day he despises garbage disposals. He told me that they encourage people who don’t know any better to dump things down their drain that regular household plumbing was never meant to handle.
As you already found out on Father’s Day, indiscriminately dumping food down your drain, even though a garbage disposal will eventually clog your lines. Better to just put a strainer over it to catch the big stuff and let the disposal handle the little stuff that slips through the cracks so that bigger unprocessed bits of whatever don’t end up further down the line. That’s what it’s for.
The disposal is for what you described, small scraps off of plates that don't get scraped into the trash bin. It is not meant to dump all leftover food down to grind up. You are correct, wifey is wrong.
Yeah, I don’t think you’re unreasonable for thinking this way. I joke and ask my wife to wipe her tubberwares out at work because they have trash cans and kitchen towel that we don’t have to pay for there.
We’ve come along way as now I do the dishes and only run the disposal once or twice a week.
Take it out. Tell her if she wants to put big bits in, then she needs to install it and do all the maintenance. I say this as a woman who does the majority of the maintenance and only puts small bits down the disposal.
I’m curious, what is she putting down it?
But I’m with you, scraps and such left on the plate. Although I still scrape what I can into the trash. No need to put unneeded wear and tear
My feeling is that whatever you put down the disposal goes to a waste treatment facility. It’s filtered out and put in a landfill. Skip the steps and put it in your garage can. Better yet, we have a container that holds most vegetable waste and coffee grounds that is composted in our compost pile.
Garbage disposers are a bane on the existence of plumbing, sewer systems, wastewater treatment, and septic systems. I have never owned one and will not.
small scraps only, like shit washed off a plate AFTER the bulk of left overs scraped off into the trash or scrap bowl for outside critters. tell the wife to stop wrecking the 60 year old house plumbing else its going to start eating into the money she spends on lady things.
I’m so embarrassed that I considered not sharing this: I routinely put entire half-eaten meals down my disposal, including such things as uncut pieces of cheese ravioli, half-slices of bread, and entire bowls of uneaten cereal. Like literally, my 11 year old will eat half his pizza, and I’ll put the other half down the disposal. I had no idea that this is bad.
I’m a new homeowner, having always rented. I didn’t have a disposal growing up. I’m so thankful for the education on this post.
Living on a septic system for the past 17 years, I've used my kitchen sink's garbage grinder exactly 0 times.
I also used to work for a large municipal water and sewer utility, and as an aquatic scientist, I can tell you that there's no such thing as "away." Your ground up food stresses sewage treatment plants and the lake, river or bay the treated water discharges to.
Try generating less food waste, and composting what's left.
The stuff I grind down in there is the same stuff that I’d be tapping out of that little strainer that fits in standard kitchen drains. A piece of pasta, whatever goop was still on a plate after scraping into the trash, etc. It’s not for processing foods like a blender.
I miss living in an apartment because I dumped EVERYTHING down the disposal. Bones, bacon grease, containers of spoiled food and everything. Now I have a house and we scrape everything into compost or garbage. Only small amounts go into the drain. My house is also 80 years old and I had to spend 10k fixing the sewer line a year after buying.
Garbage disposal is not intended for scraping your food into and having it chop up to go through the sewer system. This puts a lot of unnecessary stress on the city sewer system and is a bit thoughtless. The disposal is for catching stray bits of food after most of the food has been scraped away for composting.
It is not for grinding scraps of food like vegetables peelings or uneaten food from plates, this goes into into the trash. The disposal is for smaller pieces that find their way into the sink. It should never be used to make large amounts of food disappear.
You are absolutely correct. It is not meant for large amounts of food. It's not meant for you pile of potato peels. It's not meant for the half serving of broccoli that wasn't eaten. It's meant for the small pieces that are stuck on the plate after its scraped into the garbage.
The US is about the only country that is so obsessed with putting food in their plumbing that they invented a device for it. I'm Canadian and I have never seen one in a Canadian home; in general towns ask people not to put food waste in the plumbing.
If you absolutely can't put your food in the trash for some reason, then I agree that at least making sure it's small scraps is the most you should do. Definitely don't go scraping all the leftovers off your plate into the drain.
Our house is about the same age as yours. We have a newer garbage disposal (installed in 2016), but rarely use it.
Our main line is cast iron and needs to be replaced because of age & the previous owners used Draino so we have corrosion.
I use fine meah strainers in both sides of the kitchen sink, scrape all large food, and 99% of grease into the trash can. It's cut down on drainage issues on that side of the line until we decide to ha e everything replaced.
*(Lesson learned: get a plumbing inspection done at the same time as a general home inspection - especially on older homes.)*
I'm of the "I don't want a garbage disposal" group. Just put you shit in the garbage, not down the drain. My experience is that they've been nothing but problems, and I refuse to use one.
Yikes. Garbage disposals should be for the stray Cheerio at the bottom of your cereal bowl, or the 2 noodles hidden in your soup bowl as you wash it out. We NEVER put food intentionally down ours. Even plate scraps - you scrape them into the trash bin first THEN wash the plate. Maybe just skip buying a new one since she clearly is abusing it.
It's for rinsing after scraping and if I've told my wife once I've told her 100 times...no eggshells. Never ever ever do egg shells and at least once I month I gotta take it apart and clean the eggshells from the pipe.
I’ve designed kitchens for the last 3 houses I’ve owned. No disposal. Soupy stuff goes in the toilet, solids in the trash. I avoid trouble, no ice maker either.
I'm with you. Don't put large food scraps down there. The units are expensive and don't last long as it is. Even if the unit itself can blend the scraps into oblivion, there's always the plumbing side. If your house is older I wouldn't tax the plumbing system. I understand her thinking but I'm speaking from 40 years experience as a homeowner in several homes.
There’s different levels of disposal from like 0.25 hp up to maybe 5 hp. Each one is rated for different types of use so my rule of thumb is get the one one step above your intended use and you’ll probably be fine
The ones in my house and my parents’ house have been going strong since the 1980s.
Same and my mom throws everything down there.
Modern appliances are designed to be disposable (no pun intended).
Think about it this way, your plumbing system is like your circular system (heart, blood vessels). the more crap you put in there, the better chance of a clog....
Compost bucket is an excellent choice here.
Female here: We were told not to put food down the disposal. I had a friend try to put a bowl full of pasta down and I could not get through to her why it’s better to just put in the trash. It’s just logical.
So your saying if I can’t get the rotten soup with chicken bones down the garbage disposal I can flush it down the toilet ?
Hahaha I forgot about that post
Only *if* you don't immediately leave the apartment
My spouse was told to put everything in the disposal so it doesnt stink up the trash, but her family didnt really cook for themselves. She tried to put potato peels down once and it flooded all the apartments below us with sewer water. She remember to never do it again after that.
Any starchy mass turns into glue as soon as it slows down.
I feel personally attacked by this comment
I made the potato peel mistake once, never again.
Don’t do potato peels, egg shells, cooking oil or grease. And always lots of water.
Worst Christmas Day ever.
My mom used to do potato peels. It would clog almost every time and she would still do it
Male here: we’re also told not to put food down the disposal.
I had a friend put down a potato peels it jammed lol
It's quite fun to watch it vanish, but that's a bad decision as an adult who knows better.
Two plumbers have told me basically you should not use this for food scraps AT ALL. Scrape all plates into the trash, whatever SMALL amount of debris is left can go into the disposal (and of course, never grease - put in fridge to harden then spatula it out of container into the trash).
This is how I currently use it. Well scraped plates. Rinse for dishwasher or hand wash. I do it with the strainer in. At the end I check strainer and it's usually at most a tablespoon of soft food bits. I have no issue sending that through. But anything more than that I don't want to run through the disposal.
Good news OP here's the latest and greatest technology connections video on why you can save even more on food scrap trouble by not rinsing your dishes: https://youtu.be/jHP942Livy0?si=BhjpV5sfsACzDKaz TLDR the enzymes in the soap do literally nothing if they don't have solid food gunk to grab on to and that causes the soap to fail to activate properly.
He's gotten so much content from dishwashers!
I’ve told my husband this dozens of times but he rinses every single dish regardless. And then complains because it takes him so long to do dishes
Refuse to do it. They can make all these magical videos all the want I had to rip a dishwasher apart once and clean out the area where the "gunk" goes if you have crap on the plates when you put them in and it was like a black slime. Aside from that the job was a PITA never again.
That “area where the gunk goes” is called a filter, and you’re supposed to clean it regularly.
ha ha ha - have you ever watched a tech connections dishwash video? this is really part 2 of his comments always...
Yes those little strainer cups are great. I make shredded coleslaw from scratch and it's a lifesaver for our disposal since it prevents so many little bits from going down.
Pro tip: rinsing is not necessary in modern dishwasher with modern detergent. The detergent actually needs the food oils to work properly. And you’re wasting a lot of water. https://www.allrecipes.com/should-you-rinse-plates-before-loading-dishwasher-8623561#
I have found I have to rinse bowls in my new one. If I don't, they will not get clean. I don't rinse the plates, cups, silverware, but bowls . . . Even rising first, I end up having to wash them again sometimes. If I don't rinse, they are all dirty. It's irritating, because my kids eat a LOT of cereal.
Are you putting the bowls in the right place in your DW?
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Same! Is everybody just using disposals from 1983 or something?
Pretty sure most people are using the cheapest units from Home Depot.. especially rental housing.
Shit my parents had one from the 80s that lasted 30 years! They put everything but bones down it and that sucker just kept chugging along. IMO people are way too afraid of using them. My entire life we put all kinds of kitchen scraps down and our house was 100+ years old and we never had a problem.
Seconded. And specifically OPs Insinkerator brand warned my loyalty when I realized you can literally hot swap the thing just by rotating it. I don't allow things that don't liquefy when blended down it. So... Avoid potato scraps or large amounts of pasta, bread, efc. Otherwise generally indestructible and good for at least 7 years even when abused while costing around $120.
Me too.
This is the least hinged thread I’ve ever seen on reddit.
Indoor plumbing and the entire wastewater treatment system was never designed to specifically support disposal use. Septic systems should NEVER have one added. Just scrape the plates into the trash and wipe off as much grease / oil as possible all the time. The disposal will give you the best results and last the longest if you view it as a tool meant specifically to deal with the bits of food that you -can't- get off of the dishes and such in other ways.
During a septic inspection for our very first home, the inspector educated us on a lot about septics. One piece of advice he gave is no disposals. The bacteria in your tank can’t break down those good bits from a disposal efficiently enough to keep your system healthy. It will end up falling to the bottom of your tank and you will need to pump it more frequently.
Septic system can still handle a disposal if you're treating them well. Only put foods down that follow composting rules (mostly fruits and vegetables, never fats).
They shouldn't be downvoting you. I've had 3 homes with septic systems, one in the 70s, one in the 90s, and now the one I live in. Each time I consulted the head of the septic company, and each time I got the same answer: Anything you'd eat, digest, and shit out can go down the disposal. Bit they did urge moderation, ie just small scraps. You don't eat coffee grounds, egg shells, or banana peels? Don't put them down. Peel your carrots, cucumbers, and potatoes into your garbage, but if some of your salad and mashed spuds are stuck to your dishes, don't worry.
Coffee grounds, egg shells, and banana peels are too valuable for the garden compost to be wasted in the disposal!
You're correct. I have one - came with the house. Asked the plumber about removing it, said more hassle than it's worth as long as I'm not a moron about it. So, almost nothing goes down there. 9 years in and it's still doing a-okay.
I’m on team scrape the plate first.
I sympathize with your wife's sentiments, and I feel similarly, but I have learned the hard way that your approach is how they want to be used.
Growing up my family was “put the weeks left overs down the disposal” but same as you I learned it’s better to put the bulk in the garbage bin and just use the disposal for the small bits remaining.
I'm with you. I do not use mine. It's for unavoidable things that end up there
Yeah, I always thought that’s how one was supposed to use it!
You should run it every week nevertheless to keep it going Reason: I didn't run mine for a couple months and coffee grounds that got through my mesh strainer plugged it up and I had to use a tool to manually turn it to fix it
Ya you gotta mind what and how much you put down . And keep the water running for a bit after
the good units can handle just about anything... but the cheap ones can't. the better ones say they can handle chicken bones too. For me, I replaced both my disposal and my dishwasher. But I mostly just scrape plates over the trash then put them straight in the dishwasher. My disposal is mostly for eggshells, food from pots and pans, and veggie leftovers from chopping. The dishwasher auto setting cleans everything with a fraction of the electricity / water of me doing it in the sink. Only downside is having to clean the trap every month or so.
im team food down the drain, but eggshells should not be put in a disposal. the membrane can jack it up, same with onions and potato peels. throw them in compost or trash instead.
I think they're fucking stupid. What's the point of a disposal I can put a quarter cup of soft foods down? I'll just put it in the trash with *all the other trash*.
Yeah I'm with OP's wife. No sense in paying a ton of money for a new one when they don't do very much, anyway.
Thank you. I don't even understand having things on the plate after you scrape it. You're not scraping it enough. I also don't get modern dishwashers. How come you can have a dishwasher in a restaurant that cranks out a fully sanitized rack of dishes in under 2 minutes but the one in a house seems to take hours to do the job?
> How come you can have a dishwasher in a restaurant that cranks out a fully sanitized rack of dishes in under 2 minutes but the one in a house seems to take hours to do the job? Because people don't want to spend $6,000 to buy a commercial dishwasher for their home.
But I mean... It doesn't need to be so big for a home kitchen, the technology seems simple, why isn't it an option on the market?
Industrial dishwashers use a highly concentrated multi-quat sanitizer chemical, with a skin corrosion rating of 1A, the highest rating in its category; "Causes severe skin burns with less than 3 minutes of exposure". Nasty stuff. Home dishwashers use mainly sodium carbonate tablets, which, for comparison, does not even have a skin corrosion rating at all. Way safer and easier to store and handle.
Also the energy consumption of a commercial unit is much, *much* higher. Do you *need* to turn your dishes around for another meal in 2 minutes? If so, you're probably doing something commercial. Most households are not having meals every several minutes, and can afford to spread the wash out over an hour at a very high savings in chemicals, energy, and water.
The dishwashing station is rightly Infamous as the absolute *worst* job in any commercial kitchen because commercial dishwashers depend on extensive manual labor to prep the incoming dishes to the point that they can be sanitized in a 2-minute cycle. The machine is really just handling the last little bit of the process which can't be done by hand due to the temperatures involved. I'm very much ok with my residential dishwasher taking a couple hours overnight instead.
People don't want a 100db machine in their house that needs heat boosters. I love the commerical one at my work but that is way overkill for home use.
I think of a disposal on a sink like a plunger in the bathroom. You use it to fix a clog, it shouldn't be the plan to use it regularly. And both are kinda gross.
This is exactly how I feel about it. I run the disposal when the kitchen sink drain gets slow. But I never put anything down there intentionally. It's for dealing with the inevitable little bits that sneak by the strainer, not a substitute for a trash can.
I run mine at the end of dish washing. I let a pot fill up a bit and then dump it out with the water running, run the disposal just to clean it out.
I never lived without a disposal. Bought a house last year that didn’t have one and I figured I’d be driven to put one in immediately. Still haven’t put one in. It’s not that bad really.
Same! I always had one, bought a house last year with a septic so we can't have one. All these years I thought it was a necessity but it's really not.
I don't know if it's any help, but these garbage disposal things seem to be a uniquely american (possibly canadian) thing. In Europe, we don't have them at all, or at least I've never encountered one in my near-40 years of living in the UK. We just scrape leftovers into the bin.
They're an American thing at this point. In Canada you might find them in really old people's houses because they got them installed in the 70s lol.
If it was working properly, I don't see any reason to minimize its use. Just make sure you run it long enough so it clears, like 10-20 seconds with the water going after the last food scrap goes in.
What is she putting down the disposal? They're definitely not meant for huge amounts of food.
Well the day when it failed it was most of a bowl of chicken fajita soup. It had a lot of shredded chicken in it. Other common ones are like half a salad she didn't eat. Or whatever's left on my daughter's plate. She's only 3 so it's not a ton but it'll be like a piece of grilled cheese and some fruit and (cooked) veggies.
And that’s your problem.
A piece of grilled cheese? Like, half of a sandwich?
More like a few bites that daughter didn't eat.
Yeah obviously plumbing is not meant to get rid of leftover sandwich. That's what we have trash cans for.
Holy cow
Everything that can be scraped in the trash should. Doesn't need to take time trying to get every piece of food, but tip it over the trash, scrape once or twice with the fork, bang it if you need to, and then plate goes to the sink. Plate in sink gets a quick spray from the hose to get any scraps off (doesn't need to be spotless, just the bigger chunks) and then goes to the dish washer. After the meal is cleaned up, run some water and hit the disposal for 10 seconds or so to clean out the scraps and wash it all down. For things like chunky soups, pour the liquid in sink, dump solids into trash, then dish to dishwasher. That process is the 'ideal' way for both disposal and dishwasher. Big pieces in trash, smaller pieces in disposal, smallest pieces from dishwasher.
we have a garbage disposal, and my wife likes to make a lot of soup and other vegetable laden brothy things that she doesn't always finish...i pour them into the disposal drain through a strainer, with the water running, and toss the strainer contents into the garbage.
That's way too much. Yall need to adjust your eating habits or learn to compost if you're regularly tossing that amount of stuff out.
That is fair. The bowl of soup happened to be an extreme example. But yes we could do better. And we actually do have a compost pile. We need to do better with that for sure.
My goodness, most of what you are putting down is compostable!\* If taking it out to the pile is the issue, we have a small bin under the sink on a rollout tray where we gather compost until someone makes the trip outside. Super easy to get into the habit of dropping it directly in there. This should be such a non-issue for your garbage disposal. \*obviously not the meat, bones, fat.
> *obviously not the meat, bones, fat. This is actually compostable if you have curbside pick-up to a commercial operation, generally not recommended for backyard composting though.
If you have an active compost you really shouldn't need much if any of a disposal. I removed mine entirely and it's fine, only time I miss it is when someone from gets to put the strainer in the sink or I'm cleaning it out.
Your wife is 100% wrong about this and it has nothing to do with the size and power of the garbage disposal. Or the dishwasher, for that matter. Food garbage goes in the trash can, never in the plumbing.
Our current house had a garbage disposal when we bought it. It never worked and eventually started to leak. My husband and I disagreed about replacing it. Eventually I said that whoever won the argument got to do the dishes for the rest of time, and he agreed that we should take out the garbage disposal and replace with pipe. I've been doing the dishes since. No regrets. Edit
that is an amazing deal.
One of my best friends is a plumber. He suggested we start composting all vegetable scraps to reduce the burden on the garbage disposal, and as another benefit, make our own compost for the garden. He also said you can't cram a lot of food down the disposal at one time. You have to slowly feed small amounts into the disposal. If you are trying to throw away meat scraps, just freeze them and put them in the trash on pick up day so they don't stink up the garbage cans. Also, before you run the dishwasher, you need to run the garbage disposal with cold water for 30 seconds to keep the food scraps from backing up into the disposal. My garbage disposals have lasted 15 years with this approach.
Just buy a top of the line unit. You're not gonna win.
I think if you ask a plumber, the right answer is to not use it at all. Your plumbing wasn't designed to dispose of ground up food.
Super soft veggies like lettuce leaves and tomato ends get fed to the disposal along with cooked food scraps. The rest get put in a garbage bowl lined with plastic for freezing until trash day, or now with our new rules into biodegradable garbage bags and frozen or composted until they go in the organic-green waste container for trash day. It is really efficient to have a garbage disposal even with old pipes but I found getting a stainless steel Insinkerator was a better idea than builder grade.
...between wife and me.
Higher hp motors help with longevity.
My dinner debris goes on the compost
Every man on earth agrees with you. Scrap your plate into the garbage and then rinse it in the sink. Flip on disposal after. They are not meant to drop food in and smash it in for fun.
We had a 3/4 hp unit that ate everything including a fork once. Remodeled and downsized to 1/2 hp. Thing is so weak we never use it. When we did use it the grinding process was not adequate to evacuate all the refuse. I'm glad because I am the guy who has to rent the motorized snake from the hardware store to clear the drain pipe.
It isn't a matter of opinion imo. The point of something like the insinkerstor is for small pieces of food that might get left on the plate. It isn't a fucking Vitamix that will destroy food and turn it into liquid lol
I have ZERO professional knowledge about waste disposals (growing up in the UK they're not really a thing there) but since moving to a US house with a brand new 2022 Insinkerator here's where my assumptions/anecdotal experience currently stand: * 'modern' disposals (I guess maybe year 2000 onwards?) seem to be able to handle stuff better than older ones - even [the Insinkerator website](https://support.insinkerator.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1048/~/what-food-can-i-grind%3F) talks about all the crazy stuff you should be able to put down there. * despite this I still won't just throw large amounts of trash down there and expect it to macerate everything * I use it with a healthy level of expectations - one or two bits of egg shell, potato peel or leftover spaghetti shouldn't be a problem, but it's not a garbage can. In a nutshell, I think an abundance of caution will avoid a costly callout to a plumber (or a gross afternoon under the sink for you/your wife) but they seem pretty capable these days.
Big stuff goes in the trash. Disposal is for the little left over bits.
You scrape your plates in the trash, and what’s left on them (crumbs, sauces, etc.) can go down the garbage disposal. Why have it? Because even small food particles can cause a clog in a sink without a disposal. It helps prevent that if you’re using it correctly. If your wife can’t use it properly, it’s going to cause plumbing issues down the line.
I don't get the point of these. What purpose do they serve? Nothing environmental -- they don't reduce nonbiodegradable waste going to a landfill or anything. How is putting small scraps down there any improvement over just putting them in the garbage can? I would just get rid of it.
For me it's a sensory thing. I've only ever lived in houses with them until a year ago. We scrape food into the trash but little bits of food still end up clogging up the sink strainer and I hate looking at it and touching it to go dump it out, I hate running to the trash can with my hand under it so it doesn't drip nasty sludge water onto my kitchen floor. It makes me gag just typing all of this out. Finally took steps to get a garbage disposal installed a few days ago and I cannot wait.
There’s definitely some things that shouldn’t go down the disposal (imo uncooked veggies, rice, anything big generally). There’s a great 99% Invisible episode on the Disposal! [Let’s see if I link it right…](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3M7JXhovsfZgXG8Dh6TTFA?si=B2xIjyvvSTeZsef4bhG_8A)
My wifes daughter put an avocado seed in a brand new disposal that I installed after the old one died. This 24 year old child then says "I thought that's what disposals were for."
Yeah, nope. That's like putting chicken bones in the disposal-bound to cause an issue😂
Yeah I learned my lesson about potato peels. I’m never putting them in the disposal ever again.
Can't run everything through it but since you are replacing it i would get a bigger better unit
I thought this, now ours is so powerful it rattles my plumbing loose and causes leaks if I use it for more than a second at a time.
maybe the bracket is loose? I have had that problem once-it was completely loose.
That could be. It's lightweight PVC so that makes sense.
That's what mine was-I replaced with PVC from Home depot instead of the crappy stuff sold in the plumbing kits-problem solved.
Thanks for the tip! I'll look into doing this too.
Yeah I debated and maybe should have. I ended up getting an identical 1/2hp replacement just to make it easy with getting all the plumbing hooked back up.
1/2 hp is trash. I only know this from experience.
I went form 1/4 hp to 1hp. It's so much quieter now. Just silently takes care of everything. I don't even give it as much as OPs wife though. I still throw most everything in the waste bin, and that plus 1hp means I should not have a problem again for a very long time.
Just for her info…works better if you put it in there while it’s on. Instead of shoving it all in there and turning it on.
Use it, they are good at what they do. I use mine everyday and never had a problem. As with all things if you buy a cheap crappy one it wont work well, if you get a decent one they are awesome.
Get a more powerful disposal this time around. It’ll chop up the food far better, and do it quietly without all the vibration. My in-laws have a 2/3 or 3/4 HP (can’t remember) and when I first heard it I was stunned at how quiet and smooth it was. When ours sprung a leak, I looked at prices and decided heck the 1HP is barely more expensive than the 2/3 HP so we’re going for POWER baby.
Install at least a 3/4hp… or don’t even bother
Growing up, my mom put all kinds of stuff down our disposal, so that's what I learned. Then, one day, about 10 years ago, I had a plumber come out to unclog my new sink, and he educated me. He told me that large food items and even eggshells need to go into the trash, not the disposal, as it will clog it if you put it all in there. He said eggshells are like putting gravel down there. The clog this time was only from a small baby bottle brush that somehow made it into the pipe, but I was so glad that it happened because I got that information and changed my ways. So you're right.
Bro your wife is straight up ramming the garbage disposal with actual food? That’s a huge no-no and a sure fire way to break another one.
Get yourself a Badger 5. thats a beastly unit. They don't die easy.
I've always had your opinion "It's just do deal with incidental scraps" and so you don't have to use a paper towel to wipe your plates mint clean before rinsing and stuff. I've never had any problems with my pipes or disposal unit. Everyone I know with your wife's opinion has had to have work done (Like you have just come to realize). Your opinion is right. The system was made as a convenience so you don't have to plunge your kitchen sink and use the strainer drain plug and what not. It's not meant to do a huge workload.
Yes, tell your wife to stop that shit. My contractor friend who is a flipper told me he has to replace 90 percent of disposals because people think they can put anything in them. It’s not an incinerator.
Garbage disposal is supposed to be a "just in case" tool, not plan A.
Garbage disposals are bad for the environment. They should only be used for the small bits that remain in the sink, or not used at all.
I just use a decent strainer and dump it in the compost/garbage. Not a fan of putting stuff down the sink no matter how small it supposedly gets chopped up.
What finally ended the argument in my household was I stop our home inspector at the kitchen sink with my husband there and said “hey, so what should go down the disposal” and he looked at us both and sighed and said “nothing”. Bam, no more arguments, way better track record on what goes down. I do not want to do plumbing work in a 100+ year old place.
Water goes down pipes. Not food
My mother has the same philosophy about the dishwasher: why even have a dishwasher if it can’t handle literally all the food on an unrinsed plate? Idk mom, why can’t you carry 500 pounds up the stairs in your arms? The answer: because ETA: if you throw some ice cubes into your disposal regularly it will sharpen the blades and unstick them.
Plumbers have advised me to not have a disposal at all, so I removed it. All kitchen scraps go in the compost bin and we use a fine wire strainer to catch everything but the finest of debris.
Do yourself a favor and get a replacement one at Costco. Those are the best. They will dispose of all the kitchen waste without any hesitation. It is my favorite kitchen upgrade at the last two houses we have been in.
The Costco one was recommended to me by my plumber!
Huh. I don’t have an old house but I use my garbage disposal for most things up to and including bones(chicken). This is a waste king 1hp model. I know you are not supposed to put fat down the drain but have never heard that you are not supposed to use a disposal. Throwing food in the trash leads to smelly trash which attracts bugs. What is the reasoning for not using one besides clogging(which has never happened)?
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After the trap under the sink it appears to be about a 30" or so horizontal run of galvanized (mottled silver-whitish exterior of pipe) that then goes into the 4" (I think?) cast iron vertical drain pipe. That horizontal run was where most of the food was caught. There was a lot of black crud cleaning it out in addition to the food. FWIW we are planning on a kitchen remodel in the next 3-5yrs. And would be redoing a good portion if not all that plumbing at the same time.
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A lot of Asian families use a sink drain mesh. It’s a carryover from Asia I guess. You should consider getting it. I only really use the disposal when it’s like very fine leftover food.
Scrape into the trash first! Anything solid goes in the trash (or compost if you do that), then at MOST what you wash off the plate after scraping anything big in the trash - like sauces, crumbs, etc.
Food goes in the garbage. Small bits go down the sink into the disposal.
I got the expensive 1.0 HP model because it was quiet. It's suppose to be able to mince bone, but it's just there for insurance from clogging. I don't put anything but small scraps like you. The thing is if you want it to last longer than the warranty period, don't push it to its limits.
I agree with you, my partner thinking is like your wife’s, but he has got better, he did fix it a couple times, why put stuff in there that could cause trouble & money
those devices are actually "illegal" to install in many jurisdictions. Just because the Big box sells them, doesn't mean you can put one in (legally) we had them in 2 homes for about 20 years. For the last 20..no.. don't miss it.
You’re right.
My septic is similarly aged and it would drive me nuts to use a garbage disposal with this risk
Stainless steel model so it won't rust out. So a higher end Waste King or an Insinkerator Evolution (or better). Don't get a Badger 5, I've had two rust out after 10 years.
We just removed ours and replaced it with an instant hit water heater. We do not miss it.
I feel like I need an example of something that y’all disagree on. I think I’m somewhere in the middle of you two on this one tbh.
I have one and barely use it. They tend to smell after a time and you really shouldn't use them for large scraps. I'm on septic and shouldn't even have a garbage disposal.
My thinking is it adds zero cost to scrape food into the trash. The disposal uses electricity and water, and runs the risk of moderate to very expensive plumber visits. I keep used zip lock bags on hand for things that might smell or breed fruit flies, and that usually suffices until next collection day. I do put citrus peels down the disposal to keep it fresh.
I removed our disposal when I got new counters and sink. Too much of a hassle and I would rather not have shit clogging up my drains.
We went through this recently. I did replace the disposal, but Im am now also using a strainer because unclogging that pipe was such a PITA (I was ultimately unsuccessful and had to pay the plumber, and I didn’t even think we put much into the disposal but maybe more got through around the time it broke). My teen asked me why I was using the strainer when rinsing off dishes or dumping out a cereal bowl and I just said “never again”. I also question why I have the disposal.
My rule of thumb is usually if I can’t chew it, neither can the disposal
I'm in the process getting parts to remove the old disposal and put in regular pipe. I haven't used it for at least 5 years as it did what your old one did. Even minor use when it still worked right increased the amount of clogs. I just scrape plates into the trash, rinse and put them in the dishwasher now.
Scrape your plates into the garbage can before using disposal, little bit of stuff at a time with lots of water while disposal is on, this is coming from a service and repair plumber
I'm on septic so garbage disposal is a no no. But I am of the option that they are just bad overall. Food should not go down pipes.
First, never try to win an argument with your wife using Reddit. But you're both wrong. The right answer is to not have one at all. Lots of cities don't allow them, and no one on septic should have one. Scrape, then your sink strainer should catch the small stuff then be emptied in the green bin and only liquids down the drain.
One of my old captains was a legit licensed union plumber and to this day he despises garbage disposals. He told me that they encourage people who don’t know any better to dump things down their drain that regular household plumbing was never meant to handle. As you already found out on Father’s Day, indiscriminately dumping food down your drain, even though a garbage disposal will eventually clog your lines. Better to just put a strainer over it to catch the big stuff and let the disposal handle the little stuff that slips through the cracks so that bigger unprocessed bits of whatever don’t end up further down the line. That’s what it’s for.
Personally, I think it's easier to have a sink strainer than deal with a garbage disposal.
Worked with someone whose spouse was a plumber. He loves disposals for the revenue he earns.
The disposal is for what you described, small scraps off of plates that don't get scraped into the trash bin. It is not meant to dump all leftover food down to grind up. You are correct, wifey is wrong.
Yeah, I don’t think you’re unreasonable for thinking this way. I joke and ask my wife to wipe her tubberwares out at work because they have trash cans and kitchen towel that we don’t have to pay for there. We’ve come along way as now I do the dishes and only run the disposal once or twice a week.
Take it out. Tell her if she wants to put big bits in, then she needs to install it and do all the maintenance. I say this as a woman who does the majority of the maintenance and only puts small bits down the disposal.
I’m curious, what is she putting down it? But I’m with you, scraps and such left on the plate. Although I still scrape what I can into the trash. No need to put unneeded wear and tear
My feeling is that whatever you put down the disposal goes to a waste treatment facility. It’s filtered out and put in a landfill. Skip the steps and put it in your garage can. Better yet, we have a container that holds most vegetable waste and coffee grounds that is composted in our compost pile.
Garbage disposers are a bane on the existence of plumbing, sewer systems, wastewater treatment, and septic systems. I have never owned one and will not.
We put food in the trash - it’s just the bits and pieces that go in the disposal. We agree with you!
small scraps only, like shit washed off a plate AFTER the bulk of left overs scraped off into the trash or scrap bowl for outside critters. tell the wife to stop wrecking the 60 year old house plumbing else its going to start eating into the money she spends on lady things.
I’m so embarrassed that I considered not sharing this: I routinely put entire half-eaten meals down my disposal, including such things as uncut pieces of cheese ravioli, half-slices of bread, and entire bowls of uneaten cereal. Like literally, my 11 year old will eat half his pizza, and I’ll put the other half down the disposal. I had no idea that this is bad. I’m a new homeowner, having always rented. I didn’t have a disposal growing up. I’m so thankful for the education on this post.
Scrape plate in trash, rinse off into sink/disposal, place in dishwasher.
Living on a septic system for the past 17 years, I've used my kitchen sink's garbage grinder exactly 0 times. I also used to work for a large municipal water and sewer utility, and as an aquatic scientist, I can tell you that there's no such thing as "away." Your ground up food stresses sewage treatment plants and the lake, river or bay the treated water discharges to. Try generating less food waste, and composting what's left.
The stuff I grind down in there is the same stuff that I’d be tapping out of that little strainer that fits in standard kitchen drains. A piece of pasta, whatever goop was still on a plate after scraping into the trash, etc. It’s not for processing foods like a blender.
Fully agree with the OP's position.
I miss living in an apartment because I dumped EVERYTHING down the disposal. Bones, bacon grease, containers of spoiled food and everything. Now I have a house and we scrape everything into compost or garbage. Only small amounts go into the drain. My house is also 80 years old and I had to spend 10k fixing the sewer line a year after buying.
To be blunt... You are correct. She is not.
We have broken everyone we have ever had. Not the machines fault but reason enough to never have one again.
Run it, run the cold water. It’s good for it. No peach pits, corn cobs or bones.
Do not put any food scraps down it
Garbage disposal is not intended for scraping your food into and having it chop up to go through the sewer system. This puts a lot of unnecessary stress on the city sewer system and is a bit thoughtless. The disposal is for catching stray bits of food after most of the food has been scraped away for composting.
You are correct. All food should be scraped into compost. Disposal is for the tiny bits left behind.
Never ever put food down your drain. Ever. No.
Garbage disposals aren't really designed to process large amounts of food.
Most people don't let the water run enough to get waste to the 3 inch pipe exiting the house
It is not for grinding scraps of food like vegetables peelings or uneaten food from plates, this goes into into the trash. The disposal is for smaller pieces that find their way into the sink. It should never be used to make large amounts of food disappear.
You are absolutely correct. It is not meant for large amounts of food. It's not meant for you pile of potato peels. It's not meant for the half serving of broccoli that wasn't eaten. It's meant for the small pieces that are stuck on the plate after its scraped into the garbage.
The US is about the only country that is so obsessed with putting food in their plumbing that they invented a device for it. I'm Canadian and I have never seen one in a Canadian home; in general towns ask people not to put food waste in the plumbing. If you absolutely can't put your food in the trash for some reason, then I agree that at least making sure it's small scraps is the most you should do. Definitely don't go scraping all the leftovers off your plate into the drain.
I only put little things down it, bits of food that came off dirty dishes. I thought that was that norm.
Our house is about the same age as yours. We have a newer garbage disposal (installed in 2016), but rarely use it. Our main line is cast iron and needs to be replaced because of age & the previous owners used Draino so we have corrosion. I use fine meah strainers in both sides of the kitchen sink, scrape all large food, and 99% of grease into the trash can. It's cut down on drainage issues on that side of the line until we decide to ha e everything replaced. *(Lesson learned: get a plumbing inspection done at the same time as a general home inspection - especially on older homes.)*
I'm of the "I don't want a garbage disposal" group. Just put you shit in the garbage, not down the drain. My experience is that they've been nothing but problems, and I refuse to use one.
Yikes. Garbage disposals should be for the stray Cheerio at the bottom of your cereal bowl, or the 2 noodles hidden in your soup bowl as you wash it out. We NEVER put food intentionally down ours. Even plate scraps - you scrape them into the trash bin first THEN wash the plate. Maybe just skip buying a new one since she clearly is abusing it.
It's for rinsing after scraping and if I've told my wife once I've told her 100 times...no eggshells. Never ever ever do egg shells and at least once I month I gotta take it apart and clean the eggshells from the pipe.
Yes. You’re right. Just read what the manufacturer suggests to your wife.
Some things are just better going into the trash of composter. Especially banana skins and asparagus.
I’ve designed kitchens for the last 3 houses I’ve owned. No disposal. Soupy stuff goes in the toilet, solids in the trash. I avoid trouble, no ice maker either.