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The Garbage Disposal Page 

	Click Any picture to see a larger image The most common things that go wrong with garbage disposals. Always make sure the water is running when ever the disposal is running. It is always better to use your garbage can, rather then the disposal. Potato peals will cause your drain to get clogged, Through them in the garbage. If you are on a septic tank you should use Bio-Clean to protect your tank and fields To see how to fix the most common  problems with a disposal Emails from a happy home owners. Great advice.  Saved me from paying a plumber from doing something very simple.  Thanks so much! Thanks a million. I didn't know anything about a disposal until looking at your site. The instructions were clear and effective. Thanks again, B. Holcomb Thank you!! We thought we would need a new disposal! It works fine now!  I am a new home owner never had a garbage disposal thank you very much I had the Allen wrench and knew I should be able to use it somewhere but I just could not locate the spot. Thanks for your help. So all of a sudden your disposal does not work any more. what happened? Most of the time it is because something got stuck in the disposal and caused the motor to over heat. This causes the breaker to trip This is a picture of the bottom of your disposal. See the little red button. That is your reset button. But before you reset it make sure the switch to the disposal is off. Then just push it in, you should hear a click. If you do, run some water in the sink and turn the switch on. If it works normal you are done. But if it hums for a few seconds then stops again, you have another problem. The motor is stuck, possibly because whatever caused the problem in the first place is still in there or it is just caked up with too many Potato peals. (that should have been thrown in the garbage). So this is what you do.
	Again MAKE SURE THE POWER SWITCH IS OFF!!! (or you will get hurt) you know that funny looking tool that has been hanging around the kitchen cabinet or drawer for all those years, that you never knew what to do with? That is an Allen key tool shaped for removing the disposal and for moving a stuck motor. If you lost it or though it away just use regular Allen key that fits. Put it into the center as shown and move it in both directions till it moves freely. you do not need to remove the disposal to do this. After you have done this push the red button again run some water and turn the switch on again. If this worked. You must stop now And Thank me for providing this service, By filling out the feed back form at the bottom of this page. You do not have to give your name, email address or any other personal information. Just your honest opinion about this web site and this page.   How to install a new garbage disposal First you will need to remove the old basket strainer. Some times it's simple just remove the nut from the drain pipe then remove the large nut under the basket strainer under the sink, and you can pop it right out. Most times the large nut will be stuck and the whole basket strainer will spin. In this case the best thing to do is split the big nut using a Drumell tool or other tool and remove the nut, then it will come out easy. The basket strainer in the image to the left has 3 long screws instead of the large nut, but if you have the large nut you know what I am talking about. Make sure to clean the area where you just removed the old basket strainer.
	You will need plumbers putty Get a small amount of plumbers putty in your hand and rub it and squeeze it till it is nice and smooth and warm in your hand. Now spread it around under the disposal basket strainers rim. It should look like the image on the left Now put the basket strainer into the sink hole, pay attention to the lettering on the rim, make sure it is straight, (it has nothing to do with how it will work, It bothers me when it is not straight) Push it down firmly as hard and as even as you can. Gently remove the excess putty form under the sink, but do not remove the excess from above the sink yet.     Please continue to the next page Continue

This website is designed and run by: Thomas Petito Reardon: a Master Plumber.