1980's Whirlpool Trash Compactor

[varicyclevoice]

I just acquired a vintage Whirlpool Trash Masher compactor over the weekend. It came from a home in St. Joseph MO. The people just purchased the house but didn't want the compactor. It appears that it wasn't used very much and it is in near mint condition. It even came with a very old trash liner bag.

The model # is SHU800400 I called Whirlpool and the date on it is November 26, 1981.

The people I purchased it from said they didn't have any literature on it. I was wondering if anyone on here might have the sales literature, use and care, and/or the installation instructions by chance. Anything would be appreciated. I would be happy to pay for your time for the digital scans or copies. I am really excited to be a new owner of this compactor and am planning to install it in my kitchen soon.

 

[rockland1]

Trash Compactors

My brother and I both Had a KitchenAid Compactor. We both agreed, a novel idea but not too practical. In the summer, compacted trash would smell. The unit had a fan forced charcoal filter you could turn on. Later, as recycling became more popular it became even more useless. We both pulled them out and replaced it with drawers, of which you could never have too many. Our models were from about 1975. It worked very well with 3 chain driven screws. The bags it used were very heavy duty and expensive.

 

[petek]

We had the similar Kenmore free standing model for quite a number of years when we lived out in the country and had no curbside pickup or recycling.  You don't want to put food scraps in there which will just stink. There's not much to know, the dirtiest part is going to be where the ram contacts the garbage inside so you need to wipe that down. There should be a removable plastic liner insert in the drawer which makes it easier to pull out the bag. As well the full plastic bags are better than those plastic lined paper ones we found.  Sears sold both.  As well when you don't use it for food scraps you don't need to bother with the built in aerosol freshener. . There should be a setting for "extra pak" which gives it a bit more oomph to get more in. 

 

[yogitunes]

because of recycleing in most areas, these may not be practical in once sense....but then again, these are great for compacting cans into a nice heavy cube to turn into cash.....

my brother uses his for that, never counted how many cans can be compacted, but does come in handy for such things as this.....

 

[tolivac]

Home compactors-the few I had seen were well used-another waiting on the curb for that BIGGER compactor?Yes,for food scraps-a disposer is more practical.Marketing for disposers and compactors suggested you get both.Food scraps for the disposer,trash for the compactor.Recycling indeed killed a lot of the market for compactors.And another thing-the trash truck that picks up your trash-its compactor will compact the trash to a greater densisty per cubic yard than the small home one can.And the trucks packer can handle bulky waste!Can you imagine a household compactor trying to take on an old couch?A RL trash truck----NO PROBLEM!!!Even many sideloaders can take bulky waste.Front loaders can-but you can't see the "destruction".For frontloaders you can stand beside it and listen as the driver engages the compactor.

 

[yogitunes]

compactors can come in handy still for areas like mine, where they only allow "X" amount of trash that will fit in their curbside containers per load, and that lid must close, so the most you can fit is 4 or maybe 5, 30 gallon trash bags....any more bags and you have to buy a sticker, 1.00 for a 30 gallon bag, 3.00 to 5.00 for a couch, bed, or an appliance.....

so if I can fit 3 average size trash bags compacted into one small cube, there are times this is more effective....

 

[tolivac]

For areas where they limit the amount of trash disposed at one time-like Yogitunes area-the compactors make sense.For my area---no.You can put out what you want.Since I live outside the town limits I take my trash to the dumpsite area-several in the county I live in.These sites have a stationary compactor for trash-separate dumpsters for newspapers and cardboard,another for cans and bottles,others for yard waste and electronic-electrical items.I can have curbside pickup-the cost averages $300-500 per year.Using the dumps is free--or they are paid for thru your taxes.City dwellers here have curbside pickups-the town uses New Way and EZ pack truck bodies on International chassis.The EZ packs are brand new-so sad to throw trash in those beautiful trucks!

 

[petek]

There's very little anymore here in our town that actually has to be trashed. They reduced the number of bags you can curb down to 2 per week, extra's cost $1.50. We barely fill one.  Perhaps 90% of it goes in the blue boxes and thankfully as of this year we don't even  have to separate them into glass/plastic/paper. You can just toss anything in any blue box and they sort it. Once a month a 3rd truck comes around on trash day and they take the big stuff like sofa's, mattresses, junky garden furniture, stoves, washer/dryers etc.   Nothing with a compressor in it though unless it's been tagged that the freon has been properly removed. And also once a month during the summer another truck comes round and takes lawn clipping/leaves. And in the spring/fall it takes bushes, branches etc..but not lawn clippings,, or something like that.. you need a calendar to keep up to it  LOL. 

 

[mixfinder]

Dacor. General Electric

I have always been a huge fan of compactors. Over the years I learned the narrower body machines created greater ram than Whirlpool so my choice was Dacor marketed under General Electric. If it was wet or food based it went in the disposer and everything else into the compactor. As recycling evolved I used the compactor for recycling. Living 13.5 miles from town its a lot easier to put a cube in the trunk and drop it off at the transfer station. In the country with animals, peelings etc go over the back fence to the cows and horses and the dogs are thrilled for table scraps. I buy almost nothing canned or packaged so the bulk of recycling is junk mail and beverage containers. We bought a Soda Stream which brings bottles to recycle to almost nil. Something that troubles me is watching people wash and rinse recycling which hugely reduces the green bump by wasting hot water. I am currently using a Kenmore, not my favorite but a heck of a lot better than putting your foot in the trash can.

 

[tolivac]

It is said that Broan compactors can have lot of packing force,too.They use a "scissors" style ram system as opposed to the jackscrew mechanism most other home compactors use.Its too bad a small hydraulic compactor can't be made for home use-the Hydraulic system is more expensive-but can delivor more force with the same HP engine or motor and are more reliable and longer lasting than mechanical compaction systems.Some commercial places that have air compressors use a compressed air packer-this is effective,too.Could be an alternative-the compressed air systems would be less expensive than hydraulic.There were some videos on YouTube a while back showing things being crushed in a Broan compactor-did quite well-something like 5,000 lbs packing force.But this is mere footsteps compared to a trash truck--their compactors can be over 100,000Lbs force!Stationary compactors can do this force as well-large stationary hydraulic.30Hp pump.

 

[mixfinder]

Corrected

Thank you for clearing up manufacturer confusion. The name Broan went completely out of my frame of reference.

 

[tolivac]

My Moms house she moved into a few years ago in LA had a Broan compactor-asked her if it worked-she didn't know she didn't know how to use it or wanted to.She said-"I just put the trash into the containers the trash company provided--move them to the curb-and their trash truck with an arm on it grabs them and dumps them"Shows she was on a trash route that had an automatic sideloader trash truck.These have a pretty brutal ram compactor in them-if it goes into the hopper-the ram will crush it.Now she lives in an assisted living home.And sideloaders and many ram compactors use scissors style hyraulic cylinders-arranged in a cross fashion to give the ram more leverage-and shorter space behind the ram-so the compactor takes up less space.The Broan mechanical scissors ram action is the same idea as the scissors style hydraulic system-but done mechanically.The Broan system would also be more durable than a jackscrew system.FL trash truck bodies made today use a scissors style hydraulic cylinder system.Some can go up to 150,000-200,000 lbs force!

 

[varicyclevoice]

Thank you!

I enjoyed reading everybody's comments. I know that trash compactors are not as popular as they used to be and many people prefer to have their cabinet/drawer space back.

I have always thought that trash compactors were a "fun" appliance. I am installing the Whirlpool because I have done a minor reconfiguration to my kitchen by removing a built-in table which really opened up my kitchen and the cabinet to which it was attached would have to be re-designed. Rather than go to that expense, the 15" compactor was an easy and cheap solution for me.

I have owned and used a trash compactor before and the discussions pertaining to the smells/odors, etc, wouldn't be applicable to me because I never did put any food waste of any kind into it. As far as food wrappers, cans, etc, ...I always rinsed everything thoroughly before putting it into the trash compactor.

Bottom line is I I thought the trash compactor would look neat built-in into my kitchen and it is a novelty thing for me. I just thought maybe someone out there had some paperwork or literature to share as I thought it would be neat to read.