Best disposers -- vintage or modern?

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Hobart/Kitchen-Aid/Viking

Hobart's Kitchen-Aid and the later produced Vikings (based on Hibart's design were truly phenomenal disposers. In fact, it was a Hobart design Kitchen-Aid which I took out, to be replaced by the newly redesigned ISE. I have had several Vikings in the past as well.

The KA which I just took out was one of the last produced before Whirlpool sold the design to Viking and thenncontracted ISE to produce the Whirlpool and KA.
disposers.

The first and most noticeable difference is the physical size and weight, with KA being larger and much heavier than the new ISE. The new ISE'd feel substantially lighter than the previous ISE units they replaced.

The Hobart KA has fixed impellers versus ISE swivel impellers.

The Hobart KA reverses direction each time it is started. The ISE does not.

As we are all now aware of, lol, the KA has a manual reset overload, the ISE has auto-reset.

My biggest complaint with all the Hobart produced models, from the bottom of the line National to the top of the line 3/4 HP KA to the 1 ho Vikings is noise.

Not so much grinding noise, as the TOL models are well insulated, but motor noise and vibration transmitted to the sink basin and counter tops.

With my first Viking, I thought it be defective, my second proved that was not the case and my present Hobart KA is exactly the same. The older Hobart National, a bare bones model, was unbearable and even rattled items sitting on the counter top.

With all the Vikings and KS you can actually hear the harmonic beats of the motor. I have encountered the same noise/vibration in other units such as Whirl-Away. Other than the National, the noise is distracting but not unlivable. It is just surprising that such a prestige disposal would not a fully balance turntable bnd better insulated mount. With a heavy porcelain sink, it is less noticable. With a stainless sink, the sink resonates with the disposal and magnified the noise.

The new ISE is very quiet eith no noticeable beats. With the water running, the TOL ISE are scarcely audible under no load. When grinding, yes, it's audible but very muffle compared to most other disposers.

The Hobart design has a device called a Wham-Jam breaker, which as the name implies, is for times the turnable jams. Touching the button, in the front of the machine sends the turntable into oscillations of several thousand times a second. Hobart claims it pulverized most jams. In all the years I have had a Hobart designed disposal,I only used the Wham-Jam feature once. It seemed to work just fine. In other jans I have had, the Hoobart design automatically reversed the turntable direction, and always effectively freed the jam.

The Hobart design is very sophisticated for a disposer. It grinds bones very well and is one of the best for disposing of paper products such as grease soaked paper towels, coffee filters and especially those pads that soak up blood in the trays of meat products that you buy at the grocery store.

I have not fully tested the ISE in all areas yet, ad I have only had it a short time. Grinding time for paper towels is as good as the Hobarts units. The blood pads, not so good, they take quite a long time compared to the Hobart.

Corn cobs, the Viking is slightly faster initially but when it gets down to the core they bounce around a little while before being finally gone. The ISE is only slightly slower initially, but leaves no core to bounce around for a while, so I rate the ISR slightly better in grinding cobd BUT, the ISE does not have a rind flipper.

A rind flipper is a small protrusion set in from the impellers, toward the center of the turntable. If a grapefruit or corn cob hits near the center of the turntable, The rind flipper grabs it flips it over and heads it towards the impellers.

When grinding corn cob, first I had to break them in half if they were any length at all. Both the Viking/KA continuous feed units have shallow hopper/grind chambers. The new ISE hopper is also very shallow and requires most cobs to be broke in half. However, without the rind flipper, which ISE recently removed from their new design, I found the cobs would often get hung up, and I would have to turn the disposal off and reconfigure them.. Once that was done, the ISE did a good job of disposing off them.

Both the Hobart design and the ISE have the desirable undercuttet, which helps prevent drain stoppages.

I can report more later when I try fruit outs, pork chop bones and watermelon rinds. In the past, I found ISE to be slow with fruit pits. The Hobart better. Nothing compares to the vintage GE disposals on the items though.

I was excited, initially, to try out the newly Whirlpool designed ISE, but the more I use it, the more I miss my Hobart KA. Whirlpool did put some good features such as the undercutter wheel, but they took away the rind flipper, the manual reset overload and the automatic reverse.

My opinion is, if you are deciding between a vintage KA true GE, or true Maytage, they areall wonderful machines and I would recommend them over the new ISE. With that being said, if you like quiet the new ISE's are great. The old vintage true Maytags are nearly as quiet though.

There you have it. Others if you will hopefully post your experience s as well so we can compare!
 
My Hobart Kitchenaid disposer ran butter smooth for decades. It was not a TOL model, either. Maybe I got lucky.
 
smooth

Dan, I probably didn't describe it well. Mine all ran smoothing, it was just that you could fell the even vibrations and you could hear motor noise. By harmonic beats, the frequency risee and falls evenly with regular periodicity.

I didn't particularly like it, but then again the it was worth living with to have such a fine disposal. I loved all my Vikings/KA'd, they are extraordinarily well built, quality machines. If I hadn't paid nearly 300 for this ISE, I would pull it and put he Viking back. Got to get my money's worth out if!

No I didn't mean to make the sound/vibration seem like a big deal. As far as operation, I think your term smooth" is very applicable. As in a "smooth and slick" performing machine!
 
So where does my Wp based Maytag/KA/Jenn Air from '72-73 and '88 fall in the scheme of things? In the 50+ years we've used them they have never jammed. I do wish the units reversed, would add life to the shredder ring. I know coming across a NOS shredder as I did a year or two ago will not happen again, but 30 years is a good run and odds are I will not be around at that point...
 
Matt

A little confusion on my part, Matt. You indicate you have Maytag/KA/JennAir. In 72-73, Maytag and KitchenAid were two separate entities Kitchen-Aid was Hobart produced back then.

I suspect you have a true Maytag built disposal. In 1988 Maytag still built disposers, but Kitchen-Aid by that time had been purchased by Whirlpool and had contracted In-Sink-Erator to build their disposers.

When you mentioned the shredder ring being replaced that gives indication that you are speaking of a true Maytag. Maytag disposers were known for their easy repair, and parts were readilyy available. What is your model?

I have had several Maytags, both batch-feed and continuous feed. I have one in the original box in the garage right now.

Where do they stand? To me, way up near the top. Up until the new ISE's the Maytag was the quietest disposal I had ever had. .Not as sophisticated as the Hobart Kitchen-Aid, in that the Maytag's did not have auto-reverse, as you mentioned, nor a de-jamming system such as Hobart's "Wham Jam" system, nor did it have an undercutter.

What Maytag did have was great quality, a very hefty weight and heavy duty construction, a grind ring with more and taller cutting edges than others, and very quiet operation, both motor-wise and grinding- wise. Their top of the line models had a full styrofoam shroud over the entire unit.

In all the years, I never jammed a Maytag disposer, even though it was only a half horsepower. Although it didn't have a reverse, it didn't need it from a de-jamming perspective. Yes, a reversing turntable will extend the life of the grinding ring as you use an alternate side of the cutters with each use.

The impellers are large and have a wide swing away arc. They also have a rubber bumper so when they extend outward you do not get a metal to metal sound at the end of their arc.

All of my Maytags were from the 80's, I have never had one as early as yours but suspect they were very similar if not identical (except for the color of the exterior.). If you had a picture to attach, that would be great.

Maytags were top notch disposals, no one will deny that.
 
I have that same KWI-200.....

.....disposer from Kitchen Aid which was installed in January of 1985.
Sadly, it stopped working a few years ago and I decided not to replace it as I rarely use a disposer anyway.
This is the "Imperial" model disposer.
Did Kitchen Aid make a Superba model disposer?
I recall there being a batch feed model.
Perhaps that was the Superba?
 
Superba model

Yup, there was a Superba disposer, both batch-feed and continuous. I found mine on eBay, NIB for I think $30. That was back in 1988 and I've taken it with me twice when I moved. It still works great. I did disconnect the batch control as I prefer the continuous operation.

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Thanks, guys.  I really enjoyed reading your posts this morning with all this great info and I've learned a lot.  I'd never thought about buying a vintage disposer until reading about them over the last couple of days.  And now you've made me want one LOL.  It sounds like the ones of particular interest are the Maytag FC20/FB20 for all-round excellent performance and fairly quiet, the GE series 8,000 RPM for ultra-fast grinding of anything (noisy beast) and of course the Hobart KA I pictured above. 

 

Could someone please look at this photo and tell me what the part I've circled in red is for?

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The best disposer I've ever had was a Maytag from around 1990.  It was a continuous feed type and IIRC the model number was F-5.  The literature claimed it could actually grind nails.  We never tried that, of course, but considering how it handled everything else we fed it, I wouldn't doubt that it could.  And it was silent compared to any other disposal I've ever used.  I wish we had pulled it out before we sold the house, that is for sure.
 
Mark's choices

All three of your choices, for a disposal, are great ones, Mark. I hope you eventually get all three and many more. Collecting disposals gets into your blood.

If you see a Viking, it is basically the original Hobart KA design, and it had came in a 3/4 hp and 1 hp version. Definitely grab it.

One caveat, in the last years, Viking contracted ISE to build their disposers and ISE modified them from the original design. If you see a Viking and it has the typical ISE mounting ring, you know it is a hybrid.

A true Hobart KA or Hobart design Viking will have the push up, quick release, snap on mount. Recognizable with the little protruding release lever with the plastic tip.[this post was last edited: 5/23/2024-23:06]
 
Guys, exciting news!  I've just won the eBay auction for the unused Hobart Kitchenaid KWI-200.  Total cost of $235 including tax and shipping.  Could anyone hazard a guess as to its approximate date of manufacture?  

 

I'm really looking forward to installing it and using it (let's hope it works).  

 

Being only a half-horsepower model and with fixed impellers, I imagine it will be more prone to jamming.  I hope so.  It will be a good excuse to test out the amazingly cool Wham Jam Breaker, which is something I'd never heard of until two days ago.  I can't wait.  Look at what you guys have made me do now ha ha ha.  

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Congratulations, Mark!!!

Wow, you got a beautiful machine there. Despite the fixed impellers they are not overly prone to jamming. When they do, the auto-reverse will generally take care of it. But the rare times it doesn't the Wham Jam feature will.

It is a hefty unit, as you will see when you lift it to snap it on the mounting collar. Despite the weight it is easy to install. After installing the mounting collar assembly, you just push the disposal straight up on to it, you may have to rock it slightly, then you hear a "click" and it's locked on.
Enjoy!!!
 
Pretty sure that's the exact model I had. Very rarely jammed unless I was trying hard. The Wham Jam feature worked every single time except for once when a penny lodged itself just right and locked up the workings. Was able to remove the penny and it was right back to its old self again. Still miss it to this day.
 
Seems to me this is another appliance where the old ones were made more rugged and much better, though hardly ranks as a vintage washer or electric range, though there's a novelty of looking under the sink and hearing it roar...

Can you still get batch-feed units? Seems as though my initial uses of this appliances made me wish my family had one once I learned how convenient just twisting a lid to grind food waste is verses having to run water over it and having to use the sprayer sometimes...

While at least if the sink has water yet to drain the disposer can be turned on briefly until everything rinses away down the drain...

-- Dave
 
In general paper towels,napkins should ONLY be thrown in the trash,NOT the disposer.Paper towels and such should go in your trash can.The trash truck is better able to handle paper waste.The ONLY paper waste that should go into the wasste system is toilet paper.Yes,the sisposer is strong enough to shred the paper,but the plumbing system is not designed to handle paper waste.
 
A couple of years ago I spent 6 months in a house in Cambridge, England that had an English-made Maxmatic 4000 disposer that was about 20 years old and it had fixed impellers just like the Hobart KA.  I remember being surprised to see that, as I'd never heard of fixed impellers before.  I didn't know that any disposers in the US had been made that way too.  It had a manual reverse switch.  

 

This English company makes Maxmatic and Tweeny disposers but all their models are more expensive than the cheapest Insinkerator models, so I think ISE dominates the market in the UK, along with the other brands that use the Chinese motors.

 

https://max-appliances.co.uk/maxmatic-range/

 

https://tweeny.co.uk/tweeny-range/

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Hobart KitchenAid disposer

Yay Mark I’m glad you got this. These things are heavy. There are A beast.

We have one of these in the museum kitchen unfortunately, when we were installing it slipped out of Jason‘s hands and fell on his hand and broke a finger. They are heavy because of the cast-iron drain chamber.

In one of the sinks in my kitchen, I have a Hobart KitchenAid like this. The other sink has a Maytag FB5 which is the short FC Maytag disposer converted to batch feed. Both disposers here at my home have their own personalities. The Maytag is a very good disposer. The Hobart is a little bit more rugged and grind faster with its fixed impellers.

The new GE disposal you found is one of the 8000 RPM ones were fairly durable, but they never competed at all with ISE disposers, they tended to clog drains because they didn’t grind that finely and they were very noisy and could not handle bones worth a damn. GE disposers were basically builder model stuff and they worked pretty well with new houses that had clean drain lines.

Mark, I’m sure you’re going to enjoy this new disposer just be careful not to drop it on your fingers when you install it. Their installation collar system is not quite as nice as ISE.
 
GE

Hi Mark. Yes, I have seen that on eBay as well. I had that exact model in the early nineties.

It is a series wound motor. However, it was not produced by General Electric. In the early eighties, GE began using disposals (permanent magnet motors) made by Anaheim Manufacturing. Near the end of the eighties, they asked Anaheim to reconstruct their famous series-wound motor disposer based on GE's older design.

General Electric had an ad campaign that said, "They're back!" GE had long before quit manufacturing disposers, but Anaheim now produced a unit based on the previous true GE machines design. There were some modifications, a slight reduction in current draw, and I suspect a slight reduction in the size of the hopper, as I had things hang up in the new unit that were not a problem in the real GE serious wound unit. Also, the new units top of the line models did not have the harder Carboloy cutter, as the TOL original GE units did.

I liked mine, but not quite as well as the original. One of the women I worked with needed a disposal, and I gave her that one and installed it for her. I had other units I could use. She like it well enough, that when she moved, she asked me to swap the GE in her old house, with the unit that came in her new home. Which I did.

The one you see in the picture is one of the earlier manufactured models, with the same mount design as the original GE units. The only difference is that it has "Disposall" only embossed on sink flange. Most of the true GE's had "General Electric" with the logo and "Disposall" (which was their trademark name, embossed upon it.)

Later, Anaheim started putting their own mounts on the GE units. The small, narrow diameter, plastic mounts that screwed onto the sink flange. Which you still see in many of the units today.

I seriously thought about buying it for old times sake, but I really couldn't justify the expenditure. I have some of the original series wound units and really don't need anymore.

I think you would like it, and it would give you an idea of the performance of a series wound motor, until you find one of the true GE built units.

The operating characteristics are quite different than an induction motor. A series wound motor has a torque curve inverse to the speed curve. In other words, the slower it goes, the more torque it applies. One of our members (you can guess who) laughed about it slowing down when food was put in. I tried to explain that it was supposed to, that is what makes a series round motor so ideally suited for a disposer. He didn't have a clue how a series wound motor operates, nor was he aware of the characteristics. The more you put in, the harder it fights the load as it begins substituting rpms for torque.

GE had to put a sensitive overload protection on their eeries motor or it would destroy itself in fighting the load to the bitter end. Series motors have a very light weight to power ratio, and do not have the thermal mass of an induction motor.

The other characteristic to get used to is the sound. Under no load it sounds quite like a vacuum cleaner. As you load food wastes into it, it quiets down, and then you hear the rpms ramp up as the wastes are being eliminated. In fact, in GE's original instructions, it states that the unit is finished grinding when it sounds similar to a vacuum cleaner. It's a very fun machine.

The machine is also a great tool if you have kitchen plumbing that has a propensity to clog. The serious wound motor propels water through the lines with such force that lines are unlikely to ever clog. I shared this story with others here before. My brother--in law had an older home where the kitchen sink frequently clogged. It especially seemed to do so at every holiday, to my sister's chagrin, due to all the extra cooking she was doing for our family gathering.

After another Thanksgiving of using a snake to clean out the drain line, I suggested to my brother-in-law that he get the series unit such as I had and explained that I had never had a clog since I purchased it. That's saying a lot as I am exceedingly liberal on what I put into the disposal In short he purchased one of the original GE series units (in the latter seventies) and never had one clog the rest of the years they lived in that house. He still talks, to this day, how impressed he was with that unit.[this post was last edited: 5/26/2024-18:56]
 
Hobart fixed impeller disposal

These Hobart disposers, of course, were re-badged National disposers, after KitchenAid bought national disposers they did improve them quite a bit. They added the cast-iron drain chamber, for example, to make them more durable.

There were other fixed, impeller, disposers, all real whirlpool disposers had it fixed impellers and they were a few other companies that did it as well. Some of the cheaper Anaheim product units used to have fixed impellers.

Interestingly, I believe all commercial disposers still have fixed impellers they really do grind better and there’s less chance of wearing and coming loose so I believe it’s a more durable design overall.

Here’s a picture of one of the really interesting disposers that whirlpool made. It’s one of their neat through the sink models. My brother and his partner put one of these in when they remodeled their home in 1981 and it worked extremely well. It was a very fine grinding disposer it ran 11,000 RPMs. I also installed one of these in the bar sink here at my home, but it’s almost never used, but it still works. Great of course.

Whirlpool didn’t continue these very long because they got out of the disposer business altogether. This one really was very expensive to make it all beautifully welded into of one piece of stainless steel.

I should try to figure out a way to install about six or eight different disposers at the museum so we can do comparison grind tests Of the different units this would definitely be one of the fun units to have Hooked up to test. It would be neat to hook them up with a clear drain line with a light behind it. The way GE used to demonstrate their dispose all back in the 50s to show how thoroughly disposers grind up food making the way safe for the sewer system or your septic system.

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Whirlpool through the sink disposer

This was a really clever design, and it eliminated the chance of ever having a Leak between the disposer and the sink mounting flange because it was all one piece.

The one Jeff had in his house was in a cast-iron sink so it was actually quite quiet. The one I have in a small stainless steel bar sink is a little louder.

It’s very fast at grinding waste however it’s obvious limitation is the fact that it was a small hopper and it wasn’t good for bones and you had to cut up even grapefruit, rinds and watermelon rinds to get it in the disposer, but it would make short work of anything you could drop down in there.

You can see by the serial number. This was made in 1979 whirlpool was out of the disposer business by 1980 I believe and just started sourcing from ISE.

The Hand writing was on the wall as it was impossible to compete With ISE, that’s why KitchenAid and Maytag and General Electric, etc. all got out of the disposer business as time went on.

John

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through-the-sink

The Whirlpool through-the-sink disposal was an original concept from Whirlpool designed to attract builders/plumbers for it's ease of installation, and little else. One just dropped it through the sink opening, locked it down and did the hook-ups.

My 1979/1980 built apartment had one of these. It was THE loudest of any disposal I had ever to that point or since. It transmitted vibrations from its high speed motor directly to the sink which resonated and amplified them. Zero sound insulation. I only used it a couple of times and pulled it, without even getting permission from the landlord.

Not one of Whirlpool's better ideas. Geared for lazy/cheap builders as opposed for the consumer. They did not stay in production any time at all. Whirlpool's other disposer, the "Bone Specialist" was also deficient, receiving a rating from CU, in the bottom eschelon of all disposers. Still I would like to have one just to test, so I stay on the lookout.

[this post was last edited: 5/27/2024-10:04]
 
Disposers----All of the ones I used to have were lost in the fire.Same with my vacuums and everything else.Only disposers I have had experience with were the PM magnet GE disposer that is in the hotel,then the ISE Badger in the rental house I am in now.The drop in thru the sink WP sounded interestingfrom its money shots apperas to have very simple shredders.At the high speeds-all you would need.Not really related to disposalls-the rental house has rental furniture-washer/and dryer,linens.I did get a new VM Ascent 3500 from Best buy and a Brevelle Smart oven air fryer Pro.Still learning how this works.So far so good.Not an Advantium-that will come later.
 
Thanks so much, John & Barry, for the great info and photos in those replies.  I decided to go ahead and buy the GE Disposall too as it'll be fun to try it out.  Who knows, I may even end up keeping it installed as one of my daily drivers.  However, I feel like the Hobart KitchenAid will be the real quality star of the show.

 

My current ISE is great but I wish it would just "get on with it" when it comes to mango pits bouncing around forever.  

 

Ouch!  Poor Jason and his finger.  Thanks for the warning, I'll be extra careful.  I'll post photos when I get the new disposers up and running.

 

 
 
Hey Mark, we find the same with our relatively new ISE Evolution 200. Citrus rinds will quite often need a second lot of food waste to get them done, otherwise they bounce around forever.

What I do love is how silent it is. If you have the plug in on the disposer and on the other side of the sink, it’s pretty much silent when running.

It’s night and day compared to the model 65 we had before.
 
"disposall"

I saw the Anaheim version of GE's series unit was no longer listed. Hope you got it, Mark. It will give you a reasonable facsimile of the true GE-built series-wound disposal. It is a little bit lighter in mass and draws less current, but will do well for you. Even Anaheim's version won't have pits bouncing around for long. That is something I disliked about the earlier ISE, as you did.

GE's induction motor disposals are also worthy of your eye, but they are very rare to find. They are second only to the true GE series disposer in speed for fruit pits and pork chop bones. They also don't leave hard cores of corn cobs to bounce around for awhile as do my ISE and Hobart Kitchen-Aid. Although the KA doesn't leave them for long as compared to the older ISE.

Get a Maytag, a true GE-built series Disposer and a true GE-built induction disposal and you will have the best of the best.
 
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