Disposal Preferences

[jakeseacrest]

I don't know if this has been done before, but what does everyone prefer:
Batch feed or continuous?
Removable splash guard or permanent?

I have always had continuous feed, but have used a few batch feeds. Prefer continuous for the convenience.

I have had only one disposer with a removable guard and did not like it at all. My ISE 777ss came with both.

 

[arbilab]

Apartment GEs in the 80s came with removable. 2 good things. One, you can get your hand in to remove dropped objects or ungrindables. Two, you can take the thing out and scrub it. Guards really get grungy underneath. I also liked the GE's speed. It's a brush motor, much faster than an ISE 1725rpm. Also the chamber is entirely stainless, where most ISEs are galvanized.

However I've had ISEs for 20 years. Never really liked them, they came with the house. I don't even know if GE is still in the disposer business or still making them like the old ones.

 

[bwoods]

GE gave up the disposer business by the early 1980's. They contract Anaheim manufacturing to put their logo on their units. GE called them the "Thoroughbreds." ha

The Annaheim units (Franke, GE, Waste King, SinkMaster and many others) use a permanent magnet motor. Around 2800 rpm.

The GE unit you spoke of Arbilab, had an 8,000 rpm series wound motor (with brushes) as opposed to ISE induction motors.

GE contracted Annaheim for a brief time to bring these units back, and they were advertised by GE as "They're Back!" This was in the late eighties and early nineties. They then dropped the series motor design, again, Now they just let the assembly line workers slap a GE logo on straight Annaheim units.

Too bad, that series motor develops more torque at slower speeds and other than the noise, made a pretty unique and effective disposer, to say the least. Under heavy loads it will not give up and stall as easily as an induction motor, It, as I always say, will fight the load all the way until the built in breaker cuts out to protect the unit. They can stall, but at stall it is drawing maximum current and
providing maximum torque. A typical induction motor is providing maximum torque at full speed.

Series would motors would rather destroy themself rather than give up on a load! They also pull more amps as they battle. The change in speed with load is very apparent in the original GE series disposers.

The removable guard is nice, as you can take them out and clean them, as you say.

I have a 1978 GE Induction batch feed. I had it installed for a while. The batch feed is cool. Maybe a little less convenient if you have sink full of garbage as you have to stop and reload several times. However, with the cover locked down in the run position you don't have to worry about a lot of bone fragments, etc. flying out.

Batch feeds are also nice if you are adding a disposer to an older house. You don't have to go to the difficulty of installing a wall switch and runnning wires to it. So they were more popular with remodelers, in the days before they had air switches for disposer installation.

Now, to be fair with ISE, they do use stainless on their upper line models.
The old GE's (the ones actually manufactured by GE) used all stainless (hopper, turntable, cutter and impellers) even in their lowest line models.

 

[MikeS]

ISE Evolutions

When my partner and I needed a new garbage disposal to replace an old BOL Badger model, I was wary about buying another ISE model. But after looking at the lineup, we decided on the Evolution Compact. For an extra $40 over the most expensive Badger, it provides very quiet operation and a stainless steel chamber. It quickly disposes of the normal garbage with dispatch--haven't yet tried it on bones, however. And its compact design fits nicely under a crowded sink.
As for your question, I prefer continuous feed since I grew up with Waste Kings as a boy. And while I would rather have a removable splash guard, the fixed guard has proven to be adequate so far.

 

[arbilab]

Thanks Barry. That explains a great deal about GE. Do they actually make ANYthing any more? I know you could buy my Frigiwhite FL with a GE logo on it.

8000 eh? No wonder it went through lime rinds like the ISE goes through spaghetti. Nothing but plate scraps or vegetable peels (potato, carrot) goes down the ISE. And talk about noise? This ISE thing rattles the whole sink, even empty. I didn't know an induction motor could BE that loud.

 

[tolivac]

Please note-on the GE universal motored disposers-the motor does slow down when water and waste put in the machine-but nonetheless-faster than induction motor and slower PM motored machines.what I miss most of GE disposers-is their Carboloy shredders-those would shred ANYTHING thrown in.I have used GE disposers that had Carboloy cutters in both universal motor and induction motor machines.the carboloy shredders contibuted to their overall effectiveness.After all-Carboloy or similar cabide cutters are used in many very large waste shredders!As far as disposers now seems like only two major builders of them-ISE and Aneheim-now Aneheim is making their machines in China-at least ISE still proudly builds theirs in the US.

 

[bwoods]

Arbilab, is your In-Sink-Erator very old?

It should not be vibrating like that under no load. that usually means that the turntable is out of balance. Sometimes one of the impellers will come loose or even come off.

Barry

 

[mixfinder]

Batch, Batch, Batch

Maytag with a reversing lid, one side starts the disposal and the other side is the sink stopper.  Easy to use, no slopped up walls reaching for a switch and huge appetite.  The sales demo showed it chewing up 16 penny nails.  Never a better disposer.

 

[arbilab]

Barry, I have had 3 of them and they all made the same loud growl. Even a brand new one.

Note that ISE has absolutely nothing sharp in the chamber. They rely entirely upon friction/violence. A lime rind that might go down one of those old GEs in 30 seconds would take 3 minutes in an ISE.

But I suppose that's irrelevant to the original question, as you can no longer buy "one of those old GEs".

 

[mrb627]

Kitchenaid Disposal?

Anybody here have a Kitchenaid Disposal? Wondering if they are any good. I will need one soon. My Insinkerator is developing a rust band around its waistline. I expect it to leak at any moment.

Malcolm

View attachment mrb627++10-26-2011-06-16-24.jpg

 

[tolivac]

I am not sure but beleive the current KA disposers are made by ISE-If you want the traditional KA disposer-former models-now sold under Viking.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I, too, love my Maytag batch-feed. Had an ISE batch feed in my former place, but it would not make the plumbing clearance in my current house, so I have the Maytag with an outlet that fits the plumbing.

 

[amyswasher]

I have the Kenmore version on that disposer. It has a reversing feature. It's the best one I ever had. It has never jammed. It came with a two piece stopper. To go along with this thread, I prefer continuous feed models.

 

[jakeseacrest]

I've been thinking of getting a new disposer and have narrowed it down to 2 choices if the time comes:
Waste King 9940 3 Bolt Mount or ISE Evolution Essential or Compact.

Pros WK: Fixed splash guard, fine grinding, fast rpms, price
Cons WK: changing the current ISE mount, motor noise similar to ge, sink master, and anaheim disposers

Pros ISE: keeping the current ISE mount, 2 grind levels, quiet
Cons ISE: removable splash guard

Decisions, decisions

 

[jakeseacrest]

or

 

[tolivac]

currently-Maytag disposers are now made by ISE.The old Maytag design is no more.viking disposers are another choice-but expensive.They have the cast shred rings and turntables with the Stainless steel impeller shredding tips.the flywheel in viking-older KA machines is serrated to act as an undercutter-the shred ring extends below these serrations to aid in the shredding action-waste is ground even finer-good for septic tank users-but these can shred more slowly-takes more time and water.Nowadays there isn't as wide of choice of disposer makers as there used to be.the ISE machines have a more durable motor than the WK disposers.those have brushes and a rectifier-they can fail under very heavy shredding.I have had this happen.and another note for Viking old KA disposers-don't turn it off until it is done shredding-waste can jam the serrated flywheel and shred ring.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

My garbage disposal is a rather "wimpy Whirlpool", that is, aside from it probably not being the pristine brand it used to be (also that's very contrary to my refrigerator, a CONQUEST Side X Side), it is a fairly bottom-line unit: noisy and not as deservedly powerful as the myriad ISE Badgers, common under most sinks (our apartment had one--& quite as rugged as all-get-out!)

My parents had a series of ISE's, which always got conveniently delivered any time theirs broke--with the exception of one DAYTON disposal; always looked under the sink to see "what's new?"... There is to this day, an old HOTPOINT "safety switch", right behind it; wonder if that counts...

These days, I rarely include "disposals" and even microwaves in my drawings of "boxes w/ knobs" which were "appliances people had in their houses I had seen" (even made "circles & oval shapes", designating light bulbs), in my spare time, though it's not been for a long time since I have done such, and when not drawing the actual appliances & I had quite a portfolio of "galleries" going...

Back to topic, I have probably only ONCE seen a batch-feed garbage disposal in action & I'm trying to think if it had even been in real-life, or maybe I'd seen on TV; I'm mostly relating to the mostly common continuous-feed's, in my post...

Only ONE G/D is recommended by Charles Klamkin in how "How To" book, and that's a GE FA 600, or something like that...

-- Daved

 

[tolivac]

Badgers are tough--as a joke used one in an apartment to shred a WHOLE 813 vacuum tube---it ate the WHOLE thing!!!For a cheap disposer-builders model-they are not too bad.That Badger shuddered and shook the sink-but swallowed that BAD 813 that came out of an AM transmitter.Bet it was interesting sometime down the line the apartment building engineer found shredded tube parts in the building clean out point!

 

[bwoods]

Malcolm,

I have the exact disposal in my kitchen now. In the shot below you'll see the General Electric "Pirahnna" that's in the kitchenette in the lower level of the house.

What's the KitchenAid (ISE) like? Virtues: very quiet, even quiter than my pre-ISE Viking (which actually has a loud motor hum) and quieter than the ISE/Sears Elite that I had.

Under no load, and with the water running, it's sometimes difficult to know if the unit is even on, it's so quiet. While it is grinding, it can be quiet. The problem is it gets out of balance very easily. Even moreso than the Annaheim units I've had, which were notorious for getting out of balance.

Insinkerator put two "rind flippers" near the center of the turntable. Yes, they do the job and you have less trouble of rinds getting on the turntable upside down and just going for a ride. However, things get caught on these.

Paper towels and napkins are the worst. Evertime (and I do mena everytime) I put one it it gets hung up on a rind flipper and throws the whole unit out of balance and it vibrates the unit as well as the sink. Sometimes banana peels will do this too.

If you continue to put other wastes in, they will usually knock it off and you are fine. If not, you have to turn the disposal off, then on again so it will reverse. This often (but not always) will cause the little bugger to fly off the flipper.

This has nothing to do with grinding ability. Once the towel is off the flipper it grinds them up more quickly than most of the disposers I have had (and I've had a lot of them!)

Other than that little out of balance quirk, it's a very fast grinder for most everything beside paper towels, too. No it can't compare with a series wound GE, but nothing can. But it is good and fast, and guiet, when in balance. Chicken bones go nearly instantly, as in the GE. Pork chop bones, fairly quickly, but the series wound GE is wicked (and unbeatable) for making pork chop bones disappear, so its unfair to compare. Nevertheless, the KitchenAid makes quick work of them without a lot of noise.

Corn cobs and watermelons rinds don't even raise a sweat and gets rid of these rapidly. I had some large potatoes, that had started to go bad and the rind flipper took care of these and put them in a position to grind right away. Sometimes, in other disposers, large whole items like potatoes or oranges will bounce for a while before they get into the proper orientation for grinding.


I like the large opening into the hopper. The GE's are small and you have to push food through the stiff splash guard with some effort. The Annaheims, with the quick mount collars,are even smaller.

The ISE/KitchenAid now has a removable splash guard. Even with this, the opening is still large enough and the guard pliable enough, that it takes little effort to push garbage through. This is my favorite feature.

So yes, Malcom, if you can put up with frequent imbalance, it's a very nice unit. Fast, quiet and (according to CU) finely sized grounds that won't stop up older plumbing. Go for it! You'll love it.

BTW, Before everyone jumps on me for grinding up paper towels and napkins. No, it will not stop up your plumbing and it is not hard on the disposer. If your plumbing stops up, you have defective plumbing. I also occasionally use the disposer as a shredder and grind up bank card statements, etc.

The thing I like about grinding up paper towels and napkins is that it makes a mass in the disposer that flings around the hopper and wipes the inside of it shiny clean and removes food wastes and odors. I don't like putting wet or greasy paper towels in the trash, nor other organic materials, and it can provide a breeding ground for odors, bacteria, maggots and flies in the trash.

I have heard more wives tales about disposers than any other appliance, even dishwashers.

You know what ISE uses to test their disposers for durability? Steer bones and wooden blocks. Originally it was steer bones and most recently they started using square cut, uniformly cut, blocks of hardwood. Some of you may have seen the "This Old House" episode where they visisted the ISE factory and they were doing product testing.

Very interesting.

Nice to see an American company that still makes a product from scratch here in the U.S. They even make their own motors. The Old House episode showed them making the armatures and winding the fields. from humongous coils of copper wire, right there in the ISE factory.

Very interesting

 

[iheartmaytag]

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">You put paper towels and banana peels down the disposal?  Those would have to be some of the hardest things in the world for it to handle.  Because banana peels are so fibrous I put them in the non-compactables and take them to the compost bin.  Actualy paper towels will compost quiet well too, as will egg cartons (the paper kind)</span>

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I have the 333 ISE, but it's not a bager.  Very noisy unit, but I always thought it was because I had a Stainless Steel sink that transmitted the viberations.  Mostly what I put down are plate scrapings and meat scraps that won't compost. </span>

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span>

 

[bwoods]

and now the GE

Here is the series wound motor General Electric Pirahnna...

sorry about the photo quality

Virtues: grinds everything and quickly!

Cons: Under no or light load, it is quite loud. If you have never had one. Put a vacuum cleaner under you sink. Close the cabinet door and turn it on. You have now heard a series would 8000 rpm GE disposer.

In 1971, when my family got their first GE disposer (to replace the Westinghose we had in the sixties), the instructions from GE even said that when the motor speeded up and sounded like a vacuum cleaner motor, it was done grinding. And they were right.

Series wound motors (sometimes called Universal motors) are the same as found in vacuum cleaners and blenders. They speed up and slow down with load.

Under increasing load, the GE actually gets less noisey, motor-wise, as the rpms drop rapidly. But remember, in a series motor, torque is inversely proportional to rpms, so as it slows down, current draw goes up and torque, or power increases. So "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" is the motto of a series wound motor.

If it weren't for built in limitations, a series motor, would theoretically draw infinite amps at stall and fight the load (or stall) until it won, or it would destroy itself trying. Never to give up. Fortunately, the built-in cutout breaker, will come in to action and prevent motor burn out.

A series motor, is like a prize fighter in the ring who won't give up and would rather keep fighting, even if it means death. The protective breaker on the motor is like a best friend who jumps into the ring and pulls the fighter out. Saying, "It's not worth it, you'll be killed. Cool down and go back it later."

An induction motor's goal in life is to keep its rpms as close to maximum, because that's where it has most of its fighting (torque) ability. If the speed drops much below, it will stall. The starting winding may kick in and try to get it back up to speed. If it is a capacitor start motor, this may kick in with the starting winding and solve the problem, if this won't work the motor stays stopped and overheats. At this point, the cut-out breaker, or other protective circuitry, will intervene.

In the fighting ring realm, an induction motor is a fighter who, if can't give his full potential, stops, just quits. His "friend", the starting circuit, runs into the ring, lifts him up and says, "keep going!" This may go on until the fighter is greatly over heated and in danger of hurting himself.

At this point, his REAL friend, the cut-out breaker steps in and says, "That's enough, both of you! I am putting a stop to this!" and pulls them both out of the ring before either one gets hurt.

So which is better? Neither. They both have their advantages and disadvantages.
It just depends on which is right for you.

 

[bwoods]

a little clearer picture.

 

[arbilab]

Watermelon rind? Paper napkins? Banana peel? Corn cob? BONES? Guess I never had the pleasure of a real industrial disposer. Any of those go in a plastic bag and to the outside trash.

Other than the 8000r GE, I quit even grinding citrus rind, just took too long. My BOL ISE gets leftover rice, spaghetti, egg shells, carrot skin, and a STRAY potato skin because the last time I put a WHOLE potato skin down it it clogged dreadfully.

Oh, to clear paper hung on the flippers, drop a couple ice cubes down it. A load of citrus rind removes smells, "lemon fresh". So does a dusting of scouring powder and a load of ice cubes. In a stainless chamber it will POLISH it like new.

 

[bwoods]

A good disposal will take watermelon rinds about as fast as you can put them in. Even ISE says says their units will take bones.

Bones produce small sharp particles that scour the chamber, and the plumbing lines. Banana peels are nothing. Paper towels disintegrate quickly with the water and churning of the turntable.

When I was a kid, even our low end Westinghouse (a 1967 model) did melon rinds, bones, paper towels. It did have trouble with corn husks, however.

Corn husks are about the only thing, I consistently don't put in. They take a long time. If its just for one ear, yes I'll put the husk in. But if I am husking a lot of corn, No, I throw the husk outside in the woods and let nature take care of them.

Corn cobs. Easy to grind. Just break the cob in half before putting it in. Otherwise, if you have unit with a small grinding chamber it may not hold the entire length of the cob and it might stick out.

The GE 8000 is about the fastest I have encountered with cobs.

Big beef bones, no. I throw out in the woods for whatever animals might like to pick them clean. Consume reports used to test disposers with beef bones in the seventies. However, I think it just takes too long and too much water.

Chicken bones and turkey bones are no problem for even the cheapest of disposers. All, I have ever had, can handle pork chop bones, but some are slower at it.

Once again, the GE 8000, with its Carbaloy cutter, seems to be the winner with these, too. Although this new KitchenAid certainly has no trouble with them (as is fairly quiet about it). They just take a tad longer.

 

[jakeseacrest]

bwoods my Aunt had a batch feed GE Disposall from around 73-74 that I used to use alot when I when a kid and she would babysit. It had an orange foam covering over the unit that felt like a nerf football. I was always amazed that she would pack the chamber full and just let it run for 2-3 minutes to make sure all was gone. It just died about 2-3 years ago which she replaced with an ISE-17. All those years and she never had a clog or breakdown with that machine.

 

[whirlcool]

Thanks for the discertation about food disposers. It was very informative. I especially liked your analogy to a fight ring. That made it all very easy to understand.

We are going to be in the market for a new food disposer in the next few months.
Our last house had a ancient GE. It worked ok as long as you didn't put too much into it and when you turned it on it not only shook the countertop and cabinets above, but the ceiling fixture in the kitchen would swing back and forth a little.

The one we have now is a 1/4 horsepower WhirlAway. It'll do chopped vegtables and coffee grinds, but that's about it. Karen put in a small corn cob awhile back and all it did was bounce around the chamber for a very long time. We had to manually remove it. While it doesn't shake as bad as the GE we had it is very noisy and does shake quite a bit. It's about 14 years old.

So who makes the best FD's now? And how do you decide how much power you will need in your disposer?

 

[jakeseacrest]

I've always had 1/3 and 1/2 hp at my parents house. We had a septic tank so we didn't overload the disposer too much. My parents had got one in 1991 mainly for the small bits that ended up in the sink and the fact that if we had leftover soup, stew, or sauces my mom would dump them in the toilet! Once I moved out on my own I got a 1hp which may or may not be overkill. I do put everything but beef and pork bones down the sink, but I think I may be good with a 3/4 hp for the next one.

 

[bwoods]

Thanks, Allen. On your Whirlaway (which is now made by Annaheim), I bet your grinding ring is wore down, that's why the corn cob wouldn't grind.

I think it's the consumer's preference on horsepower. Since I use mine pretty extensively, I went with the 1hp. But I lived with a 1/2 horsepower Maytag and GE's that rarely jammed. But if you use it a lot, the larger h/p will theoretically last longer as heavy loads do not heat up the motor as much as they would a smaller unit.

If I you can't find a vintage GE or Maytag on Ebay (many times never used, still in original box), then I personally think the 3/4 hp and higher ISE are the best out there.

They are heavier built that Annaheim units, all stainless hopper, turntable and grind ring. Built from scratch in the U.S., have a long warranty and easy to get parts for.

If you have a lot of money to spend, you might get the Viking version of the ISE. It still uses some of the design features of the original Hobart KitchenAid.
When Viking first bought the design from Hobart, it was a near clone. When Viking quit making them, and started contracting ISE, it got hybridized. But it's a good hybrid with the best of both worlds of ISE and Hobart Kitchen/Aid.

For a little less you can get the straight ISE Evolution 1hp, or ISE KitchenAid 1hp, both great machines.

Some like the Annaheim units (under the GE name and Sinkmaster and Waste King names). I've had several. They are light weight. I don't know if this is still true, but the chamber under the turntable used to be plastic lined. It scratched from ground up food wastes anad held food particles in the scratches which caused to frequently have very bad breath. Used a lot of bleach to freshen them up. Also, bits of food sometimes lodged under one of the impellers keeping it from swinging back toward the grinding ring throwing the unit out of balance.

My ISE (as I mentioned above) will do this with paper towels, but usually a flip of the switch takes care of it. I've had things lodge under the Annaheim impeller for days before it would break free. But other than stinking and vibrating the whole sink and cabinet due to imbalance, they grind things well and have a fast 2800 rpm motor. Some say they have reliability problems, but I never had one long enought to find that out. They are cheaply made and very light weight. They feel like a toy compared to a large ISE. But yet, they are a good value for the dollar.

But for a real, heavy long lasting monster under the sink, I would go with a 3/4 or 1 hp ISE

 

[tolivac]

Disagree strongly on the paper items in a disposer---DON'T do this--you WILL clog your plumbing eventually.And if you have a septic tank as I do-it will fill up with the paper pulp that won't decompose.Paper is a TRASH item and should go into the trash can-or the paper shredder.Use your paper shredder to dispose of sensitive paper documents-NOT your disposer or toilet.Or another way to rid of sensitive paper items-burn them.Clogged plumbing is not a wives tale-can be expensive-the line from your house to the sewer is the frequent clog point for paper-this happens with restuarants that shred paper items in their disposers.And I don't want to have my septic tank pumpted any more than I have to-so far not yet.

 

[bwoods]

I agree, if you have septic tank, this could put a lot of pulp in it and increase frequency of having your tank pumped.

But to say grinding up paper waste "will" clog your plumbing is absolutely not true.

The instructions for a Kenmore disposer I had even said that one could grind up paper napkins.

Just because one item is edible, and one is not, makes no difference to the disposer. Paper waste grind up quite easily and disperse as small aprticles in the water. As I mentined earlier, if paper stops up your plumbing, then you havae a problem with your plumbing. It is not the disposers fault and its not the napkin or papaer towels fault.

It is a wives tale that you cannot put paper, corn cobs, bones, pits, etc. down a disposer.

The whole idea of a disposer, developed back in the 1930's was to devise a mechanism to get rid of materials, from the public trash, that provide a media for bacterial growth, and a breeding ground for disease breeding organisms such as flies, maggots, mice and rats.

To put paper towels in the trash, that are wet, or grease saturated, or laden with milk or other food products and let them sit in your trash is to invite pathogenic organisms and pests.

I grew up with a disposer (and the first, a WEstinghouse, was not a good one) since the 1960's. We have always put paper towels, napkins as well as other wives tale food articles in it. The only time I have ever encountered a stoppage was when I was grinding a sink full of corn husks after a large shucking.

So that is one of the few items I don't put down the disposal unless it is for maybe one ear.

So yes, all of you, please put your soiled paper towels and napkins in your disposer as well as other kitchen wastes. You will see it is not even a remote challenge for the disposer. Trash can stink and provide growth media and food for disease bearing organisms because people don't have or don't properly use a garbage disposer.

Flies, maggots, rats, mice are all too prevalent in our environment and they feed of garbage that people put in their trash cans. That's why disposals were invented.

If I use a paper towel for window cleaning, or wipe the dash of my car off sor something like that, yes I put in it the trash.

When a towels is saturated with bacon grease, spilled milk or cream, I am not about to put that in my trash can where it has the opportunity to get rancid putrify and attract vermin.

If one cares more about listening to a wives tales, than practicing cleanliness, then they really don't need a disposer anyway.