Do Any garbage Disposals Have "Sharp blades"?

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aunabreslun20

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i am aware that more than 90% Mainbrand (ge/hotpoint, waste king, ise,hobart etc) are Blunt and have any combination of fixed or swivel impellers/lugs (depending on who sells them they call them different things) However my research has lead me to believe that some did at one point....(Along with Practically Everyone and their dog, goldfish etc believing they're sharp to some extent) does anyone have any disposers with weird/unusual/non standardized shredder designs Maybe even Blades of some form? there seems to be a fair bit of reinventing the wheel going on. however there's next to no documentation of it anywhere.
Auna
 
Disposer Blade Designs

Sharp blades would work better and faster but would not stay sharp for long, disposers are designed to accept foreign objects without being destroyed.

 

And actually given the speed of a disposer the blades do break up and grind very well, I ground up a 16 pound turkey carcass in about 90 seconds in my old National-Kitchenaid disposer.

 

John 
 
I have only ever seen one disposer that appeared to have a blade.  It was at a friend's house in England.  I don't remember the brand -- it could have been a model from one of the several manufacturers of disposals made in the UK.  What looked to me like a blade seemed to be "raised" up somewhat from the bottom of the turntable on a spindle.  I remember thinking it was strange to have a blade in a disposer.  

 

After this Thanksgiving, we put a 16-lb turkey caucus down the Insinkerator disposal no problem.
 
"Blade" Sharpeners

I remember the AMWAY guy in the 1970s coming by the house and selling us some items that were supposed to both sharpen the "blades" and clean the disposer. They were little round bricks of something hard (no idea what now). Drop one in and turn on the disposer. Made the loudest and most horrible grinding sound you could imagine. Not sure how they actually worked or if they even did.
 
My decades old Maytag has/had a very sharp shredder ring, but no blades. This disposal has been in use for 30+ years, I'm replacing my sink soon and did manage to pick up a NOD shredder ring, should be good for another 30 years.
 
DECADES AGO

I mean, a long, long, long time ago...

Before the understanding we have nowadays about plumbing and environment preservation...

My mom used to "sharpen" and "clean" our ISE disposer by throwing a long neck bottle in it.

Sometimes if we broke a glass or something, my mom would keep the broken pieces in a box to use it for the same purpose.

Most shocking is: we NEVER had a clog or disposer bad breath.

Of course, nowadays that's beyond unthinkable.

The same way a cheaper disposer (like the POS BOL ISE I have here) that never clogged is unthinkable.
 
Reply # 6

Hi Thomas, I don't think that grinding some glass in a disposer will hurt the environment much, tons of sand are washed down drains every year.

 

Grinding glass does dull the blades more quickly however and is not necessary to keep things clean.

 

To clean a disposer that is not usually used to grind large loads of heavy food waste, just turn it on [ Do Not Run Water ] grind a tray or even two of ice cubes and after they are ground turn on the cold water.

 

The drain will act clogged for a bit and you will see swirling soil and ice and water in the unit, then in about a minute it will rush down the drain.

 

John L.
 
The disposer cleaning methods simply flushes the slime from the shred ring grind edges so they can grind better.For me shredding glass in the disposer is out of the question-the glass WON'T decompose in my septic tank.And since the glass doesn't float it CAN cause plumbing clogs.The glass will wear out the disposer shred ring more quickly than food.Another way to clean the cutters-just grind some chicken bones.They are hard enough to clean the shredders and don't clog plumbing.Safer for septic tanks,too.A disposer is simply a form of hammermill shredder and those don't use sharp edges-just by impact of the swivel hammers banging into the items shredded against a shred plate or ring.These things are tought enough grind whole or crush auto bodies-even WHOLE bus bodies!!!!And motors up to 8000 Hp and hammers weighing 900lbs each!The shred rotor may have a dozen or more of those hammers.And those work on old unwanted scrap appliances,too!On YouTube they show videos of these starting up.
 
i remember an older forum post mentioning the old GE ad telling you to do exactly that "run a glass bottle down it to clean it" and another thing: Does your friend still have that disposer Mark? About that "Sharpening Puck" sounds like some kind of Sand/Pummus Disk to me. so when Broken up and thrown it scours everything in it in most cases giving the illusion of "sharpening" because as i, and most of you have said MOST just... Shred Not Cut/slice and don't have blades and YES Ahaha They would dull SO Fast if some forgin object fell into the "Blade" god if it had a relatively thin/sharp "blade" ..... "DING!" annndd.....Dent! :P
 
Pumis* i mean. Another Fact is a lot of British made disposals are Wastematic/Maxmatic or Tweeny (weather it be the Westminster type.. or another off-brand called tweeny) tweeny is common for whatever reason idk
 
best sharpner ever

Run the disposer with egg shells, chicken bones, ice cubes, and follow it up with a wedge of lemon, or orange. This all works like a charm. Last house we lived at had a very old Kenmore unit, that was dull as Hell! Consistently ran the above through it, and used for 16 years with no issues. We moved last August, and it was quick to chomp through anything you threw at it.
Hugs
David

w
 
yeah it's a pipe issue. you also can't have any point of failure (Backup, etc) so disposal +Large amounts of waste + a sump pump or the like... eh probably not the absolute hottest idea even though it technically can work depending on where/why
 
Disposal is forbidden in the condo unit I'm in with septic. At my other house I hardly used the disposal.  In fact I wanted to remove it all together when remodeling but the plumber advised against it because some people consider it a selling feature.   I think of them as a nuisance.  Especially when someone else offers to help with cleanup and drops things down the disposer without telling you. :-) 
 
My parents have had a septic and a disposal since 1991. They only use it after washing dishes to clear out whatever was left on the plates or pans or soup bowls. They've never had a problem.
 
I Can't Imagine A Modern Kitchen Without A Disposer

It is one of the most useful environmentally ways to clean up a kitchen and keep your home odor and mice and bug free.

 

If I lived in a place that banned disposers I would keep and old blender in the kitchen [ or get a portable disposer ] and just poor the ground stuff down the drain, Or do like we did as kids and just flush food waste down a toilet.

 

I simply don't know how you can dispose of semi liquid food wastes like a canning jar of tomatoes that has spoiled or the fiber pads they put in meat and fish packages to absorb liquids to prevent leakage it would stink to high heaven to put such stuff in the trash.

 

John L.
 
I still have an old VitaMix SS "monolith" 3500 I bought at a yard sale that I used as a disposer in a home that didn't have one.The house was on a septic tank.The old VM could grind stuff finer than most disposers anyway-only cost like 25 bucks at the garage sale.Still have the machine cleaned up the jar and sometimes use it for smoothies.It has that famous VM "forward-Reverse" action that is FUN to do!!!The septic tank did just fine with the VM "disposer"I had another VM machine as well.Bought it new-4000.DON'T flush waste down a potty-in a radio station studio lounge with kitchen-DJ's liked to flush stuff down the potty-the kitchen had a disposer-The potty got clogged-use the toilet auger in the pot-up came the remains of a Ceaser salad-Firmly told the jocks to put the slads down the disposall instead.-Sine there was one there to use.Yes,as a station engineer you become plumber,cobbler,radio-TV repairman,and electrician!The manager would say----"You are the engineer--FIX IT"!
 
I have an Insinkerator basic model, It needs replacing

Its now 3 years old and I have had more clogs from this model than ever had with a more expensive one.

I am going to buy a new one but am wondering which would be the best to get? I have read about the self reversing ones are they worth the extra £ ?

Anyone recommend a good one for the UK please.

Thank you Austin
 
Better ISE Disposers

Hi Austin, Always get a disposer with all SS grind components, the cheaper models corrode quickly and start passing much larger stuff down the drain.

 

In general with disposers [ and range hoods ] the more you pay the better the machine is, currently ISE makes by far the best disposers worldwide if you buy their better models, no other maker currently comes close.

 

There is a place in Baltimore that sells used building materials etc called Second Chance, they do home deconstruction and sell all the kitchen cabinets appliances. I love going there and picking up TOL ISE disposers $300-400 models for $25, it is a great way to get high quality models at bargain prices.

 

Last time I was there I picked up a 1994 real MT disposer for $15 that I parted out to get a spare water seal for my MT 1994 FB-5 which has leaked on and off over its life because I always used to grind tea bags in it.

 

John L.
 
Hi Austin,

Go for the Evolution 200.

We had a Builder Grade badger originally, which we replaced with a remanufactured Model 65, we used that till it failed. It was good, but loud. We then bought a Grey market import Evo 200 from the UK. The thing is almost silent and destroys almost anything you can put in it. Over here, its a lot of $$ at $1500 but we lucked out on this grey import one for $700. It was definitely a good decision.

Regards

Nathan
 
My friend in England installed the ISE Evolution 200 and she is very happy with it. Like Nathan said, its performance is excellent and it is very quiet.  They now come with removable splash guards that also block noise.  Unfortunately these new “Quiet Collar” baffles also make the sink slower to drain and the food needs a little more pushing through with your hand.  But you can still install the traditional baffle with the wider opening (installed underneath, not the easily removable type) if you prefer.  That’s what I do — I don’t like the removable type. 
 

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