Garbage Disposers

[countryguy]

There seems to be a lot of discussion about garbage disposers. I was wondering, do most homes in the USA have garbage disposers? Here in Canada, from my experience, it seems that most homes do NOT have disposers. In my 48 years, I have yet to ever come across a home that does have one.

 

[turquoisedude]

Depends where you live, I guess! In the bigger urban centres (GTO, Montreal, Calgary) and the suburbs, you see them more. I know in the upscale neighborhoods of Montreal (Westmount, Cote St Luc, Hampstead, etc) most homes do have them. I think it's part of the 'thrify' heritage we got from our ancestors from other parts of the world that just didn't see the point on spending money on something they felt they could live without. That and the fear of blowing up the septic tank if you live off the sewer grid!

 

[volsboy1]

Yes 50% or more have disposers in them in the U.s.In Fact certain states require them in New house's that are being bulit its a Law.Everybody I know has one in there homes me on there other hand has 13 of them from the 1960s and up.

 

[countryguy]

Why would they make it a law that new homes have to have them? Are they trying to lessen the amount of garbage that goes into landfills? If that is the case then wouldn't that be putting more work on the sewage treatment plants?

 

[sudsmaster]

Well, I did not live in a home with a garbage disposer until I bought this house in 1997. It came with an 80's era Waste Kind SS5000, which apparently was already on its last legs (lots of jamming) and which I recently replaced with at 3/4 hp Titan. Prior to that, lived in a number of rental apts, flats, homes, none of which had disposers. Most didn't even have 220 service, for that matter. And none had a dishwasher. I remember renting a week of a vacation condo on Maui back in the 80's, and spending no little time trying to figure out how the dishwasher was supposed to work (there was no manual!).

Nowadays I would regard the essentiality of various kitchen appliances in this order, from most to least (assuming most kitchens already have stove, fridge, toaster, microwave, stand mixer, etc):

1) Clothes washer/dryer. OK, many of these live in laundry rooms or closets, but more than a few hang out under counters on on wheels in kitchens. And we all know how essential an automatic clothes washer is to civilized existence.

2) Dishwasher. I really dislike hand-washing large amounts of dishes. A few pots and pans, and large items, ok. But all that flatware... yeccch... rooting around the bottom of a slippery wash basin for them... yeeech.... and nothing seems to clean residual grease off as well as a good automatic dishwasher.

3) Garbage disposer. The ultimate solution for those icky dish drain strainers, which can be almost impossible to shake free of their loads, and once soiled never seem to get clean again. I still put a lot of food waste in the garbage, but for the stuff that remains in the sink the disposer is indispensable. I know I do miss not having a disposer in the patio kitchen sink... which means I have to dump wet waste into the garbage can there, which can be a problem since it doesn't get emptied as often as that in the main house kitchen.

4) Trash compacter. Never had one, but I could see how one might be useful. Current garbage collection service provides large green waste and recycling containers, so the regular can rarely gets filled up. But if the collection company actually enforced its ban on styrofoam in the recycling container, I'd seriously consider a compacter (assuming it would have the oomph to compact styrofoam blocks).

I'm sure we could add more to this list, but it's all I can think of at the moment.

 

[sudsmaster]

I was surprised to learn recently that for many years garbage disposers were illegal in NYC residences. The fear was that the sewage systems couldn't handle the extra load. Apparently that ban was lifted in the mid-90's, but they are still banned for commercial establishments like restaurants (which may help explain the rodent/roach problem in the city).

 

[hoover1060]

The disposer market

Had a slow start, AND was kinda hampered further by WWII. GE's first disposer was 1936, ISE's 1938. ISE sold 50 disposers their first year.
After WWII, it was John Hammes (founder of ISE) who started pitching his disposer to new home builders, as a *luxury* feature in a new home. Given the housing boom that took place after the war, LOTS of disposers were installed, and the market for replacement units was created as well.
As for law that requires disposers, that varies from city to city. Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Columbus are just a few cities I can name that require disposer installed in all new housing.
The reason for the law is pest related. Studies were done back in the 60's on the disposer's impact on things as a whole, and it was found that the additional ground garbage did not harm the sewer system, that disposers would reduce what was send to landfills, and there was less rodent/fly infestation where there was a disposer present.
So there are some environmental benefits.
Personally, I'd give up my dishwasher before my disposal. I live in a townehouse without a garage, and my trash can sits out back. More than once the raccoons and such have had a buffet out back with the trash, so being able to put that stuff down the disposer instead of out back saves me from cleaning up after the raccoon buffet.
I believe Wes to be correct on the numbers too, its at least 50% of all US homes have a disposer. I know there are like 4 companies left that made disposers worldwide, and that ISE owns 80% of that market!

 

[sudsmaster]

It's a toss-up

About eight years ago around here, the local city-run refuse agency sent out letters to everyone urging them to get garbage disposers and use them for as much food waste as possible. They banned food wastes - and even fallen fruit from trees - from the green yard waste containers. Well, that lasted maybe a year or two. Probably the water treatment people and environmentalists got to them. Then they reversed themselves about four years ago and began a big campaign to urge people to put their food wastes in little green bins they provided, and then transfer that waste to the big green yard waste bins on collection day. They'd put shaming little notes on your green waste bin if it didn't have any food waste in it! I applaud the change in direction, but I thought the notes were a bit pushy and offensive, esp. since at the time I was composting a lot of the food waste in my back yard bins.

Meanwhile the municipal compost facility has gone through some changes, not all good. They let go a very good director and instead of producing compost enriched with stuff like chicken manure, they only provided compost enriched with what is euphemistically called "Milorganite" but is in fact sewage sludge. No thanks!

 

[launderess]

NYC simply has a very old sewage system, and in many cases just as old housing stock. Many old apartment buildings have plumbing that simply cannot take many of today's mod cons, from washing machines to food disposers. Also as per usual there was another element involved; unions. New York plumbers insisted that code specify that waste disposers could (can) only be installed by licensed plumbers. Well anyone who has ever had a NY plumber do a job knows what that will cost. Installing a garbarge disposer is NOT that difficult for those whom know what they are doing, but what the heck.

Restaurants, food establishments, and other places that sell and or prepare food in NYC would do well with garbarge disposers, and it would help vastly with the City's rodent problem. Again, politics and costs played a role in putting a spanner in that idea. NYC has been fighting the Federal government for years over building newer and better sewage plants. If even 1/4 of NYC's restaurants or food stores installed disposers, the sewage system probably wouldn't be able to handle the load, and require updating. New sewage plants are big money, so the city is not going to go there if they don't have to, unless forced.

L.

 

[countryguy]

What exactly are you putting down your garbage disposers?

 

[volsboy1]

Down mine?Well lets see Steak,chicken,ribones.Paper,coffee filters,Wax paper, I have put anything you can thing of down mine to be honest.I have a Old School Maytag in there now and I have been easy on it so far.Before the Maytag I had a Viking in there the older ones very large HEAVY 40 pound machine.There was nothing I would not put down it and it ground it all up with ease its just kinda on the slow side though only with lemons which is a prob for most of them.I have even stuck wood blocks down them just to see what would happen.Yes I know I am NUTS but its fun to see how far you can push something.

 

[countryguy]

Oh wow I didn't think you could put all that in them. I thought it was just for vegetable peelings, corn husks, smaller softer stuff like that. I don't think I would want to put all that stuff into my septic system.

 

[rp2813]

I don't know about corn husks. Fiberous stuff tends to be tough for any disposal to swallow. Some advise against grinding things like artichoke leaves due to their fiberous nature. If I put any and all types of household garbage down my disposer I'd be on a first name basis with the sewer & drain guy, that is for sure. I've never heard of anyone using their disposer like a trash can and would think that sort of behavior is the exception rather than the rule.

Rich, we have green waste collection too, either in unlimited amounts if we pile it in the street or we can also use a large wheeled cart that costs a couple of dollars each bill. We have a cart since it's very convenient to be trimming or pruning and have the cart right there to fill up. I haven't heard of anyone locally getting notes of admonition left by their garbage man. We've even put fallen fruit on our pile and it all gets scooped up without incident. All of the green waste is put toward compost for city parks and is also made available to residents for use in their yards. Along with recycling, it's a good and convenient system and the first of its kind in the nation. It's been in place for at least 20 years.

 

[sudsmaster]

Mostly I value the disposer for getting rid of meat or protein-rich food wastes that otherwise would stink up the garbage can in a day or two. Bones (as from chicken) would fall into that category. I also send a lime or lemon down it on a regular basis to freshen it up. Since the drain line has a history of backing up about 20 feet downstream, I try not to overload the disposer system. Although with the new Titan it may be that the clogs don't recur, since it may shred more finely than the tired old Waste King.

 

[retro-man]

I have an old Montgomery Ward Tappan disposer. It will take anything I have thrown down it over the years. It has digested maple tree leaves and branches that have come in with the dogs along with tomatoe branches, green bean bushes. Nothing comes in handier when cleaning out the fridge and vegy drawers once a week. Keep it running with the water going and keep dumping. We have a yard waste pickup which is seperate from recycling and normal dumpster waste. All leaves grass clipping are kept seperate and composted at the landfill. You can pick up barrels or bags of this stuff in the spring and summer. I think they also mix it with sludge from the sewer dept. No thanks but a lot of people do use it.

 

[hoover1060]

I mainly feed mine

coffee grounds and filters, potato/vegetable peelings, plate scrapings, and occasionally some chicken bones.
Not too exciting I suppose, but I would be lost without it.

 

[volsboy1]

Corn Husks,Artichokes,etc are a HUGE no no for most disposers.None of the Ise Machines can grind them besides the Evolution Excel and then not alot at a Time.Same for the High Speed Wastkings you might can get away with a small load but other than that NOPE, I could be wrong though Jeff would know more I never tried them in My high 1Hp G.e. I already have had Roto-rooter out here to many times and it adds up fast.The Old Kitchenaids,Wastekings SS5000,and my Viking and old Maytag can grind them with no problems.The Disposers made today dont have undercutters on them save the Viking and Ise Excel.The Ise Excel is a vast improvment but they could have done alot better by coping G.e. old induction machine design and added real undercutters on the other side of the waste sizing windows.Don't get me wrong the Excel is a HUGE improvement over the 777ss and its the quitest disposer on the market but when I really looked at the set up only half of them are true none wearing pass through windows.This is a Old G.e Machine well Jeffs that is.No matter how old it gets the Waste has to be a that size its a good design for somebody that wont use Cast Rings.

 

[rp2813]

The Maytag that we've had for over 17 years doesn't have much of a list regarding what not to feed it, but I still tend to throw large food items into the garbage as I know the pipes in my place have too many twists and turns and have tendencies to clog. My partner put a huge pot of pasta down (don't recall why, maybe it was overcooked) and the pipes backed up under the house immediately. So the big stuff goes in the garbage and little stuff that makes it into the sink goes down the Maytag.

 

[volsboy1]

Well I have a old Fc-10 Maytag that is over 20 years old.I got it Off Ebay I bet yours is just like mine.There is a Black Rubber bump stop in the center they are very large heavy machines.The can grind all Food items it says I have the repair Manual for it that shows you how to do and replace anything.You need a New grind ring if you have never replaced it in it and it will work good as New.You can still order the grind ring for it I am stocking up on them I have bought two of them there 68$ but its worth it.I can't rember the year Ise took over but the good ones all have the Black Rubber Bump stop in the center to quell noise.Mine is at least 23+ years old or Older now that I keep looking at it.

 

[johnb300m]

i'll put almost everything down my apt's badger1. everything but bones. the little 1/3hp motor overloads on me once in a while.
the badger1's not that bad guys.
sometimes things get stuck, so i just pulse the power switch.

i'll even throw my confidential financial papers down there. it eats 'em in a breeze. enough water and the pipes here are fine.

my friends think i'm nuts for shoving paper down.