Maytag FB20 Disposer

[volsboy1]

I can very easy tell that disposer was ran a lot by how worn the shredder ring is..

Maytag disposers  never used reversing motors they all turn clockwise if you look closely you can see the how one side is worn down bad

compared to the others...

That reminds me Wastekings did have cooling fans cast into the rotors.I know I have took enough apart I know not much of a cooling fan but better

than none like on all I.S.E. machines...

Maytag used G.E. motors in them and had some problems with the starting caps..I have had to replace two of them in two machines that were

very old..The disposer will start with a bad cap but it draws a ton of current and can fry the start windings..

If the cap is bulging that means its bad..Don't ever touch a cap unless you discharge it by grounding out the terminals with a screw driver..

Capacitors can hold a charge for a very long time and have killed people.. So be careful.. 

 

[tolivac]

The usual electrolytic motor start cap is not a real threat.They have high internal leakage so they won't hold a charge.Its the metal cased Rectangular or oval can oil-film,paper caps that can be a threat.Usually not found on most consumer product motors.Only on a few as motor run caps(HVAC compressors-air compressors-large) or Perm split phase caps-like as in fan and blower motors.By NEC rules these have to have a bleeder resister-either internal or external.Short these with a well insulated handle screwdriver before handling!Yes,I remember taking apart a dead WK disposer-it did indeed,have the fan blades cast on the rotor shorting rings.Disposer motors dispense with the rotor mounted seperate fan as other continuous duty motors have.

 

[volsboy1]

Capacitors scare the hell out of me..When I was in college they used to throw them at us and not thinking we would catch them and get the hell 

shocked out of us..Well some new student did it with a 600 Volt cap when we used 50 volt caps but  this guy caught it and it killed him technically..He caught it against his chest

and stopped his heart.He would have died but the year before they installed those Phillps defibrillators in all the labs that mess with things that kill if messed

with..

He killed over so quick.It was like he had a seizure and fell and that was it..Those defibs do work though very well ..

 

 

 

[tolivac]

Caps scare me too,the ones we have in our transmitters-values like 10Uf@20Kv DC.These will ABSOLUTELY kill you.There are bleeder circuits on them when in the transmtter----BUT NEVER-BUT NEVER TRUST A BLEEDER-Always discharge with the long handle grounding hook-then leave the hook on the cap so it can't rebuild the charge.These caps can do that-makes them more scary!!!These oil-paper-film caps have almost NO internal leakage so they will store and even rebuild a charge unless grounded or the terminals shorted together.The ones we have as spares have their terminals shorted.In one of our transmitters there is an oil cap bank that works at 30Kv.One time the charge in this literally blew up a trouble light head-GONE!!!One of the guys trying to do PM on that rig hung his light on one of those caps and it discharged-blowing up the light.Glad the light and NOT him!!!I have never had problems with electrolytic type caps--but oil filled ones I treat with the utmost respect-like handling a loaded gun!In the years I have worked on transmitters-at the site I work at or others-the caps get my attention-GROUND THEIR terminals before working!!!And shut off all primary power,too!

 

[beekeyknee]

Well, I got that disposer out of the shed today, hooked it up to electricity, put the garden hose in it and turned it on. It took off and didn't leak. I was doing it outside on the patio, hooked up to a GFI to be on the safe side. I started looking around for something to shred. I gathered up some acorns and sticks from last fall, put them in, turned on the water, put a magnet on the switch, put a towel over the opening and plugged it in. It ground all that stuff up in an instant. Then I remembered you all talking about nails. I didn't want to do that, but gathered up a half to 3/4's of a cup of some pea sized river gravel and did the same thing. It turned it into sand. And cleaned up the chamber a little too.

Now since I know it works, I'm wondering if I should look for a new shredder ring? What if I tear the gasket between the two halves? Ideas?

Unfortunately, I won't be able to use it in this house, because the pipe that comes out of the wall is too high. But I can save it for the next place I live.

 

[rp2813]

They're fast, aren't they?

I miss the instantaneous results from our Maytag.  I'm repeating myself, but I should have bought that FC5 I saw at Urban Ore. 

 

Brian, if your Maytag turned gravel into sand, I don't think you need to replace the ring regardless of how funky it looks.  Find a safe place to store that beauty until you move somewhere else.

 

[vacerator]

The ISE

Badger 5's are not very good. Upgrade to at least the stainless steel grind chamber, if not the 3/4 horsepower reversing model.
I've had my Kenmore by ISE stainless reversing disposer 20 years now. Still quiet.
I re installed it when I remodeled in 2011.
Note; I don't grind potato peels, green onions, or any stringy veggies. Oh, it can grind them for sure, but they tend to block up the trap in my basement where the laundry sink is below the kitchen.
Once I was at work and my partner cleaned the refrigerator out, and ground up all the old scallions, etc. He called a plumber before I got home because we were leaving on vacation that afternoon.
I was P.O'd because I could have taken the trap apart myself and cleaned it out in 20 minutes, saving half of my days net pay.

 

[combo52]

MT Disposers Etc

Yay Glad it works. If you chose to replace the shredder ring you can just put the disposer back together with a small bead of silicone sealant.

 

You can easily look at the SR and see if it is badly worn, since a MTD does not reverse you will see a big difference if it is very worn the teeth will be very smooth and worn down on one side. I would not grind gravel in ANY disposer I cared about, YES it is a good demonstration of its grinding ability, BUT it wears down the shredder ring very quickly.

 

For the last 20 years I have had both a MT FB-5 and a Kitchen Aid Magnet start Wam-Jam disposers in the two main sink areas of my kitchen. Both get about the same amount of use and both are great disposers overall, BUT the KA is far faster than the MT in grinding speed mainly due to its fixed impellers, the food waste has NO CHOICE but to get ground-up, even bones, citrus rinds are gone in seconds. The old ISEs also had fixed impellers and worked much better as well, but in the hands of consumers they are too easy to jam with foreign objects, so old ISE and the old KADs with fixed impellers for home use are gone.

 

Note all commercial disposers use fixed impellers to this day, they are not only faster but a lot more durable.

 

John L.

 

[tolivac]

the commercial disposers have replaceable fixed hammer faces so they can be replaced if worn.Remember commercial machines often have to shred ANYTHING put in them by careless dish scrappers.And they have a moveable rotating shredder adjustment so the rotating shedder-motor can be moved up as the shredders wear.Motors can be up to 15 Hp.I too have used the Maytag and KA disposers-both work well-esp if you can get the KA with the STEEL rotating shredder as opposed to newer ones made of aluminum or zinc.Love the Maytag I got from Volsboy a while back.It replaced a new ISE adn haven't gone back to ISE.The ISE machine was HOPELESSLY SLOW and hogged water! The Maytag gobbles the waste up-and yes,agree don't try to shred gravel or glass in ANY disposer if you want it to last.Commercial ones with replaceable hammers adn shredder you may get buy with it.Some small animal farmers use old disposers to grind feed for their animals.Read that in a farm magazine I use to get.

 

[beekeyknee]

I just did it once for a test. I don't intend on doing it again. The ring and hammers didn't look any worse than before I did it. If I feel industrious I might dig into it later on this fall, if I can find a new shredder ring. I have too many other projects to do right now to mess with it. Wes suggested putting some auto transmission oil in the chamber to keep it lubricated and from rusting. I could do that in the mean time. Would that be a good idea? I did take the outside cover off and looked underneath. Everything looked good. I've never work on a garbage disposer in my life, so I don't know much about them.

 

[tolivac]

If the machine passed your various shredding tests-I would just leave the thing alone.Install it and enjoy the machine!Maytag shred rings are pretty tough should last a long time-and before you should take the machine apart-make sure you can get a replacement shredder!Disposers are a PAIN to take apart and put together again.And if you do take the machine part the hopper gaskets will have to be replaced,too.these often get destroyed when you take it apart.