We had a BIG discussion on disposals a year or two ago. Wes and I are probably among the most liberal when it comes to putting varied wastes down the drain.
I would say the disposers/disposals are more prone to wives tales than any other appliance. Ask three people what you can and can't put down a disposer and you'll probably get three totally different responses.
What amazes me is that most people I have talked to have never tried putting down their disposers, the very things that they say you can't. In other words, they listened to someone else and took their advice without even trying it for themselves. Such is how wives tales get spread.
Experiment. On the rare chance your drain stops up. Big deal, unclog it. Odds are you won't have to as you will most likely find almost anything that goes down the hole will be disposed off.
From what I have read disposers were created, initially, to reduce the spread of disease and vermin by getting organic wastes out of public trash systems and landfills where they decay and foster maggots, flies, and rodents. Other than large amounts of corn husks and heavy beef bones, I put virtually all food wastes down the disposer. I am anal about having a clean trash compactor and trash cans.
Beyond food wastes, I also put down dirty napkins and paper towels that have absorbed messes such as milk, bacon grease, that would putrify in the trash.
Like Arbilab, I have found the series wound General Electric disposals to be about the fastest at getting rid of most wastes. They definately outclass ISE and Annaheim made disposers on pork chop bones and corn cobs. Chicken bones are not even a remote challenge. The old GE series and GE induction (late 1970's and earlier)are among the few brands that don't bounce around fruit pits for a long time before getting rid of them.
The GE series wound has a single "cutter" mounted on the stainless steel hopper. The TOL series unit had the "Carboloy" cutter, which is the hardest steel made by man. As Wes said, the 8000 rpm motor of the series units liquifies many food wastes like a blender, even before the cutter gets a chance to work on it. The cutter slices hard wastes as opposed to most other units that have a shredder ring and have to abrade waste down.
The older Maytags, before ISE started making them, are also among my favorites as they do just about everything well, and are very quiet.
I have a pre-ISE Viking right now, which Viking made from Hobart's Kitchen-Aid design when Hobart sold them the rights. It was almost a $400 machine over ten years ago. It has a ton of torque, but even so, it bounces fruit pits around forever before they get ground up. But it's still a neat machine with automatic reversing and the "Wham-Jam" jam breaker. Despite it being built like a Mack truck with a heafty 1 hp motor, it is still slower than my series wound GE on disposing of pork chops bones and corn cobs.
This is saying a lot as it only has a 5.0 amp 1/2hp motor. It will eat up cobs almost as fast as you can feed them, but it you do this for too long, it will overheat and the shut itself down until it cools (after about four or five cobs). The Viking never overheats, I think you could feed it cobs all day and it would never break a sweat.
The old Universal Waste-Kings (not today's Annaheim buyilt units), that Wes speaks of, are legendary.
Anyway, I've gotten off the track. I think you will like your ISE Excel. You can rest assurd that it will take care of potato peelings, corn cobs and watermelon rinds with ease. I had bought the KA version of it, and used it for a few months, to try it out (I have since given it to my sister and brother in law) , and I liked it. The only problem I found was paper towels would sometimes hang up on the rind flipper and slightly throw the machine off balance, making it vibrate the sink. It eventually flies off, or other wastes will push it off, and then you are fine, though.
Enjoy it, you will be surprised at what you can now dispose of!!
