This Old House Insinkerator Factory Tour Video

[sudsmaster]

The video of the This Old House team visiting the Insinkerator factory in Wisconsin is now online. I was able to view it on my Windows Vista system running Quicktime 7.4 (didn't seem to work on Windows 2000 at all, nor with Windows Media on Vista).

Enjoy!

This Old House

TV's original home-improvement show.

www.pbs.org

 

[swestoyz]

Rich - that was great! Thanks so much for posting ~

Ben

 

[hoover1060]

pretty cool!

That factory is only about 70 miles from here, I gotta go see it!!

 

[johnb300m]

That's freakin' awesome.
My mom's family is from Racine and I've always been mesmerized whenever we'd pass that factory.
Not much industry left in Racine, sad.

I wish i could buy some disposers every year to keep 'em in business.

I was shocked to see they actually make their own motors still.
Vast majority of companies import those now.

 

[hooverwheelaway]

That is awesome!

I would love to work in that reliability lab.

~F

 

[stevet]

Thanks alot !

Always great to see how things are made. I would love to try the wood block test in my Kenmore(ISE built) disposer. It is actually getting tired and doesn't seem to grind as fast as it used to.. maybe some bones will help. I am not that impressed by the current shredding rings they use .. was more impressed by the older K/A's which had the hardened steel ring like their commercial units, but the ISE's do definitely stand up to the punishment.And I certainly dish it out!

In reference to the manufacture of their own motors, It probably doesn't cost them more than a few bucks if not less to make the motors themselves. If they outsource it, they lose some of the quality control and would then have to unpack each one and test it before installing it or else send it out to the consumer and take their chances on it working.

Hobart used to make nearly all their motors and even if it was a multi hp pump motor, it would cost them pennies compared to what they sold them for. They didn't even repair them if they didn't work. They sold them back to a scrap dealer which I bet is what the ISE guys do.

 

[gansky1]

I love factory tours! Those new Evolution models are very impressive looking. I would love to have a couple rolls of that sound insulating foam for projects around here.

It's funny that ISE didn't catch the bad shaft seals until after many thousands of bad units were shipped to market and failed a couple of years ago. There were quite a few dealers and smaller service companies that dropped ISE products and stopped servicing them because of the trouble and damaged reputations they endured. My parents had one with a bad shaft seal, called ISE and they refused to do anything even though it was only a few months outside the warranty.

 

[sudsmaster]

Didn't know about bad ISE shaft seals. Probably someone goofed at the factory - most likely got a good price on a cheaper seal that didn't last.

With regard to the sound insulating foam, the ISE literature states that it's a closed cell type of foam. I would imagine that one could get similar closed cell foam at a sporting goods store - I have bought sleeping pads made of about 1/2" of such foam. It's no Beautyrest, but it helps prevent the body from losing heat into the ground - esp when most sleeping bag insulation doesn't insulate very well when compressed. Early closed cell foam sleeping pads were called "Ensolite". I gather it's off patent now and quite inexpensive.

 

[sudsmaster]

I'm glad you all enjoyed the video.

I was a bit surprised to see them bring out at Badger 5 for the test lab demo. I was even more surprised that it didn't self-destruct on the wood blocks... lol... I also took with a grain of salt that assertion on the part of the ISE tour guide that only stainless steel is used for components that see water. Anybody who looks inside a Badger can see galvanized steel components in the grinding chamber.

Anyway, it was interesting to see some operations that typically are done one at a time in a typical machine shop being done in a mass fashion in the factory - such as threading and grinding the motor shafts.

 

[tolivac]

Excellent video.I do have an ISE "Evolution" Disposer they show in the film shredding the wood blocks and the fine food waste.I do like the Cast ring shredders better-but if the stampted one can take 35Lbs of bone and 6 lbs of wood blocks-thats pretty good.ISE is a division of Emerson electric-one of the larger maker of fractional HP motors in the US.Love that ALL of the machine is built in that factory.NO outsourcing!Don't sell those little Badgers short--Years ago I had one in an apartment-as a joke a friend a I ground up an 828 transmitting tube(It shorted and knocked that station off air until we got to the tx site and replaced it)The tube is an audio-mod driver in a 5K AM transmiktter.The tube stands about a foot tall and couple in in diameter-that little Badger Ate the whole thing!and wanted more!!It was funny the tube spinning around in the machines opening until it crushed it up and swallowed it-that shred ring got cleaned for sure.Maybe ISE should do that in their factory tests.That disposer still worked when I left the apartment.the times I have run my Evolutuion-its is VERY quiet.You wonder if its even shredding anything.Oh yes-I have seen those immense steel coils coming out of Baltimore on RR "Coil Cars" to be shipped out-wonder if any showed up at that disposer factory!the steel mill wasn't too far away from the station that blew the 828 tube.

 

[tolivac]

Strange use of an ISE disposal--In an old farm magazine I have at home-"Progressive Farmer" they show an article about a farmer that used an old ISE disposer as a small grain feed grinder for the few animals he kept.He didn't want to buy a large grinder-and found the disposer worked well.Its like he only had a couple of chickens and pigs.I have seen the huge hammermill grinders that larger scale farmers use-they can be run from a large tractor PTO or a stationary motor or engine.Those are for large herds of cattle,pigs or chickens.Also in an old Alfred Hitchcock episode a farmer ground up the body of an intruder and fed it to his animals-the evidence has been EATEN!Wish they would put those shows on DVD.

 

[brisnat81]

Faulty Seals

What a great video

Thats how we could afford a Model 65 Insinkerator. In AU the Badger retails for around $300AUD the Model 65 is around $699 and the 75 is $899.

A friend of ours was contracted to do the warranty replacements for ISE and we got a nearly new Model 65 for the cost of a new seal kit, which ended up being $50AUD and carton of beer.

Our Neighbour asked our advice and we suggested at least the Model 55, she decided it was too expensive and went with the Model 45/Badger and has bitched ever since.

 

[hoover1060]

Interesting

What I thought was rather amusing is the PLUGS for the Excel model, and how they show the performance difference between the top and bottom of the line.
Before ISE went retail the only way to get a Badger was to buy a house with one installed, as the Badger I is probably the most popular builder installed disposer in the USA. Last contact I had with a Badger was 2001, had one in the apartment I was living in. It gagged many times on just potato peelings!

I need to go visit that place, at the very beginning the dude is in the lobby, with the older disposers, there's an early 50's "Telex 99" model, and the HUGE Gold Comet...I would loove to see what the guts of those look like!!

 

[johnb300m]

I love ISE disposers.
I have a Whirlpool branded Badger1 in my apt. and it takes everything i throw at it.
Even onions.
The one special thing i do with it is use it as my confidential paper shredder for banking stuff.
My friends think i'm nuts.