How to Supersede a Garbage Disposal

14 tips and tricks to avoid leaks and mistakes.

Time

A total twenty-four hour period

Complexity

Beginner

Cost

$101–250

Introduction

When you lot flip the switch to turn on the garbage disposal and all you become is a hum-or a loud, metal-on-metal grinding noise-you know something's wrong. Fortunately, replacing a disposal isn't hard, even if yous haven't done much plumbing. We talked to veteran plumbers and nerveless their best tips for a smooth, trouble-complimentary installation.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • New garbage disposal
  • Plumber's putty
  • Silicone

Project step-by-step (12)

Stride one

Know the within of your garbage disposal

Figure A: Effigy it out first

When y'all purchase a new disposal, the box volition contain all the parts y'all need to install it. Before yous spring into removing the former unit, take a few moments to familiarize yourself with all these parts. Put them together in the correct order and try out the locking machinery. Understanding how everything fits together alee of time volition make the job a cinch.

Click here to larn how to clean a garbage disposal

Step 2

Make sure information technology's broken before starting garbage disposal installation

Replace a Garbage Disposal make sure it is broken

3 things to try before removing the garage disposal

A disposal that seems to be dead might be revived with a uncomplicated gear up. Here are three things to endeavour:

  • Look for a jam. Something too tough to grind, such as a piece of glass, could be jamming the motor. Plough off the power and h2o, and so unplug the disposal. (If it's hardwired, turn off the breaker.) Remove the rubber bamboozle inside the drain-most simply lift out-and shine a flashlight into the hole. Fish out the obstruction with a pair of tongs or needle-olfactory organ pliers.
  • Turn the motor manually. You'll need a hex wrench. Some disposals come with one bent at a convenient angle, only if you don't have information technology, you lot can purchase one at a hardware store or use a standard Allen wrench. Rotate the wrench dorsum and forth as shown above until the motor turns a full revolution, then remove the wrench and switch on the motor.
  • Press the reset push button. If your motor has overheated by working too long, wait five minutes for it to cool down, and then push button the reset push (it's normally located on the underside of the disposal). The motor may besides have overheated because of a jam. If the motor doesn't showtime later on manually turning it, try pushing the reset button.

Stride three

Disposal system anatomy

Replace a Garbage Disposal anatomy of the garbage disposal

How to install a garbage disposal and how it all works together

If you accept a double sink, the all-time way to plumb a disposal is to run its belch tube straight to a tee below the opposite sink. The tube must drop about i/four in. in order to drain properly.

Knock out the knockout!

Everyone who'southward installed a few disposals is enlightened of this mistake: Forgetting to remove the dishwasher knockout before hanging the unit.

If you take a dishwasher, the showtime thing you lot should do after removing the disposal from the box is to dial out the knockout with a hammer and a screwdriver. Fish out the knockout by reaching downwards inside the disposal. You don't want this plastic disc to be the showtime affair that the disposal tries to grind upwardly!

This is besides the best time to add the cord and plug to your disposal. It's really awkward to add together these after you have completed this how to install a garbage disposal project.

15 Things You Should Never Put Downwards Your Garbage Disposal

Stride 4

Support the weight

Replace a Garbage Disposal make a platform

Assemble a back up to remove the garbage disposal

Garbage disposals can weigh 15 lbs. or more. That's a lot of weight to suddenly catch with one paw while you're turning the lower mounting bracket with the other hand.

Before you lot learn how to remove a garbage disposal, unhook anything, assemble a support under the unit using a paint can and scraps of wood. Exit a 1/4-in. to i/2-in. gap under the unit of measurement so information technology tin can drop a bit. Use the aforementioned support to aid when you are installing a garbage disposal.

How to Unclog a Sink

Step 5

Don't forget the string

Replace a Garbage Disposal don't forget the cord

Purchase new or reuse the garbage disposal string

Surprise! Nigh new disposals don't come with a string and plug. If your erstwhile unit has a cord and plug, y'all can remove the whole assembly and reinstall it on the new unit of measurement. (Instructions are included with the new disposal.) Or you tin simply buy a new cord and plug when you purchase the disposal. They're usually located together in the store.

If you're not comfortable making electric connections for your garbage disposal installation, you can buy a disposal that already has a string attached. Ask at your home center or appliance store, or search online for 'garbage disposal with string attached.

Pace six

Prepare for a new discharge tube

Replace a Garbage Disposal prepare for a new discharge tube

Save a trip to the store by reusing the discharge tube

Your onetime belch tube probably won't exist the right length for your new disposal. If information technology'due south too long, merely connect it to the disposal, mark it and cut it with a hacksaw for your garbage disposal installation. (Loosen the other pipe connections, if necessary, to insert the tube back into the tee.) If the old discharge tube is besides brusk, y'all may have to make a fourth dimension-wasting trip to the store. To avoid this, make certain the new garbage disposal installation kit includes a tube, or buy one separately at the same time for about $three.

Shortcut: Go on the flange

If your old sink flange is undamaged and tight, with no signs of leakage, yous can probably leave information technology in place. Chances are skilful that the mounting brackets on the new unit volition fit but fine. To observe out, remove the quondam disposal and install the new flange on it. If information technology fits, you can install the new disposal using the former flange.

Unclog a Kitchen Sink

Step seven

Don't struggle with the snap ring

Replace a Garbage Disposal Don't struggle with the snap ring

A trick to remove it

The snap ring fits into a groove on the lower stop of the sink flange. When you're working under the sink, it prevents the upper mounting bracket from falling off. Removing an old snap ring can exist frustrating-unless you lot know this trick: Starting at the intermission in the ring, insert a thin-blade screwdriver betwixt the band and the flange. Pull down on the band with the screwdriver's blade and walk the blade around the ring. The band will pop right off.

Kitchen Ideas: The proper care and feeding of your garbage disposer

Step 8

Weigh downwards the sink flange

Replace a Garbage Disposal Weigh down the sink flange

Foreclose shifting

After you install the new sink flange, you don't want it shifting around when you're assembling the parts underneath. Movement of the flange could break the seal between the flange and the sink, inviting a leak. Your best bet is to inquire a helper to press down on the sink flange, or if you're working lonely, find something to weigh it down, such as the old disposal. Place an old towel under the weight so you don't scratch the sink. If the bottom of your sink is quite concave, the former disposal might non contact the flange. In that case, identify a can on the flange, so weigh down the can.

Step 9

Tighten with pliers

Replace a Garbage Disposal tighten with pliers

Easier on the wrists

When you lot hang the new disposal, rotating the lower mounting ring tightens the seal betwixt the disposal and the sink flange. The lower ring rides upwardly a set of ramps on the upper ring-pretty neat! But the final inch or then of rotation requires a fair amount of force.

The easiest mode to apply that strength is to squeeze them together using natural language-and-groove pliers, such as Channellocks. Y'all'll need medium or large pliers to do this. Unlike prying on the lower ring with a screwdriver or hex wrench-the method recommended in most educational activity sheets-squeezing can't disturb the position of the sink flange and cause it to leak. Plus, it's easier on the wrists.

Stride 10

Compare outlet heights

Replace a Garbage Disposal compare outlet heights

Measure out the distance

A disposal's discharge tube must slant about 1/four in. downhill in social club for it to bleed properly (see Figure A). Creating that driblet may be a small trouble if the outlet on your new disposal is lower than the outlet on your erstwhile one.

To be prepared, measure the distance from the outlet to the height of each disposal before y'all remove the onetime unit. If the new unit's outlet is lower, you must also lower the tee that the belch piping connects to. Loosen the ii basics that connect the tee to the tailpiece above and the trap below. Endeavour lowering the tee to see if the tailpiece is long plenty. If it'south not, you'll have to replace it with one that'due south slightly longer.

Garbage disposal replacement cost: Spend a little more than

Y'all tin buy a one/3-hp disposal for $fourscore or less, simply our experts suggest that a more than expensive unit with at to the lowest degree three/4 hp would exist a improve choice. The more powerful the motor, the less adventure information technology will jam. In add-on, higher-priced disposals are generally quieter and have longer warranties. If you need to supervene upon the splash guard every bit part of your garbage disposal installation, take a await at this guide.

How to Become Rid of Annihilation

Stride eleven

Silicone seals best

Replace a Garbage Disposal Mold Free Silicone

A more reliable seal

Plumber'due south putty is typically recommended for sealing the sink flange to the sink itself, simply silicone will provide a more reliable seal. With silicone, there's near no chance-now or subsequently-that the flange volition leak.

Yet, when it'southward fourth dimension to replace the disposal and the sink flange again as part of your garbage disposal installation, y'all should know that old silicone is much harder to remove than old plumber'due south putty. But that's why information technology works amend!

Things Yous've Probably Never Cleaned (but Actually Should!)

Pace 12

Audit the plumbing first

Replace a Garbage Disposal inspect the plumbing

Look for leakage

Look over all the pipes nether your sink for whatsoever sign of leakage before heading to the store to buy a new garbage disposal. You might desire to replace more than just the disposal itself, so you may as well make a list and be prepared before your garbage disposal installation!