On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 23:31:59 -0500, "Freckles"
wrote:

My garbage disposal is leaking and I guess it needs to be replaced.

My concern is: Do I need to replace it with a like brand or are all garbage
disposals interchangeable?

Most garbage disposals are interchangeable because most are made by
In-Sink-erator, even though they are sold under different brand names.
I think t hey made 80% of the ones in the USA. This assumes you don't
get one that is 2 or 3 sizes bigger. Those will usually fit at the
sink, but will be too wide or too narrow for the the current location
of the drain pipe. Which might be easy to move, but that varies.

I'm not sure how to describe a non-ISErator, because the only one's
I've seen are made by them. They have a bayonet mount. You lift it
into place below the sink and rotate them 30 or 40 degrees or more and
they lock into place. IIRC this was a bit hard to lift the first
time, and much harder 15 years later, when I was 58 and out of shape.
Especially since the door under my sink is only one cabinet wide I had
to do it alone. (The sink is between a corner cabinet and the
dishwasher.) I may be a pansy but I ended up using a floor jack the
second time, and that made it easy

Sears and Ace Hardware sell disposals made by insinkerator under
different brand names. And IIRC Home Depot and maybe Lowes sell them,
maybe under the real name. The house brands are sometimes 5 or 10
dollars cheaper, but they also have a shorter warrantee, 1 year
instead of 2.

When you get it home and take yours out, and open their box, all the
new ones provide a coupling betteen the sink and the disposal and if
the coupling isn't the same as what you have, you'll have to figure
out which one is insinkerator. If it's the one you have already, I'd
return the new one and buy ISE by whatever name it is sold.

Thanks