I have a 5 yr. old Insinkerator (Badger5) garbage disposal. It still
turns - but doesn't grind up anything. Is this about the average age
of a garbage disposal? I will go shopping for one in the next few
days and would like to know whether to get another one like this or
switch to something else.

My ice maker is giving me problems again so I will probably get a new
one of those while I am in Lowe's. My husband and I are too old to
try to do these jobs ourselves so we are thinking about using a
service called Mr. Handyman. I checked with our local consumer
protection board and they haven't heard of them. We had used a
similar service in the past but it has gone out of business. We got a
coupon from these people in one of the ads that come in the mail.
Shows a license# ... but I will check with license people to make
sure. Anybody on here familiar with these people. They appear to be
nationwide. Thanks.

On Mon, 31 Mar 2008, Dottie wrote:

I have a 5 yr. old Insinkerator (Badger5) garbage disposal. It still
turns - but doesn't grind up anything. Is this about the average age
of a garbage disposal? I will go shopping for one in the next few
days and would like to know whether to get another one like this or
switch to something else.

They should last longer than five years. I see they have a three-year
warranty. Why don't you contact the factory service and see how much to fix
it. To schedule a service call phone 1-800-558-5700, press 2, and enter
your five-digit zip code. It will provide you with the name and phone
number of the factory authorized service agent nearest you.

Fixing it saves the installation cost that comes along with a new one.

Don www.donwiss.com (e-mail link at home page bottom).

On Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:02:16 -0400, Don Wiss
wrote:

On Mon, 31 Mar 2008, Dottie wrote:

I have a 5 yr. old Insinkerator (Badger5) garbage disposal.
-snip-

Fixing it saves the installation cost that comes along with a new one.


I agree they *should* last more than 5 yrs--- but what repair could
you do to a disposal without removing it?

And if you're paying someone to remove it- what repair is worth
hanging on to a 5 yr old $100 appliance? [for that matter- what
repair is worth doing on that thing even if labor was free?]

Jim

On Mon, 31 Mar 2008, Jim Elbrecht wrote:

I agree they *should* last more than 5 yrs--- but what repair could
you do to a disposal without removing it?

And if you're paying someone to remove it- what repair is worth
hanging on to a 5 yr old $100 appliance? [for that matter- what
repair is worth doing on that thing even if labor was free?]

Okay. I didn't realize this one was so cheap. I find $78.50 with free
shipping at Amazon.com. Maybe no sales tax and no gas wasted driving to
Lowe's.

Don www.donwiss.com (e-mail link at home page bottom).

"Dottie" wrote in message
...
I have a 5 yr. old Insinkerator (Badger5) garbage disposal. It still
turns - but doesn't grind up anything. Is this about the average age
of a garbage disposal? I will go shopping for one in the next few
days and would like to know whether to get another one like this or
switch to something else.


What sorts of things is it NOT grinding? I'm asking because many years ago,
I discovered that a disposal will not handle kale stems, for instance.
Rather, it will spin them into rope strong enough to anchor an ocean liner.
If you've been putting any sort of tough vegetable stems into the disposal,
some of them may have wrapped themselves around the hammers (the parts that
do the grinding). That would prevent any subsequent food from being ground
up properly.

The hammers are easy to feel. They're not sharp, and they're on the bottom
plate of the disposal. Have you inspected them to see if they're covered
with something?

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:

"Dottie" wrote in message
...
I have a 5 yr. old Insinkerator (Badger5) garbage disposal. It still
turns - but doesn't grind up anything. Is this about the average age
of a garbage disposal? I will go shopping for one in the next few
days and would like to know whether to get another one like this or
switch to something else.

What sorts of things is it NOT grinding? I'm asking because many years ago,
I discovered that a disposal will not handle kale stems, for instance.
Rather, it will spin them into rope strong enough to anchor an ocean liner.
If you've been putting any sort of tough vegetable stems into the disposal,
some of them may have wrapped themselves around the hammers (the parts that
do the grinding). That would prevent any subsequent food from being ground
up properly.

The hammers are easy to feel. They're not sharp, and they're on the bottom
plate of the disposal. Have you inspected them to see if they're covered
with something?

Along the same line as Joe: Check to be sure those "hammers" that do the
grinding are moving freely.

A few months ago I noticed my Insinkerator sounded a little odd and was
taking forever to grind up stuff. I discovered that one of the hammers
was "frozen" and not moving freely -- a little Liquid Wrench and a bit
of coaxing by tapping on it with a real wrench freed it up and it acts
normally now.

Probably I use my disposal less than average and that may have
contributed to the problem. Now I'm more conscientious about
periodically grinding up some ice cubes to clear it out and keep
everything moving the way it should.

aspasia wrote in message ...
On Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:47:12 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

"Dottie" wrote in message
...
I have a 5 yr. old Insinkerator (Badger5) garbage disposal. It still
turns - but doesn't grind up anything. Is this about the average age
of a garbage disposal? I will go shopping for one in the next few
days and would like to know whether to get another one like this or
switch to something else.


What sorts of things is it NOT grinding? I'm asking because many years
ago,
I discovered that a disposal will not handle kale stems, for instance.
Rather, it will spin them into rope strong enough to anchor an ocean
liner.
If you've been putting any sort of tough vegetable stems into the
disposal,
some of them may have wrapped themselves around the hammers (the parts
that
do the grinding). That would prevent any subsequent food from being ground
up properly.

This takes me back decades to the ultimate nightma 13 coming for
Thanksgiving dinner next day - I put CELERY down the disposal.
Will spare you the rest of the nightmare scenario...

Aspasia


Amazing, isn't it? But, we know that rope was made from plants at one time.
We know that celery can take forever to chew, and kale stems would need to
be cooked for eleven years to be edible. And still, it takes an incident for
us to learn.

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:


Amazing, isn't it? But, we know that rope was made from plants at one
time. We know that celery can take forever to chew, and kale stems
would need to be cooked for eleven years to be edible. And still, it
takes an incident for us to learn.

Hanging still requires a hemp rope. Or at least in traditional hanging.