How to Supercede a Garbage Disposal

xiv tips and tricks to avert leaks and mistakes.

Time

A full day

Complexity

Beginner

Cost

$101–250

Introduction

When you lot flip the switch to turn on the garbage disposal and all you lot get is a hum-or a loud, metal-on-metallic 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 collected their best tips for a smooth, problem-free installation.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • New garbage disposal
  • Plumber's putty
  • Silicone

Projection stride-by-footstep (12)

Step 1

Know the within of your garbage disposal

Figure A: Figure it out first

When you buy a new disposal, the box will contain all the parts you need to install it. Before you leap into removing the old unit, take a few moments to familiarize yourself with all these parts. Put them together in the right club and endeavour out the locking mechanism. Understanding how everything fits together alee of time will make the task a cinch.

Click here to learn how to make clean a garbage disposal

Step 2

Make certain it'south cleaved 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 simple set up. Here are three things to endeavour:

  • Wait for a jam. Something also tough to grind, such every bit a piece of glass, could be jamming the motor. Turn off the power and water, then unplug the disposal. (If it's hardwired, plow off the breaker.) Remove the rubber bamboozle inside the drain-most merely lift out-and smoothen 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 up with i bent at a convenient angle, only if y'all don't accept it, you can purchase one at a hardware store or use a standard Allen wrench. Rotate the wrench back and forth as shown higher up until the motor turns a total revolution, and then remove the wrench and switch on the motor.
  • Press the reset button. If your motor has overheated by working too long, wait five minutes for it to cool downwardly, then push the reset push button (it's usually located on the underside of the disposal). The motor may also have overheated because of a jam. If the motor doesn't get-go later manually turning it, try pushing the reset push button.

Step 3

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 take a double sink, the best way to plumb a disposal is to run its belch tube directly to a tee below the opposite sink. The tube must drop about 1/four in. in social club to drain properly.

Knock out the knockout!

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

If you have a dishwasher, the beginning thing you lot should practise after removing the disposal from the box is to punch out the knockout with a hammer and a screwdriver. Fish out the knockout past reaching down within the disposal. You lot don't want this plastic disc to exist the first thing that the disposal tries to grind upwardly!

This is also the best time to add the cord and plug to your disposal. It's really bad-mannered to add these after you take completed this how to install a garbage disposal project.

15 Things You lot Should Never Put Down Your Garbage Disposal

Stride 4

Support the weight

Replace a Garbage Disposal make a platform

Get together a support to remove the garbage disposal

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

Before you learn how to remove a garbage disposal, unhook anything, get together a back up under the unit using a paint can and scraps of woods. Leave a 1/4-in. to 1/2-in. gap under the unit so it can drop a bit. Utilise the same support to help when you lot are installing a garbage disposal.

How to Unclog a Sink

Pace 5

Don't forget the cord

Replace a Garbage Disposal don't forget the cord

Buy new or reuse the garbage disposal string

Surprise! Most new disposals don't come with a cord and plug. If your old unit has a cord and plug, you can remove the whole associates and reinstall it on the new unit. (Instructions are included with the new disposal.) Or you tin can merely purchase a new cord and plug when you buy the disposal. They're usually located together in the store.

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

Step half dozen

Fix for a new belch tube

Replace a Garbage Disposal prepare for a new discharge tube

Save a trip to the store past reusing the discharge tube

Your old discharge tube probably won't be the right length for your new disposal. If it'due south besides long, simply connect it to the disposal, mark it and cut it with a hacksaw for your garbage disposal installation. (Loosen the other piping connections, if necessary, to insert the tube back into the tee.) If the sometime discharge tube is too short, you may have to make a time-wasting trip to the store. To avoid this, brand sure the new garbage disposal installation kit includes a tube, or buy one separately at the same time for about $3.

Shortcut: Continue the flange

If your old sink flange is undamaged and tight, with no signs of leakage, you can probably leave it in identify. Chances are good that the mounting brackets on the new unit will fit simply fine. To notice out, remove the old disposal and install the new flange on it. If information technology fits, you can install the new disposal using the one-time flange.

Unclog a Kitchen Sink

Step 7

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 band fits into a groove on the lower finish of the sink flange. When you're working under the sink, information technology prevents the upper mounting bracket from falling off. Removing an old snap ring can be frustrating-unless you know this trick: Starting at the suspension in the band, insert a thin-blade screwdriver between the ring and the flange. Pull downward on the ring with the screwdriver'due south bract and walk the blade around the ring. The band will popular right off.

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

Step 8

Weigh down the sink flange

Replace a Garbage Disposal Weigh down the sink flange

Preclude shifting

After you install the new sink flange, yous don't want information technology shifting effectually when you're assembling the parts underneath. Movement of the flange could pause the seal between the flange and the sink, inviting a leak. Your all-time bet is to ask a helper to press down on the sink flange, or if you're working alone, find something to weigh it down, such as the old disposal. Place an erstwhile towel under the weight so y'all don't scratch the sink. If the bottom of your sink is quite concave, the old disposal might non contact the flange. In that case, identify a can on the flange, so weigh downwards the can.

Step ix

Tighten with pliers

Replace a Garbage Disposal tighten with pliers

Easier on the wrists

When y'all hang the new disposal, rotating the lower mounting band tightens the seal between the disposal and the sink flange. The lower ring rides up a prepare of ramps on the upper ring-pretty neat! Only the terminal inch or so of rotation requires a fair amount of strength.

The easiest fashion to apply that force is to clasp them together using tongue-and-groove pliers, such as Channellocks. You'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 instruction sheets-squeezing can't disturb the position of the sink flange and cause it to leak. Plus, information technology's easier on the wrists.

Pace 10

Compare outlet heights

Replace a Garbage Disposal compare outlet heights

Measure the altitude

A disposal's discharge tube must slant well-nigh ane/4 in. downhill in lodge for it to drain properly (see Figure A). Creating that drop may exist a pocket-sized problem if the outlet on your new disposal is lower than the outlet on your old 1.

To be prepared, measure the altitude from the outlet to the top of each disposal earlier y'all remove the erstwhile unit. If the new unit'south outlet is lower, you must also lower the tee that the discharge piping connects to. Loosen the two nuts that connect the tee to the tailpiece higher up and the trap beneath. Try lowering the tee to see if the tailpiece is long enough. If it'due south not, y'all'll have to replace it with ane that'due south slightly longer.

Garbage disposal replacement cost: Spend a lilliputian more

You can purchase a 1/3-hp disposal for $eighty or less, but our experts suggest that a more than expensive unit of measurement with at least 3/4 hp would be a better selection. The more powerful the motor, the less chance it will jam. In addition, college-priced disposals are generally quieter and take longer warranties. If yous need to supersede the splash guard as part of your garbage disposal installation, take a look at this guide.

How to Go Rid of Anything

Stride 11

Silicone seals best

Replace a Garbage Disposal Mold Free Silicone

A more than reliable seal

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

Nevertheless, when it's fourth dimension to replace the disposal and the sink flange over again as office of your garbage disposal installation, you should know that onetime silicone is much harder to remove than one-time plumber's putty. But that's why information technology works better!

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

Step 12

Inspect the plumbing first

Replace a Garbage Disposal inspect the plumbing

Look for leakage

Look over all the pipes under your sink for any sign of leakage earlier heading to the shop to buy a new garbage disposal. You might desire to supplant more than than just the disposal itself, so y'all may as well make a list and be prepared before your garbage disposal installation!