Do not put lettuce down ur garbage disposal...

ok...I was cleaning lettuce earlier and put some leaves down my garbage disposal. Now my sink won't drain. I checked and I didn't see anything down the drain. The blades still move and splash water everywhere...Also, on top of having green, gooey, slime everywhere, the water that is standing in the sink is now brownish-black and smells pretty bad. I have a limited supply of tools and 3.5 hours until my boyfriend gets home. I seriously need some help!!

Is it a2 bowl sink.

yes....the garbage disposal is in the right sink...the left sink drains fine.

There is tee that your desposer discharges to under the sink and that is
where your stoppage is it will have to be taken apart.I have been through this before many times.Dont worry just use one sink tonight.Fixit tomrrow.
have good evening

ok tyvm

lettuce

Then check your disposer because it may be worn out, even though it still shreds the lettuce. Unfortunately, you may not be able to tell if it is worn out because you do not know what to look for.

I agree totally with the ice trick - though I recommend clearing the clog first - otherwise you'll have a sink full of ice cold water/slush/crap. Try a bathroom plunger to clear the clog before trying to clean the piping/disposal with ice.

My point in mentioning the ice is that it really isn't established that the leak is below, in fact - contrary: "yes....the garbage disposal is in the right sink...the left sink drains fine."
There's no clog on the other basin, I'd try the ice before investing time in dismantling the drain below..if it doesn't work, the ice won't add that much volume to the existing water, the "slush" would melt quickly.

Ice

It would still take it apart as the tee has a baffel in it.Leafy stuff has a
tendicy to clog them.still typing one handed.

I had a customer accuse me of installing a defective insinkerator disposal in a home she took care of in regards to 2 older men.

The place was filthy, the piping was old copper. The old disposal hadn't worked in years and she opted for replacement.

Apparently in her new home she has all new piping and felt that whenever a disposal is installed, throw full leaves of lettuce in it!!

We played phone tag even though I was calling her back (she called from her work, didn't bother to check her voicemail that I called back) and when we finally did talk, she was heated.

I came back at her with solid proof that I had been returning her calls every time....and that you are the reason why we haven't been in contact sooner.

She told me that the new disposal isn't working, told me that it won't take full pieces of lettuce as it's clogging the drain. <<< Still turning and spinning....just not going down.

I told her that there is nothing wrong with that disposal. She had a batch-feed disposal at her home comparing to a $64 Badger 1 so we was comparing apples to grapes.

She told me that I should be willing to guarantee the product to work.

Oh really?

I told her straight up, "I'll call Insinkerator, I will have them come out to your house and have them look/inspect/test your new disposal I installed for you."

"IF they determine that the disposal was incorrectly installed *unlikely* or the device is faulty, I pay the fee." "IF they determine that the above is untrue and the unit is working fine, YOU are paying the $135 service call they are going to charge you for the visit."


I explained to her that if you are throwing full leafs of lettuce down your drain, WTF is wrong with your garbage can???? That broke too?

I told her straight up, did you ever think that the drains leading to that garbage disposal might be partially clogged, causing this entire situation to happen?

The end of this call ended up with her NOT calling Insinkerator to come out and look at the issue.

The bottom line is this woman crucified me on pricing and was cutting corners the entire time I was there....trying to get rock bottom out of me.

People know me in my community.......I would of gladly came out, cleaned that drain free of charge for her knowing that was the problem. The fact that she was such a **** about the entire situation beating me down from the go had her in the situation she deserved. GOOD LUCK!!!

I also had a Badger 5 in my condo which was built using "contractor specials". Over time, the grinder ring rusted and some of the "teeth" broke. My drain plugged up several times with potato, onion, and carrot skins. My trap has a plug on the bottom of it that I was able to open and pull the nasty stuff out. I had a "new" (that was 1997) Insinkerator Model 77 installed. It has held up well, but I did have a clog further down the drain. I've learned to put the peelings down very slowly. I also keep a dedicated plunger for the sinks and tub.

achutch

Ok...I would like to thank all of you very much for your feedback. My bf took the pipe off this morning to clear the clog out and it turns out that somehow a plastic knife was lodged in there! lol...This was not my fault! We don't use plastic silver wear! Thank you again!

thezster said:

I agree totally with the ice trick - though I recommend clearing the clog first - otherwise you'll have a sink full of ice cold water/slush/crap. Try a bathroom plunger to clear the clog before trying to clean the piping/disposal with ice.

Click to expand...

Lol...I didn't wait and I also tried the plunger before he got home. All it did was gurgle and splash ice cold, nasty, water with pretty green slime in it, all over the place!

The bottom line is this woman crucified me on pricing and was cutting corners the entire time I was there....trying to get rock bottom out of me.

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When ever i lower my prices i end up wishing i did not for similar reasons. You try to treat people well or help them out and it kicks you in the ....

patrick88 said:

When ever i lower my prices i end up wishing i did not for similar reasons. You try to treat people well or help them out and it kicks you in the ....

Click to expand...

No matter what you charge, the same expectations are there.
Underbidding is a sign of inexperience, buyer beware.

RUGGED, I had an almost identical customer...I mentioned this one here before, tried to get me down on my price by $25 when the job was done.
Called me a month ago telling me the disposal was jammed and I should go and remove whatever was jamming it.
I said there would be a charge, told me it was my responsibility because I'd installed it, almost a year after the fact despite the fact that it had worked fine to that point.
I gave a price, never called back.
Then, to the opposite extreme I get customers who go well out of the way to express gratitude, I gladly work hard for those.
Even a free trip back to fix something I installed that wasn't my mistake.

Seems to me that disposals are often more trouble then they're worth.

achutch said:

I also had a Badger 5 in my condo which was built using "contractor specials". Over time, the grinder ring rusted and some of the "teeth" broke. My drain plugged up several times with potato, onion, and carrot skins. My trap has a plug on the bottom of it that I was able to open and pull the nasty stuff out. I had a "new" (that was 1997) Insinkerator Model 77 installed. It has held up well, but I did have a clog further down the drain. I've learned to put the peelings down very slowly. I also keep a dedicated plunger for the sinks and tub.

achutch

Click to expand...

A POTATO PEELING WILL NEVER GO DOWN MY SINK AGAIN. EVER EVER EVER.

In fact rarely does my disposal get used at all. One of my worst days at this house ever happened to be a Thanksgiving Day, and it was due to a clog under the basement floor due to a sink full of potato peelings.

Mr_Pike said:

A POTATO PEELING WILL NEVER GO DOWN MY SINK AGAIN. EVER EVER EVER.

In fact rarely does my disposal get used at all. One of my worst days at this house ever happened to be a Thanksgiving Day, and it was due to a clog under the basement floor due to a sink full of potato peelings.

Click to expand...

Never fails, does it - your kitchen drain clogs right before you are hosting a big dinner, because you have just peeled 5 lbs of spuds or carrots and put the peelings down the disposer? Worst possible time for it to happen.

One thing that does seem to help - starting to run some cold water down the sink FIRST, before starting to grind anything, then grinding small amounts interspersed by large amounts of cold water, followed by large amounts of cold water after you're done grinding (yes, I've just convinced myself not to put much down the darn thing, too - you and Nate are right!)

My favourite is when customers call after 4 or five years (one year warranty) and tell you something is not working and tell you "it's been happening since day one". So why didn't you call day one.