What do you put down the garbage disposal?

379381 What do you put down the garbage disposal? Fri Mar 09 18:04:34 -0800 2007 95 29 Not About Food 0 2371482 I know this isn't really a food question, but I know I will get responses from people that cook frequently. Everytime my mother in law visits she "messes" with my kitchen - burning up pans, teapots, breaking bowls. It's unbelievable. She also puts some things down the garbage disposal I would put in the trash. Today she put down a whole banana peel with the woody stem. I saw it down there and was able to pull it out before I turned it on. She thought I was being ridiculous and just anal about the kitchen. It turned into a big discussion over dinner. Thought I would get opinions from fellow chowhounders! Tell me I'm not crazy!!! Fri Mar 09 18:04:34 -0800 2007 56380 JennyHunter 1 2371514 my mum puts small chicken bones down hers - she's positive they sharpen the blades! I was told by a garbage disposal engineer to NEVER put onion skins, banana skins or tea bags in. Fri Mar 09 18:14:19 -0800 2007 2371482 22559 smartie 1 2371648 You are ABSOLUTELY right! Among other things you should not put down the garbage disposal are asparagus, celery or anything stringy or fibrous. The strings wrap themselves around the blades and moving parts and you have a strangled garbage disposal on your hands. Fri Mar 09 19:21:39 -0800 2007 2371482 10799 MKatrinaToo 1 2371814 As a 16 year professional General Contractor running a Handyman business, I put in and service alot of garbage disposals. I have made lots of money taking out coins, dog collars, towels, bottle caps, screws, pieces of metal such as parts of forks, spoons, etc., and these are usually from rental apartments. Of course this gets charged backed to the tenants by the owners/property managers, so I walk away looking like a knight in shining armor for rescuing them...............TILL THEY GET THE BILL from someone other than me! The worst things, bar none, to put in a garbage disposal? Potato peels. And cooked rice. Both, but especially potato peels turn into glue in your drain, as the starch gets ground up, sitting in your pipes to harden or just cause a blockage if not enough water pushes it all the way to the water treatment plant. A little bit, a little at a time may be fine, but that Thanksgiving dinner or Xmas dinner potato preparation could cause you a large plumber's bill. Beware!!!!!!!!!! I have NEVER taken stringy blockages out of a garbage disposal or pipes, though I agree with that advice in a general sense. My general rule of thumb? Put your bones, garbage, debris in the garbage pail, and save the disposal in the sink for the crud that gets washed off the plates doing dishes. Scrape those plates into the trash can. Don't say that you haven't been warned. I love your money! There is good reason New York City banned garbage disposals. Too big a load on the waste water treatment facilities trying to remove the debris in processing the water. Fri Mar 09 20:50:24 -0800 2007 2371482 19271 Handyman 2 2372880 A question, please Handyman - how should those of us who bake a lot of bread dispose of the flour-water (AKA paste) sludge that clings to bowls? I use a "biga" or starter so there is that flour-water mixture as well as the dough remains. Yes, I scrape as much as I can into the trash but stubborn bits still cling to the bowl. I'm particularly concerned about this since my house is built into a hill and all effluent must be pumped UP the hill to the street sewer line. A bread dough clogged sewage ejection pump does not bear thinking about. Have already learned the expensive potato peel lesson which was a surprise to me because these disposals are very high-powered. I now use lots of water - before, during and after grinding - hoping to help move things along. TIA Sat Mar 10 11:43:29 -0800 2007 2371814 15743 Sherri 2 2382118 My husband hasn't gotten the message on the no-vegetable-skin rule, so I've gotten well-versed on how to take apart the pipes under the sink, pull out the clogged peels and putting it all back together again without calling a plumber or handyman. Tue Mar 13 14:26:06 -0700 2007 2371814 75002 Megiac 1 2371908 NEVER: citrus skins banana peels garlic ends onion/leek ends carrot ends peach/apricot/prune pits small (or any) bones tea bags coffee filters paper towels paper napkins Fri Mar 09 21:49:06 -0800 2007 2371482 30273 hotoynoodle 2 2372112 My husband owns a plumbing company and he always puts bits of citrus in our garbage disposal....he says that citrus won't harm the disposal and provides a fresh smell when ground up. He agrees with the rest of your list, though! Sat Mar 10 04:33:59 -0800 2007 2371908 18072 Niki in Dayton 3 2372389 mine just don't get ground. motor is only medium sized. i heard that putting a tray of ice cubes down every so often helps clean it. Sat Mar 10 08:11:27 -0800 2007 2372112 30273 hotoynoodle 4 2373127 A guy that once cleaned out our (clogged) disposal said the same thing, to run ice cubes every once in a while. Does anyone know what, besides citrus, to run down there to keep it fresh-smelling? Sat Mar 10 13:43:57 -0800 2007 2372389 78611 aurora50 5 2376472 put in a couple table spoons of baking soda then a 1/4 cup of white vinegar. fizzes like crazy, freshens it up nice. that said, I don't put much down my garbage disposal because i was told the waste processing plants cannot really handle the sludge produced. Mon Mar 12 07:02:06 -0700 2007 2373127 65780 jujuthomas 5 2401051 You can buy little pellets called Plink at places like Linens & Things or Bed, Bath & Beyond. Run hot water into disposal, drop in a Plink, switch to cold water and grind for a few seconds. Nice orange or lemon citrus smell. http://www.amazon.com/Plink-Garbage-Disposal-Cleaner-Deodorizer/dp/B000A3I39M Funny review at the bottom as well. :-) Mon Mar 19 14:01:06 -0700 2007 2373127 10532 LindaWhit 2 5153540 <<NEVER: citrus skins banana peels garlic ends onion/leek ends carrot ends peach/apricot/prune pits small (or any) bones tea bags coffee filters paper towels paper napkins>> I put almost all of those things in my disposer and have never had a problem. The exceptions are paper towels, paper napkins and tea bags -- with strings attached. For the record, I don't put anything in it that is stringy like celery or artichokes. But after reading all the things people WON'T put down them, I wonder why anyone would bother to have one. Now that I've just said I've never had a problem, I've probably jinxed the works and can expect my disposer to blow up within 24 hours. sigh. Tue Nov 03 16:45:33 -0800 2009 2371908 24468 chicgail 3 5154625 I can only speak for myself of course, but I primarily use the garbage disposal for protein stuff (meat, cheese). I compost most of the veggie waste as well as coffee grinds. I also sometimes run citrus through it, as it makes it smell better, and ice cubes to clean it. For some folks the answer might be "because it was there when we bought the house" but we consciously chose to have a garbage disposal....we just don't use it for much now that we're trying harder to be more ecologically friendly in our house. The best part....our garden did wonderfully this year with the rich compost! Wed Nov 04 06:57:28 -0800 2009 5153540 18072 Niki in Dayton 4 5154866 We live in a city and do not have space for a compost heap. If we did, I'm sure a lot of the vegetable waste would be in it instead of the disposer. Enjoy that garden. Wed Nov 04 08:14:04 -0800 2009 5154625 24468 chicgail 3 5156326 Citrus skins are really not a problem at all. But yes, most of your list is great. Worst mistake I ever made: Raw fish guts. Didn't clog things, but MAN what a horrible smell, which lingered for days. Wed Nov 04 15:01:52 -0800 2009 5153540 130151 dmd_kc 1 2371929 NEVER ever put artichoke leaves in a disposal. Fri Mar 09 22:17:10 -0800 2007 2371482 46161 spinach 1 2371952 If it is not gonna leak through a paper bag, it doesn't need to go in there. Why would it. Be careful about who you share your kitchen with. Fri Mar 09 22:37:41 -0800 2007 2371482 80445 Franken 1 2372021 There are two things you never put down a garbage disposal: your hand and food. Sat Mar 10 00:13:05 -0800 2007 2371482 56406 Bite Me 1 2372061 I'd like to add...caution with anything your cat might find tasty. If he smells it, curious cat = vet house call. And whether or not you have a garbage disposal, it's just not a good idea to put lots of grease down your sink! Sat Mar 10 01:29:35 -0800 2007 2371482 14366 gina 1 2372132 broccoli stalks. I speak from experience... even when you chop them up into smaller pieces, they're usually so thick and sturdy that they get stuck on the blades without being chopped up and disposed of. Sat Mar 10 04:59:53 -0800 2007 2371482 26657 bijoux16 1 2372169 Other than the obvious answer of you hands and paper I put almost everything in the disposal. My line in the sand is large fruit pits (peaches), steak and lamb steak bones. I was advised not to put "stringy" stuff in as well including asparagus, banana peels, etc. but these have sneaked in as well. But this depends on the size of the motor. Most contractors put small inefficinet units in their constructed homes to save money and the buyer is normally none the wiser. If you can not grind broccoli then you probably have a low-powered unit. Sat Mar 10 05:43:35 -0800 2007 2371482 11290 jfood 1 2372181 I have heard egg shells and coffee grinds are problematic. I can guarantee you that the little spice balls in shrimp boil should not go down the disposal. Husband can't figure out that they are in a mesh bag for a reason. I could easily do without one. I figure why throw even more stuff into our water system. Sat Mar 10 05:51:35 -0800 2007 2371482 29820 SweetPea 1 2372234 I've learned the hard way asparagus stems and shrimp shells (not quite sure what I was thinking there) are a big NO NO for the disposal. Aren't mother-in-laws great? <grimace> Sat Mar 10 06:36:38 -0800 2007 2371482 47813 chigirl71 1 2372261 My mother-in-law doesn't put anything down the garbage disposal, seriously, nothing. So why did she have one put in when remodeling the kitchen in the new house?? I used the one at her old house once when husband and were first married, everyone turned and starred at me. Umm, "what??" Why on earth wouldn't you use the garbage disposal for food scraps? (Not necessarily everything, that's a whole 'nother topic ... my cousin thinks we can run pistachio shells through it!) Sat Mar 10 06:55:08 -0800 2007 2371482 63906 odkaty 1 2372440 I put one of the plates off my cookie press down the garbage disposal once. Yes, it was an accident. It was still there when we moved out of that house. We could see it down there but couldn't get to it to get it out. When I was a kid I once put some green onion tops in our garbage disposal, and they promptly went down into the pipes and stopped up absolutely everything. Every time we used the washer for awhile water went all over the place. My dad got in there with a snake and found the green onion tops. You would not believe the grief I got! We don't have one now and I don't much care if I ever have one again. Leftovers go in the trash if they're not eaten within a reasonable amount of time (they usually are). Broccoli stalks, cabbage cores and the like get thrown out in the yard for the bunny rabbits. Sat Mar 10 08:35:16 -0800 2007 2371482 32586 revsharkie 1 2372441 My parents are nuts. They put in nearly everything food-related save for grease! Sat Mar 10 08:35:26 -0800 2007 2371482 13853 Leonardo 2 2372468 Mine did too, except for those onion tops. Where they live now they don't put anything in it. Stuff from their own garden goes in the compost pile. Everything else goes in the trash. But when I was growing up I thought the whole point of a garbage disposal was to dispatch potato peels and egg shells. But evidently those are no-nos. So what's the point? Seems to me the garbage disposal is one of the most useless kitchen appliances. Sat Mar 10 08:46:20 -0800 2007 2372441 32586 revsharkie 3 2376451 Disposals are only useless if you listen to the Cassandras telling you what not to put in them. I run pototo peels, egg shells, asparagus, orange peels, broccoli, you name it. My disposals (yes two...if you have two sinks you need two disposals) have been installed for 9 years. The only time I have ever stopped them up was when I foolishly waited to run the disposal until I had the prep sink FULL of various stuff. I just overwhelmed it with quantity. In any event, anything that doesn't want to go down (like a peach pit or a lime half) will just rattle around until I take it out. NO PROBLEM. Mon Mar 12 06:50:03 -0700 2007 2372468 10471 danna 4 2393858 I am wondering if the brand makes a difference. Renovating kitchen, about to buy one (my first). I am impressed with the in-sink-erator ads on line because they make it sound so great (the "excel") but my husband almost bought a Franke 3/4 HP at the plumbing shop today. I vowed to figure out if it was as good (strong and supposedly 60% quieter -- but quieter than what exactly, they don't say) as the in-sinkerator. I'm not sure if we're supposed to discuss brands on the boards -- I'm a new chowhounder. Any advice on a great disposal would be appreciated. I want to put in as much food scraps as I can and not worry about it. (We don't cook much meat so bones won't be much of an issue.) Thanks. Fri Mar 16 18:16:03 -0700 2007 2376451 83451 fishcake 5 2399216 I'm pretty sure that mine and my parents' are both in-sinkerators. I'll try to remember to look this evening and re-post if I am wrong. I'm not really sure why quiet matters much...you only run the thing for seconds at a time. Mon Mar 19 06:01:58 -0700 2007 2393858 10471 danna 4 2680071 I agree. I never had a problem with anything but artichoke leaves. But I decided not to have another one installed when I moved into this house ~8 years ago, and I haven't missed it a bit. I keep a lidded bucket under the sink for coffee grounds and anything else--fruit & veggie trimmings, citrus peel, egg shells-- that can go on the composter. The rest goes in the trash or--in the case of greasy/liquidy waste, the toilet. I guess I was mostly tired of worrying about another beautiful old sterling teaspoon getting tossed into the wrong sink by a grandchild and ruined. But I can see what a boon they are to apartment dwellers who don't have composters. Thu Jun 21 04:40:19 -0700 2007 2376451 93465 PhoebeB 1 2372476 We never put anything down the garbage disposal. We are on a septic system but even if we were hooked up to a sewer we have a compost pile that everything, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc goes into, except meat scraps which go to the dogs. Sat Mar 10 08:51:25 -0800 2007 2371482 12130 malibumike 2 5153549 For all you people who never put anything down the garbage disposal, why do you have one? Tue Nov 03 16:48:39 -0800 2009 2372476 24468 chicgail 1 2372484 Does your MIL have a garbage disposal at home? I have an extremely powerful garbage disposal (I think it is powered by a small car engine - jk). I can put many of the things that other posters have warned not to like citrus peels, onion tops and broccoli stems but even I can not put banana peels in the garbage disposal. Sat Mar 10 08:56:11 -0800 2007 2371482 71053 bonmann 2 2373537 Yes she does....and as a follow up to my original post....She just called my husband to complain that HER home disposal was clogged. She put a whole raw, rotten fish she never cooked down and it clogged it up. Now she has a sink full of nasy rotting fish water and doesn't know what to do. I just smiled to myself :) Sat Mar 10 17:30:19 -0800 2007 2372484 56380 JennyHunter 3 2380820 Too bad she doesn't get the irony and even more sadly would probably still stand behind her decision to put the banana peel into the disposal. Tue Mar 13 09:42:28 -0700 2007 2373537 71053 bonmann 1 2372495 I once clogged my drain with potato peels, and one other time with apple peels. Those were both years ago... by some strange coincidence, I have decided that apple desserts and mashed potatoes both taste better with the skins on, and have had no problems since. Otherwise I put pretty much everything down mine, incl. coffee filters, tea bags (minus the staples), broccoli stems... the only no-no's I can think of are peach/plum/avocado pits, paper towels and bones. I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet, so I will: the secret is to run a lot of water down the drain with, AND AFTER, the ground-up sludge. I think that's what keeps the pipes from clogging. Sat Mar 10 09:01:19 -0800 2007 2371482 56950 misterbrucie 1 2373037 I can't believe all this advice. I must have an extra good disposal- I put banana peels, citrus peels (just ground up 8 lemons) a whole chicken carcass, celery, broccolli anything Except coffee grounds, artichoke leaves, corn cobs and raw rice. Why have a garbage disposal if you can;t puyt garbage in it. I have had mine 15 years and no problems. Run lots of cold water during the process. Sat Mar 10 12:56:34 -0800 2007 2371482 13202 emilief 1 2373195 I'm with you emily. EVERYTHING (but grease) goes down. Never had a problem (except one time, with an incredible amount of grease--don't know what I was thinking). Tea bags, small bones, peels, even, ahem, coffee grounds. If not, why have it? Sat Mar 10 14:18:02 -0800 2007 2371482 24075 onefineleo 1 2373269 We can't have a garbage disposal because we have septic. And I really don't have a problem with just scraping the dishes into the garbage (although we are planning a compost pile so a lot of it will end up there anyway...). But it's funny, because a friend of ours was absolutely shocked when she heard that we did not, could not and had never had a garbage disposal. She already thought of us as living in the sticks. (which we don't) - I could just hear her mentally making that adjustment to "okaaay, now they must be living in a third world country." Sat Mar 10 15:07:35 -0800 2007 2371482 63569 flourgirl 2 2376463 I have good news for you. Whoever told you that you couldn't have a disposal because you are on septic is seriously mistaken. I have a septic tank, my parents have a septic tank, we both have disposals and have for many years. Some idiot told my husband that tale when we bought our first house in the sticks. I suffered w/out a disposal for years (even though I already knew my parents' worked fine). When we built our new house...further in the sticks...our plumber said not only could we HAVE a disposal, but the food was actually GOOD for it, the decomposing veggies would help to "digest" the other waste. Enjoy! Mon Mar 12 06:55:25 -0700 2007 2373269 10471 danna 3 2376855 We have been told repeatedly by both our county health department and sewerage authority that garbage disposals put a huge burden on septic systems and not to use one. As it can cost up to $50,000 to replace a septic system in my area, I do not care to test that theory. (By the way, it is the bacteria in the system that digest waste, not the decomposing veggies. So adding more waste to the system can, indeed, overwhelm the system.) Mon Mar 12 08:59:06 -0700 2007 2376463 63569 flourgirl 4 2377250 Well I can certainly understand why that price would make you reluctant to try it. My parents installed their 1st disposal in 1972. They had the septic tank replaced sometime in the late 90's. They thought 25 years was pretty good, but I'm sure if it had cost $50k, they would have been upset. Mon Mar 12 10:41:11 -0700 2007 2376855 10471 danna 4 2377264 If you have a septic and disposal you need to clean once a year, without a disposal, you probably need every other year. My septic cleaner tells me that toilet paper is a bigger issue in mine than food. And I put almost everything in the disposal. The other item he mentioned is the use of anti-bacterial soaps. Since the sepric thrives on bacteria, the introduction of ant-bacterial soap is causing problems with the septics. I am wondering if anyone else has heard this about the soaps. Mon Mar 12 10:44:35 -0700 2007 2376855 11290 jfood 5 2377648 I think that's the least of our problems with antibacterial soaps. They - along with the appalling over-use of antibiotics in food and medicine today - are causing resistant strains of bacteria. I don't allow the stuff in my house and have pitched a fit to get it banned at my office. Don't get me started on people taking antibiotics for colds....this is my number one soapbox.(sorry) But yeah, I have heard that you need to be careful with any strong cleaning products that can kill off the bacteria in the septic tank. We are sparing in our use of bleach in the laundry for this reason. Mon Mar 12 12:05:43 -0700 2007 2377264 10471 danna 6 2378965 Yep, we don't use a lot of bleach either. No laundry softeners, and we're also careful with the amount of detergent that we use. And I agree with you about the overuse of anti-bacterial anything. It's a terrible idea, and one of my main rants as well. I only keep the one bottle of antibacterial soap for cleaning cuts and scrapes and stuff like that. Mon Mar 12 17:17:17 -0700 2007 2377648 63569 flourgirl 5 2377699 Our septic guy said that laundry softener inhibits the bacteria, too. He said it's best not to use that, bleach, or anything antibacterial for the system. Mon Mar 12 12:17:08 -0700 2007 2377264 24126 amyzan 5 2377734 Yes I have heard the same thing about the anti-bacterial soaps and we don't use much of it. Just hand soap in one bathroom. But as far as the disposal goes, it's not worth it to me to pay the cost of pumping once a year (which is now up to around $250 - $300) just for the convienence of a garbage disposal. I still say that I just don't get the difference between scraping plates into the garbage or the sink. Scraping is scraping. Mon Mar 12 12:25:12 -0700 2007 2377264 63569 flourgirl 6 2377756 Let me add one more variable. I am not sure how often you have garbage pick-up, but we only have once a week. When I bone my chickens and then leave in the garbage for an average of 3.5 days, it makes for a mighty interesting smell in the garage. Correct that scraping is scraping but the disposal allows for a much cleaner smell around the garbage cans. Mon Mar 12 12:30:05 -0700 2007 2377734 11290 jfood 7 2378068 Good point. I have garbage pick up zero times per week. Sticks, you know. flourgirl: I want you to be happy. I will refrain from describing any further the joy of garbage disposal ownership ! Mon Mar 12 13:30:57 -0700 2007 2377756 10471 danna 8 2378470 Okay, I concede the garage garbage smell, we also only have garbage pickup once a week. Especially a problem in the summer. But the fact remains that we can't risk impairing an aging (40 year old) septic system even because of garage odor. As a matter of fact, because of all the issues related to having septic, we would never buy another house with septic again unless it was a brand new state of the art system. It is a very big weight around our necks that the cost of replacing a failed system has become so ridiculous. And thanks danna, i appreciate it! :) (and wow, you must REALLY be in the sticks.) Mon Mar 12 15:02:21 -0700 2007 2378068 63569 flourgirl 9 2378548 But you need to clean it every other year in any event so you are not willing to spend $150 extra a year to give you peace of mind on a potential $50K nightmare? Give this one a good think. Mon Mar 12 15:27:59 -0700 2007 2378470 11290 jfood 10 2378950 You do not need to pump systems every other year - assuming that your tank is large enough for the amount of people living in the home. A conservative number is every three years. We pump every three years and have never had a problem with our system and, according to the various vendors we've used, everything seems to be in working order. In addition, this is also what we have been instructed to do by our county BOH who happen to be under a great deal of pressure because of aging systems in the area, and have a lot at stake to keep the ones that aren't failing from doing so. Trust me, I am very well informed on this issue, and have already given it a "good think". Mon Mar 12 17:13:28 -0700 2007 2378548 63569 flourgirl 7 2401117 jfood, I use the Glad Odor Shield bags in my kitchen trash bin (garbage pickup once a week, and only have 1 bag of garbage a week, as it's just me, so the same bag is there all week) and it REALLY makes a difference on the smell - or lack thereof. Mon Mar 19 14:17:44 -0700 2007 2377756 10532 LindaWhit 8 2401596 Thanks LW. The Glad Odor Shield do not fit our compactor. So I continue to throw wet down the sink and dry inthe compactor and clean the septic annually. Mon Mar 19 16:31:19 -0700 2007 2401117 11290 jfood 9 2402988 Ahhh - compactor. Didn't think of that, obviously. Have never had one - just the regular tall kitchen trash can. Tue Mar 20 06:17:18 -0700 2007 2401596 10532 LindaWhit 1 2373291 Wow! I am amazed by what gets ground up in garbage disposals all over! I never had a garbage disposal while growing up. My friends all had them, and I can remember staring wide-eyed with envy and amazement while all the dinner scraps were sucked up and ground up in that amazing hole in the sink. Now that I have one, I find I do not rely on it, and rarely do I put anything in it beyond what is rinsed off the dinner plates (which isn't much! We like to eat!) I would never think to put banana peels, broccoli peels, chicken carcasses, celery, coffee grounds in there. Never! We often wonder where all the garbage comes from for just two people...well, we cook a lot! Maybe we should divert the trash to the disposal... After all, it just gets ground up and goes down that hole in the sink and then it's out of sight, out of mind, right? I must admit, after reading this thread I sent some lime slices down there and the smell was lovely! Wow. Do I need to get a life or what :) Sat Mar 10 15:18:24 -0800 2007 2371482 62994 sashimi73 1 2373354 We compost everything on that not-in-the-disposal list except for citrus peels and small chicken bones. The former take forever to decompose. The latter would probably have every raccoon in the neighborhood sniffing around our compost bin. We use the disposal for most plate scrapings -- and other light vegetable waste when there's too much snow to make it fun to tromp out to the compost bin. Sat Mar 10 15:50:14 -0800 2007 2371482 54833 ClaireWalter 1 2376936 I never put leftover pasta or potato peelings in the disposal. I put down about 6 ice cubes once a week. Mon Mar 12 09:23:12 -0700 2007 2371482 78502 diane419 1 2377670 It's easier to say what I won't put down it and one never should unless they want to replace it. Bones Shells from mollusks, crusteans (e.g. clams, oysters, crab, shrimp, lobster) Artichoke leaves potato peelings (the starch can clog your sink if you don't grind immediately with lots of water) Fruit pits I always put citrus peel down. It freshens the smell. Mon Mar 12 12:10:36 -0700 2007 2371482 16602 lisaf 2 2377757 a while ago my plumber friend told me to put lemon throught the disposal to make is smell better. I love the results and do it quite often. My bf runs Ice through every once in a while to sharpen the blades (? I don't know if it works or not) I don't put bones, banana peels, or anything hard and/or really fiborus through. Once, my bf put raw chicken skin down the disposal. The skin didn't grind up before going down the drain and ended up clogging our pipes. It was pretty gross we had to open up the pipes under the sink and pull the nasty chicken skin out. Neither one of us will ever make that mistake again! Mon Mar 12 12:30:09 -0700 2007 2377670 56307 amopdx 1 2377807 We put very little down our disposal, we try to remove any leftover food from the plates, & we also throw out any of the scraps from doing the prep work as well. We only really put eggshells, and the occasional lemon through the disposal. However the occasional foodstuffs some times sneak by us and go down the drain. My wife did accidentally run a shot glass through the disposal, and the Insinkerator disposal we have ground it up, & stopped working. I had to get a handy man out to get it working again. I was not about to stick my hand in there, and either get cut by the glass, or have it start up on me because it was jammed or something. Mon Mar 12 12:39:09 -0700 2007 2371482 26725 swsidejim 1 2381764 Hi all. Handyman again. Sounds like most of you agree with me about not putting alot down your disposal. And to all of you that insist............It just takes the bill of one plumber to make you a convert. At least I would think. So if your bread dough, potato peels, and starchy things are gonna go down the magic hole, think twice before you do it. And for those of you that don't, great. I love making money on the repair of your system. Use your system for gunky waste rinsed off plates, everything else in the trash. Otherwise, I will have my hand in your pocket eventually. For the record, I took out long stringy vegetable stems today. Looked kinda like spinach stems/green onions/unknown object. It wasn't stuck in the garbage disposal. No, it was stuck in the drain as it exited the disposal. Yes, citrus is a long used freshener. I have also seen some small capsules sold by hardware stores for the same purpose. Never used them or talked to anyone who did. Am I the only one who never smelled a bad smelling garbage disposal? Lots of bad smelling houses/apartments with said garbage disposals in them, but................ Again, use lots of water to flush the waste away. The "p-trap" or "J-bend" (same thing) under the sink is supposed to stop those odors from eminating from your pipes. And for the record, the "blades" in your disposal are not blades. You might think of them as hammers. There are no sharp edges on then. Think of them as two or so hammers banging against the food at incredible speed, shattering it into tiny pieces. Kinda how junkyard recyclers process all those old cars or metal. Put them in a hammer mill that strikes at high speed/impact until everything in it's path is shattered into manageable chunks. Hence, the firmer the debris in the disposal, the easier it is to break it apart. That is why stringy things don't get chopped up. They kinda ooze thru the holes, clogging things up. And to prove my point about ice down the disposal to sharpen the blades, have you ever heard of anyone sharpening a hammer?????????????????? BTW, grease is bad. Not on your disposal. Just in clogging up the pipes as it hardens. Sorry to be so snide. I just love this subject. Have a clog free day! Tue Mar 13 13:06:33 -0700 2007 2371482 19271 Handyman 2 2381789 H Before you leave. Is there a difference in your opinion depending on the horsepower of the disposal. If the machine is spinning faster and is stronger, does the water plus stuff leave the machine faster and is less likely to cause clogs. I would never put grease in any outbound pipe, but was wondering if a bigger is better theory holds true in your experience. Tue Mar 13 13:12:06 -0700 2007 2381764 11290 jfood 2 2381838 I have used those little lemon-scented pellets (my mom bought them for me, long story). They're ok. We've had a lot of Key limes around recently, and after squeezing them I throw the halves (they are small of course) down the disposal and it freshens things up fine. Tue Mar 13 13:23:07 -0700 2007 2381764 12858 Covert Ops 2 2664821 yeah i made the mistake of putting starch in the garbage disposal.. boo me.. man i made the plumber MAD as hell.. to my defense, i was a new college kid who didn't know better.. anyway, the plumber guy yelled at me and to this day, i NEVER EVER put starchy products in the garbage disposal... hahahah i do like to put citrus peel in tehre though... in fact i did that last night =) kinda my pet peeve when folks don't turn on the garbage disposal with the cold water running... i don't know why... oh and yes you shouldn't put hand in there, but once i was irritated (yes in college again) because a teaspoon had inadvertantly fallen in the garbage disposal and my roommate refused to just take it out because she said it was the "garbage disposal" and it was dirty. i remember being incredulous and just taking the teaspoon out. sheesh... Fri Jun 15 16:34:10 -0700 2007 2381764 89020 kinipela 1 2381790 Well, my disposal does smell kind of stale all the time, but in my defense, I am renting an at least 40 year old apartment, have been there a little over a year. God knows how many people have been through our place and how they handled the disposal. Tue Mar 13 13:12:14 -0700 2007 2371482 78611 aurora50 1 2382116 I've lived in two cities that banned them entirely, New York and Toronto (since lifted), and others that encouraged, or even mandated the things. I bought my first one at a Sears store in suburban Toronto, and they refused to make a service call to fix it when they learned I lived downtown. My first unit came with instructions to grind things such as beef rib bones to keep the mechanism in good shape. I quickly learned that trying to grind rib bone meant a service call. Many different foods caused it to jam. In my current unit, which is much more powerful and has an auto reverse, I can't grind artichoke leaves, avocado pits, coffee filters or tea bags, absorbent pads from supermarket meat packages, large meat bones, or healthy leaves pruned from most house and garden plants. Shellfish shells usually grind, but occasionally jam. Other things mentioned all seem OK. Asparagus, banana peels, broccoli, chicken bones, leeks, hard fruit pits, potato, rice, apples, etc, etc, all go down the drain without causing any problems. It won't grind, say, plastic wrap or a fork, but I didn't INTEND to attempt those tasks ;-). Citrus leavings are the best deodorizer ever and have never caused any trouble. Tue Mar 13 14:25:29 -0700 2007 2371482 23411 embee 1 2383122 Handyman again........ The horsepower of the unit will give the blades much more power to crush things such as bones. But the part you all seem to be missing is that this debris clogs THE PIPES. One big problem is at the baffle inside the drain pipe directly under the sink, to slow down the joining of the water from two sinks as they merge together in the pipes, but this is only if you have a double sink. If you look at a cross section of the pipe, you will see the pipe is split in half inside, making the opening 3/4" high instead of 1 1/2". Now you put the potato peels, bones, etc. in there in great amounts, and you really gum things up. Same applies for a single sink, but you get the idea. So, in answer to your question, it is not the horsepower or the garbage disposal per se, but the mess you cause in your drain as the debris exits. And sometimes it jams the disposal. And then add coffee filters, tea bags, etc. (I must admit that these are all new ideas to me) and you have increased the problem potential. Yikes. I'm glad it is not my home that my wife is doing this at. Tue Mar 13 19:37:05 -0700 2007 2371482 19271 Handyman 1 2383615 My roommate left a bowl of yellowy liquid out on the counter, in one of my cereal bowls. She wasn't home, so I called her to ask what it was. She said, "Oops. I forgot to throw out the CHICKEN GREASE." Gross! I've never disposed of it before, and she told me to throw it in a bag and then into the trash...I didn't want to deal with it leaking and all, so I just poured it down the disposal. The disposal still works, but I won't be thinking of my cereal bowl the same again. Wed Mar 14 00:01:27 -0700 2007 2371482 11006 chica 1 2383617 I just read this topic last week and knew what I not suppose to put in , but I did it anyway, it cost me $60 to fix it today Wed Mar 14 00:04:37 -0700 2007 2371482 80251 monkfanatic 1 2384649 Here's the simple rule: If you can't eat it and digest it yourself, then it shouldn't go in the disposal! Wed Mar 14 10:01:56 -0700 2007 2371482 13609 Scagnetti 1 2396053 Since garbage disposals are forbidden in my condo building but I luckily inherited an illegal one, I am fearful of causing problems with it and having to get it removed, possibly at gunpoint. Therefore I don't put down onion skins, shrimp shells, banana skins, grapefruit rinds, or any kind of bones including chicken and fish. In fact, if the debris can easily be picked up in my hand for transfer to the garbage bag (potato peelings, carrot scrapings etc) I don't put it down. But it is convenient for liquidy garbage like coffee grounds. I run a lot of water into it and sometimes put down some baking soda and vinegar as I read somewhere that when they effervesce (sp?) that lifts grease & crap off the sides of the pipes. Sat Mar 17 19:40:17 -0700 2007 2371482 15521 Querencia 1 2396693 I just bought a new house and it has a garbage disposal, my first one ever. So my question is, really what's the benefit of having one? I've gone my whole life without one, and I for the life of me just don't see a REASON that I need to use it, especially with the possibility of it clogging. Obviously most on here use their disposal, so what are the advantages of using the disposal versus throwing it in the garbage? Sun Mar 18 07:20:48 -0700 2007 2371482 15507 Rick 2 2397894 I suppose, if you're used to putting all solid waste in a trash can and taking it out daily (or more often), a garbage disposal doesn't make much sense. I think, though, that people who've had garbage disposals (and trash compactors too) find that they don't need to empty the trash nearly as often if they use the devices. From just the volume standpoint you have less trash to dispose of. But some people are more sensitive to odors than others, and some just can't stand the idea of trash in the kitchen. Whatever works for you. My Mom used to clean her house the day before her cleaning crew came....... she was a very neat person, so I never ever really understood that except in psychological terms. Sun Mar 18 15:44:22 -0700 2007 2396693 11405 Midlife 2 2399224 When you have a disposal, you can take the dirty pot, throw it in the sink, run water, let it soak a couple of minutes (or hours depending). Then you can dump/scrape the water and the loosened food into the sink. Without it you would be scraping like crazy into the trash, possibly repeatedly. The greatest thing about the disposal is that it allows a set-up like mine: butcher block counter, undermounted sink. I chop, I scrape into the sink, I run the disposal. No separate cutting boards, no crap around a sink mount, no carrying waste to the trash can and dropping/dripping on the floor. Also, say you have a used plate w/ only salad dressing and a couple of lettuce leaves. You just rinse, and stick in the dishwasher. You have elimnated the step of walking over to the trash can and scraping those leaves out. Mon Mar 19 06:08:25 -0700 2007 2396693 10471 danna 2 2399425 It depends on your set up in the kitchen. If your trash can is far from the sink it saves the steps. I have 2 disposals and a trash compactor located right next to my main sink. For me I can either scrape into the compactor and the put the dish in the sink for pre-DW or do it all in one swoop into the sink. Not a huge biggie. But the HUGE advantages are 2: 1 - Smell. My garbarge cans are in the garage and the garage is not on grade with the kitchen. I carry the garbage down the stairs through the basement and into the garage. Likewise I only have once a week pick up. So if I placed the disposal material into the garage the smell can get pretty bad after a week. Think one week old chicken bones. 2 - Mess. Unless you are very luck, garbage bags break. If mine break, it's a pretty easy clean up, not tomatoes and potatoes and junk all over the floor. And as Danna points out it is a very easy process to clean up after a meal. Grab a plate, run it with the leftovers into the sink, flip a switch and bingo, its gone. Mon Mar 19 07:35:33 -0700 2007 2396693 11290 jfood 1 2396930 I's gone....just like that. No collecting and putting somewhere else, no smell. The sink, after cutting and preparing, is clean in a flash. I've always had one, use it tons, (except for grease), and it's fine. Sun Mar 18 09:24:47 -0700 2007 2371482 24075 onefineleo 1 2417460 I must admit I put absolutely everything down mine without hesitation. So far, no problems, knock on wood. Sat Mar 24 13:12:40 -0700 2007 2371482 82243 ArikaDawn 1 2428976 Jenny: young lady If I could reach you I would give you a great big hug for posting this thread.look how many people have answered you. and I know there is alot of people that are going to laugh at alot of answers here but they are going to learn from this e-mail. you could probably write a book on it. thanks again for this e-mail. Wed Mar 28 10:58:30 -0700 2007 2371482 50491 bigjimbray 2 2437824 Nothin' these days. One of the worst things to do for waste water systems. I now have a budding worm composter (no the thing doesn't smell bad) for plant based kitchen waste as well as egg shells, coffee grinds and tea bags. I've been told worms avoid composting citrus. Even newspaper and egg cartons go into the worm composter. Hair also but I find that a bit too gross:) So I will have nice compost for my garden, liquid fertilizer as well. My town does three can recycling (one for "solid waste", recyclables and garden clippings). The only food waste that go in the garbage now are bones, cow milk based waste. Garbage disposal is very happy not being used... Fri Mar 30 23:45:16 -0700 2007 2428976 55542 drmimi 1 2437928 You're not crazy! I stopped putting anything down the disposal. It's easier just having a bowl next to the cutting board in which to put onion and garlic skins, celery discards, other fibrous vegetable discards, excess meat fat, et cetera. Then discarding these things in the trash. It's much cheaper than calling the plumber! Sat Mar 31 05:07:31 -0700 2007 2371482 11977 ChiliDude 1 2600405 I once lived in an apartment and got the disposal stopped up with some fibrous vegetable parts. The landlord used a wrench on the bottom of the disposal to get the disposal turning, THEN - here is the good part - he grabbed a BEER BOTTLE, smashed it in the sink, and ran the whole bottle down the disposal. Took several minutes to chew it all up, and talk about LOUD. But believe me, all the vegetable fibers were GONE when the bottle finished going through! Thu May 24 20:00:20 -0700 2007 2371482 100986 psmullen 1 2600747 Wow! Very interesting! I put almost EVERYTHING in ours. It is very powerful, but I guess that doesn't mean everything. The things I don't put: large bones like drumstick bones; ice, chicken fat or other fat that is in large chunks, tea bags, paper products (OK, that never occurred to me). That's probably it. I put watermelon rinds, broccoli stems, chicken backs, definitely all food scraps. Thu May 24 23:56:37 -0700 2007 2371482 93291 boltnut55 1 2601796 does anyone else flush some things down the toilet? i'll send old soups or sauces down the toilet, so as not to stink up my kitchen drains. nothing too chunky or solid though. is this a stupid idea? Fri May 25 10:39:40 -0700 2007 2371482 93023 britterbeezer 1 2662305 I'm never putting anything down the garbage disposal ever again. I put a tiny piece of cooked chicken down the garbage disposal and turned it on. 2 days later I noticed flies in the house, I had no clue where they were coming from. The next day I noticed whenever I turned on the sink they would buzz around me. There were no dishes in the sink, the food was all put away... so I thought maybe they are coming from inside the sink, which to me sounded like a crazy idea. I spraid lysol down the sink and all of the sudden black worms crawled out and flies flew out. I ran out of the house and almost threw up. After a few minutes I went back in, grabbed raids and started spraying it down the sink. I let burning hott water run down it and turned on the garbage disposal. Its been two days since I've done it, and I still see those flies. I think they went from the sink and laid their eggs somewhere else in the house. I'm calling an exterminator tomorrow. The garbage disposal is about 5 years old and barely was used. My parents and their friends acted like everyone knew not to put food down the garbage disposal. They thought I put fruit down the garbage disposal, I thought I would sound even more stupid if I said it was a piece of chicken. Has this happened to anyone?!? Thu Jun 14 22:49:15 -0700 2007 2371482 105417 CollegeStudent 1 2663242 i grew up in a house that had a septic tank so my parents always said not to put large chunks of anything down there. so when i was helping my boyfriend in college clean up after dinner at his parents house i was shocked to see him emptying plates full of chicken bones down his disposal. when i said something he was like "it's a GARBAGE disposal. it's made to get rid of your garbage." so, why is it called a garbage disposal anyway if you really can't put garbage in there? Fri Jun 15 09:11:44 -0700 2007 2371482 12078 rebs 1 5152096 I worked in a kitchen at a summer camp for 3 years. They had septic systems, and put 3 or more coffee cans full of all kids of food waste down the disposal after every meal (18 meals a week for 8 weeks over the summer). We didn't put grease from cooking down, but almost any other food product. We tried to keep bones out, but since the kids scraped their own plates into the coffee cans, invariably some snuck through. After running all the food through, if there was anything rattling around down there (besides silverware) we'd just dump some ice down; the ice traps the food (bones, banana peels, fruit pits, etc) against the 'blades' (I know, they're really hammers, but some things, like banana peels, get cut rather than broken) causing them to be ground up enough to go down the drain. In 3 summers, we only plugged the drain once, because we decided to see how fast we could get all 3 coffee cans of junk to go down, so we dumped all three cans in, and then started the disposal (Hey, we were just kids!) Needless to say, the drain was unhappy, and promptly plugged, and then blew apart at the compression fittings, spraying lovely ground up leftovers all over the bottom of the sink, dishwaher, wall, floor, my legs, etc. I then became the plumber and cleaned everything out and put it back together; donned my janitor hat and cleaned the kitchen; went back to washing dishes (2 hours later!), and then went and took a shower. I've found that a powerful disposal will grind most anything, except stones and silverware, enough to get it into the drain. It is the responsibility of the disposal operator to make sure what the disposal puts into the drain goes all the way down the drain. What's that? How do you do that? you ask. Well, as others have pointed out, LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF WATER! If it is smaller than the diameter of your narrowest pipes, it will happily go down if there is enough water carrying it. Someone mentioned cold water, but didn't say why, so I will. Cold water solidifies grease, which causes it to float down your pipes rather harmlessly. If you use hot water, grease will melt in the disposal, and then when it reaches a cooler part of you waste plumbing, it will grab hold of the side and hang on. Also cold water causes many things to harden, which although it sounds like nonsense, helps the disposal; since the disposal would rather break things than cut then, harder things are better because they are more brittle and break rather than flexing and bouncing around down there. Happy grinding! Tue Nov 03 09:32:09 -0800 2009 2371482 1121387 rent_a_husband 2 5152529 It is still not recommended to use a garbage disposal if you have a septic sytem. The one for a summer camp probably also had a great deal more capacity thane the average system built for a home. But here in NJ, septic systems can easily run over $30,000 to replace. The message is that it is not wise to put any more into the system than is absolutely necessary - and garbage is not necessary. Tue Nov 03 11:35:32 -0800 2009 5152096 63569 flourgirl 1 5152873 if it fits in the hole and spins then it goes in. i will, occasionally, run a couple of trays of ice cubes down the disposal, especially if i've been putting fibrous or leafy things in there. i will also run the disposal when i drin my pasta water to disolve any grease/gunk. i've been doing this for years and never had a problem, as the rule in my Hut is 'No Garbage In The Trash.' Tue Nov 03 13:10:41 -0800 2009 2371482 12603 ScubaSteve 2 5154980 Clearly, experiences and situations differ. The answer to this depends a lot on your situation. If you are connected to a municipal system and don't really worry about where the stuff is going (it's somebody else's problem!), AND you have a powerful (e.g. 1 horsepower disposer) AND adequate piping, then you can put just about anything through there, although if you do fibrous stuff like onion skins in quantity it's always a good idea to go slowly. If you are weak in any of those criteria, best to be careful, especially if you have a septic tank--there the problem is not your disposer per se, but what the tank can handle and especially not taking a chance on eventually plugging up your drainfield, which would involve big big bucks to fix (as an aside, for the same reason be careful what toilet paper you use. Quilted Northern, which is NSF rated, is my choice--Target carries the same paper under their house name). IMO, never put grease down your pipes no matter what. If something greasy goes down, I think an immediate and long flush with hot water is a good idea. Lots cheaper and easier than calling the plumber. I have heard it said that some occasional chicken bones are good to grind up because the bits of bone help scour the pipes out. Whether this is true I don't know. I grew up in a small town in Southern Indiana that became famous in the late 1940's for "outlawing garbage." Basically everybody in town got a disposal, and the city stopped picking up garbage, and would not take your trash if there was garbage in there. They built a new sewage treatment plant to handle the load. Worked great, and it did show that you can in fact grind up and flush down just about everything if the system is set up to handle it. Wed Nov 04 08:43:07 -0800 2009 5152873 10668 johnb 3 5156309 no septic tank. i'm in a 110 unit highrise. Wed Nov 04 14:55:57 -0800 2009 5154980 12603 ScubaSteve 1 5155615 I put essentially everything down mine- bones, shrimp tails, coffee filters, celery, citrus peels, pits etc. I have a large one, it is 1 3/4 hp and think it may be a commerial one. previoulsy, I had a small one that would barely grind anything, Wed Nov 04 11:31:30 -0800 2009 2371482 158016 cassoulady 1 5177450 Forgive me for not reading all the posts. If I'm being repetitive, I apologize. We recently re-did our church kitchen. This is not a mega-church, for most coffee hours looking at 40 or 50 people. This is not a heavy duty commercial kitchen, more like a residential kitchen on steroids. Two stoves, a 36 inch refigerator, a 36 inch freezer, two sinks, stainless counters, etc. None of it is commercial quality or even high end (wolf/subzero) residential. We did get some "better" garbage disposals. The other day while we were cleaning up, I was amazed at how many people have no idea how to use a garbage disposal, and what they would and wouldn't put down it. What surprised me most was how people used it. Most common was to force as much food scrap down the drain as possible, turn on the switch, then turn it off and turn the hot water on full blast. This was followed by an exclamation along the lines of "see why we don't have one at home, these things never work." One i managed to actually get water flowing thru the pipes again, they were clearly amazed that these things actually can work. A few of them actually began to understand the process.... turn on the water.... turn on the blades... feed the scraps down at a reasonable rate... listen to the noise the machine is making.... oh, that sounds like flatware.... what an education for all of us. Thu Nov 12 18:39:21 -0800 2009 2371482 57890 KaimukiMan 1 5177459 Put her up at a hotel. A house guest who does not respect your boundaries should be kept away. Thu Nov 12 18:44:06 -0800 2009 2371482 11995 pikawicca