How to Replace a Garbage Disposal

14 tips and tricks to avert leaks and mistakes.

Time

A full solar day

Complication

Beginner

Price

$101–250

Introduction

When you flip the switch to plow on the garbage disposal and all you get is a hum-or a loud, metal-on-metal grinding noise-you know something's wrong. Fortunately, replacing a disposal isn't difficult, even if you haven't done much plumbing. Nosotros talked to veteran plumbers and collected their all-time tips for a smoothen, trouble-gratuitous installation.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • New garbage disposal
  • Plumber's putty
  • Silicone

Project step-by-stride (12)

Step 1

Know the inside of your garbage disposal

Figure A: Effigy 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 sometime unit of measurement, take a few moments to familiarize yourself with all these parts. Put them together in the correct order and try out the locking mechanism. Agreement how everything fits together alee of fourth dimension will make the job a sure-fire.

Click here to larn how to clean a garbage disposal

Pace 2

Make sure it'due south broken before starting garbage disposal installation

Replace a Garbage Disposal make sure it is broken

3 things to endeavour before removing the garage disposal

A disposal that seems to be dead might be revived with a simple fix. Here are three things to try:

  • Look for a jam. Something likewise tough to grind, such as a piece of glass, could be jamming the motor. Turn off the power and water, and so unplug the disposal. (If it's hardwired, turn off the breaker.) Remove the prophylactic baffle within the drain-most only lift out-and shine a flashlight into the hole. Fish out the obstacle with a pair of tongs or needle-nose pliers.
  • Plow the motor manually. You'll demand a hex wrench. Some disposals come with one bent at a convenient angle, but if you don't have it, you can buy i at a hardware store or utilize a standard Allen wrench. Rotate the wrench back and forth as shown above until the motor turns a total revolution, so remove the wrench and switch on the motor.
  • Press the reset push button. If your motor has overheated by working too long, await five minutes for it to cool down, then push the reset button (it'southward usually located on the underside of the disposal). The motor may too have overheated considering of a jam. If the motor doesn't beginning later manually turning information technology, try pushing the reset push.

Step iii

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 yous take a double sink, the best manner to plumb a disposal is to run its discharge tube straight to a tee below the contrary sink. The tube must drop about ane/iv in. in club to drain properly.

Knock out the knockout!

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

If y'all have a dishwasher, the first thing you should do subsequently removing the disposal from the box is to punch out the knockout with a hammer and a screwdriver. Fish out the knockout past reaching downwards inside the disposal. You lot don't want this plastic disc to exist the start thing that the disposal tries to grind upwardly!

This is as well the best fourth dimension to add the cord and plug to your disposal. It's really awkward to add these later you lot have completed this how to install a garbage disposal project.

fifteen Things You lot Should Never Put Downward Your Garbage Disposal

Step 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's a lot of weight to suddenly catch with ane hand while you're turning the lower mounting bracket with the other hand.

Before y'all acquire how to remove a garbage disposal, unhook anything, assemble a back up nether the unit of measurement using a paint tin and scraps of wood. Go out a 1/4-in. to i/2-in. gap nether the unit of measurement and so it can drop a chip. Use the aforementioned support to help when y'all are installing a garbage disposal.

How to Unclog a Sink

Step 5

Don't forget the string

Replace a Garbage Disposal don't forget the cord

Buy new or reuse the garbage disposal cord

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

If yous're not comfortable making electrical connections for your garbage disposal installation, y'all tin can buy a disposal that already has a cord attached. Inquire at your dwelling center or appliance store, or search online for 'garbage disposal with string fastened.

Step 6

Ready for a new discharge tube

Replace a Garbage Disposal prepare for a new discharge tube

Save a trip to the store by reusing the discharge tube

Your old belch tube probably won't be the right length for your new disposal. If information technology's also long, simply connect it to the disposal, marker 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 old discharge tube is too short, you may have to make a time-wasting trip to the store. To avert this, make certain the new garbage disposal installation kit includes a tube, or purchase 1 separately at the same time for about $3.

Shortcut: Continue the flange

If your one-time sink flange is undamaged and tight, with no signs of leakage, you lot can probably get out it in place. Chances are skilful that the mounting brackets on the new unit will fit but fine. To discover out, remove the old disposal and install the new flange on it. If it fits, you can install the new disposal using the one-time flange.

Unclog a Kitchen Sink

Pace 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 ring fits into a groove on the lower end of the sink flange. When you're working nether the sink, it prevents the upper mounting bracket from falling off. Removing an old snap ring can be frustrating-unless y'all know this fob: Starting at the suspension in the band, insert a thin-blade screwdriver between the band and the flange. Pull down on the ring with the screwdriver's blade and walk the blade around the ring. The ring will pop right off.

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

Step 8

Counterbalance down the sink flange

Replace a Garbage Disposal Weigh down the sink flange

Preclude shifting

After you install the new sink flange, y'all don't want it shifting effectually when you're assembling the parts underneath. Motility of the flange could break 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 y'all're working alone, find something to weigh it down, such as the old disposal. Identify an old towel nether the weight and so you don't scratch the sink. If the lesser of your sink is quite concave, the sometime disposal might not contact the flange. In that instance, place a tin on the flange, so weigh down the can.

Step 9

Tighten with pliers

Replace a Garbage Disposal tighten with pliers

Easier on the wrists

When yous hang the new disposal, rotating the lower mounting ring tightens the seal between the disposal and the sink flange. The lower band rides upwards a set of ramps on the upper ring-pretty neat! Just the final inch or so of rotation requires a fair corporeality of force.

The easiest mode to apply that force is to squeeze them together using tongue-and-groove pliers, such as Channellocks. Y'all'll need medium or large pliers to practice this. Different prying on the lower band with a screwdriver or hex wrench-the method recommended in nigh educational activity sheets-squeezing tin't disturb the position of the sink flange and cause it to leak. Plus, information technology'due south easier on the wrists.

Step 10

Compare outlet heights

Replace a Garbage Disposal compare outlet heights

Measure the altitude

A disposal's discharge tube must camber nigh 1/4 in. downhill in order for it to drain properly (see Effigy A). Creating that drop may exist a small problem if the outlet on your new disposal is lower than the outlet on your old one.

To be prepared, measure the distance from the outlet to the top of each disposal before you lot remove the old unit. If the new unit's outlet is lower, you must also lower the tee that the discharge pipage connects to. Loosen the two nuts that connect the tee to the tailpiece above and the trap beneath. Attempt lowering the tee to run into if the tailpiece is long enough. If it'southward non, you'll accept to supplant it with one that'south slightly longer.

Garbage disposal replacement cost: Spend a little more

You can buy a one/3-hp disposal for $80 or less, simply our experts advise that a more expensive unit of measurement with at least iii/four hp would be a better pick. The more powerful the motor, the less run a risk it volition jam. In addition, college-priced disposals are generally quieter and accept longer warranties. If you lot need to replace the splash guard as function of your garbage disposal installation, take a look at this guide.

How to Get Rid of Anything

Step 11

Silicone seals best

Replace a Garbage Disposal Mold Free Silicone

A more reliable seal

Plumber's putty is typically recommended for sealing the sink flange to the sink itself, just silicone will provide a more than reliable seal. With silicone, there's near no chance-at present or afterward-that the flange will leak.

However, when it's time to supercede the disposal and the sink flange again as part of your garbage disposal installation, yous should know that old silicone is much harder to remove than old plumber'southward putty. But that'due south why information technology works amend!

Things Y'all've Probably Never Cleaned (just Really Should!)

Footstep 12

Inspect the plumbing kickoff

Replace a Garbage Disposal inspect the plumbing

Look for leakage

Expect over all the pipes under your sink for any sign of leakage before heading to the shop to buy a new garbage disposal. You might want to supervene upon more than just the disposal itself, and then you may every bit well make a listing and exist prepared earlier your garbage disposal installation!