Garbage Disposal Repair & Installation
Scope of Work
Garbage Disposal Repair & Installation
FAQs
Find quick answers to the most common questions about our plumbing services. These FAQs cover what to expect, service details, and helpful tips to make scheduling easier.
A humming disposal means the motor is getting power but the impeller plate is jammed — usually by a foreign object (utensil, fruit pit, chicken bone) or congealed food debris. First step is the reset button on the unit's bottom; if it pops, let it cool, then try again. If still humming, we use a 1/4" hex jam wrench in the bottom hex socket to manually rotate the impellers and clear the jam. Running a humming disposal for more than a few seconds will burn out the motor — call us first if it's been a while.
Water under a disposal-equipped sink can come from four places: the sink-flange-to-disposal mounting connection (the snap ring fails or the putty dries out), the dishwasher inlet hose connection, the discharge tube to the trap, or a crack in the disposal housing itself. We isolate by running water at the sink (which exercises the flange and dishwasher connections) and visual-inspecting under load. Repairs are usually a re-putty + re-tighten of the mounting assembly, or a new gasket on the discharge — quick fixes on the same call.
Disposal odors are bacteria growing on food residue stuck to the splash baffle (the rubber flaps inside the sink opening) and the upper grinding chamber. We physically clean both with a brush and an enzyme cleaner, then run a maintenance cycle with ice and rock salt to scour the impellers. For ongoing prevention: cold water plus disposal use for 30 seconds after grinding, citrus peels (lemon, lime, orange) once a week, and avoid putting grease, fibrous vegetables, or starchy foods (pasta, rice, potato peels) down the unit.
Yes — connecting a new dishwasher to an existing disposal requires removing the knockout plug inside the disposal's dishwasher inlet, then routing the dishwasher drain hose with a proper high-loop (or air gap if local code requires one — LA and OC both require air gaps on new installations). We pull the necessary permits, verify the dishwasher drain hose is the correct size, and ensure the disposal motor capacity can handle the additional dishwasher load. Most 1/2 HP and larger disposals handle a single residential dishwasher fine.