How to Replace a Garbage Disposal

xiv tips and tricks to avoid leaks and mistakes.

Time

A total day

Complexity

Beginner

Cost

$101–250

Introduction

When yous flip the switch to turn on the garbage disposal and all you get is a hum-or a loud, metal-on-metal grinding noise-you know something'southward wrong. Fortunately, replacing a disposal isn't hard, even if you haven't done much plumbing. We talked to veteran plumbers and collected their best tips for a smooth, trouble-free installation.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • New garbage disposal
  • Plumber's putty
  • Silicone

Projection stride-past-footstep (12)

Step 1

Know the within of your garbage disposal

Figure A: Figure it out first

When you purchase a new disposal, the box will comprise all the parts you need to install it. Before you jump into removing the erstwhile unit, take a few moments to familiarize yourself with all these parts. Put them together in the correct order and attempt out the locking machinery. Agreement how everything fits together ahead of time will make the chore a cinch.

Click hither to learn how to clean a garbage disposal

Step 2

Make sure it's broken before starting garbage disposal installation

Replace a Garbage Disposal make sure it is broken

3 things to effort earlier removing the garage disposal

A disposal that seems to be dead might be revived with a simple ready. Here are 3 things to try:

  • Look for a jam. Something too tough to grind, such equally a slice of glass, could exist jamming the motor. Plow off the ability and water, then unplug the disposal. (If information technology's hardwired, turn off the breaker.) Remove the condom baffle inside the bleed-most just lift out-and shine a flashlight into the hole. Fish out the obstruction with a pair of tongs or needle-nose pliers.
  • Plow the motor manually. You'll need a hex wrench. Some disposals come with ane bent at a user-friendly angle, but if you don't have information technology, you tin can purchase one at a hardware store or employ a standard Allen wrench. Rotate the wrench back and forth equally shown above until the motor turns a full revolution, so remove the wrench and switch on the motor.
  • Printing the reset button. If your motor has overheated by working besides long, wait five minutes for it to cool downward, and then push the reset 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 commencement after manually turning it, try pushing the reset button.

Step three

Disposal system anatomy

Replace a Garbage Disposal anatomy of the garbage disposal

How to install a garbage disposal and how information technology all works together

If you take a double sink, the best way to plumb a disposal is to run its belch tube straight to a tee below the reverse sink. The tube must drib about i/iv in. in lodge to drain properly.

Knock out the knockout!

Anybody who's installed a few disposals is aware of this fault: Forgetting to remove the dishwasher knockout earlier hanging the unit.

If you take a dishwasher, the first thing you should practise 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 don't want this plastic disc to be the first thing that the disposal tries to grind up!

This is likewise the best time to add the cord and plug to your disposal. It'due south really bad-mannered to add these after y'all take completed this how to install a garbage disposal project.

15 Things You Should Never Put Down Your Garbage Disposal

Step four

Support the weight

Replace a Garbage Disposal make a platform

Get together a back up to remove the garbage disposal

Garbage disposals can weigh 15 lbs. or more. That's a lot of weight to suddenly catch with one hand while you're turning the lower mounting bracket with the other hand.

Before you learn how to remove a garbage disposal, unhook anything, assemble a support under the unit using a pigment tin and scraps of woods. Leave a 1/four-in. to 1/2-in. gap under the unit of measurement and so it can drop a bit. Use the same support to help when you are installing a garbage disposal.

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Step 5

Don't forget the cord

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 has a string and plug, you can remove the whole assembly and reinstall it on the new unit. (Instructions are included with the new disposal.) Or y'all can simply buy a new cord and plug when you purchase the disposal. They're ordinarily located together in the store.

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

Footstep 6

Ready for a new discharge tube

Replace a Garbage Disposal prepare for a new discharge tube

Salve a trip to the store by reusing the discharge tube

Your quondam discharge tube probably won't be the right length for your new disposal. If information technology's likewise long, simply connect information technology to the disposal, mark it and cut it with a hacksaw for your garbage disposal installation. (Loosen the other pipe connections, if necessary, to insert the tube back into the tee.) If the old discharge tube is too brusk, you may accept to make a time-wasting trip to the store. To avoid this, make certain the new garbage disposal installation kit includes a tube, or buy i separately at the same fourth dimension for about $3.

Shortcut: Proceed 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 expert that the mounting brackets on the new unit will fit only fine. To detect out, remove the old disposal and install the new flange on information technology. If it fits, you tin install the new disposal using the former flange.

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Step 7

Don't struggle with the snap ring

Replace a Garbage Disposal Don't struggle with the snap ring

A pull a fast one on to remove information technology

The snap ring fits into a groove on the lower end of the sink flange. When y'all're working under the sink, it prevents the upper mounting subclass from falling off. Removing an sometime snap ring tin can be frustrating-unless you know this play tricks: Starting at the interruption in the ring, insert a thin-blade screwdriver between the ring and the flange. Pull downwards on the band with the screwdriver'south blade and walk the blade around the ring. The band will pop right off.

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

Step 8

Weigh downwardly the sink flange

Replace a Garbage Disposal Weigh down the sink flange

Preclude shifting

Afterwards you lot install the new sink flange, you don't want it shifting around when you lot're assembling the parts underneath. Movement of the flange could intermission the seal between the flange and the sink, inviting a leak. Your best bet is to ask a helper to press down on the sink flange, or if you're working lone, find something to weigh it downward, such every bit the one-time disposal. Place an old towel nether the weight then yous don't scratch the sink. If the lesser of your sink is quite concave, the old disposal might not contact the flange. In that case, identify a tin can on the flange, then weigh downwardly the can.

Step ix

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 ring rides up a set of ramps on the upper ring-pretty neat! Only the final inch or so of rotation requires a fair amount of forcefulness.

The easiest way to utilize that force is to squeeze them together using natural language-and-groove pliers, such every bit Channellocks. Yous'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 about educational activity sheets-squeezing tin't disturb the position of the sink flange and crusade it to leak. Plus, it's easier on the wrists.

Step 10

Compare outlet heights

Replace a Garbage Disposal compare outlet heights

Measure out the distance

A disposal's discharge tube must slant about 1/iv in. downhill in order for it to drain properly (see Figure A). Creating that drop may be a small problem if the outlet on your new disposal is lower than the outlet on your old 1.

To be prepared, measure out the distance from the outlet to the top of each disposal before you remove the old unit of measurement. If the new unit's outlet is lower, you must also lower the tee that the discharge pipage connects to. Loosen the ii basics that connect the tee to the tailpiece in a higher place and the trap below. Try lowering the tee to see if the tailpiece is long enough. If it's non, you'll have to supercede it with one that's slightly longer.

Garbage disposal replacement toll: Spend a piddling more

You tin can buy a 1/3-hp disposal for $80 or less, but our experts suggest that a more expensive unit with at least 3/four hp would exist a ameliorate choice. The more powerful the motor, the less chance it will jam. In addition, higher-priced disposals are generally quieter and have longer warranties. If y'all need to supersede the splash baby-sit as office of your garbage disposal installation, take a look at this guide.

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Step 11

Silicone seals all-time

Replace a Garbage Disposal Mold Free Silicone

A more 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, at that place's virtually no chance-now or later-that the flange will leak.

Withal, when it's fourth dimension to replace the disposal and the sink flange again as office of your garbage disposal installation, you lot should know that old silicone is much harder to remove than erstwhile plumber'southward putty. But that'southward why it works improve!

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Step 12

Inspect the plumbing offset

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 store to buy a new garbage disposal. You might want to replace more than merely the disposal itself, and then you may also brand a list and be prepared earlier your garbage disposal installation!