Oh pshaw, on Wed 19 Dec 2007 06:32:48p, Julie Bove meant to say...

> Do you have one? Do you use it?
>
> I ask because I have one that I very rarely use. My sink has a tendency
> to clog and every time I use the disposal, I fear that it will clog
> again.
>
> When we bought this house about 3 years ago, the sink was clogged. I
> knew this. The plumber came out and snaked out the main line. Fine.
> Until I began canning all those apples and pears. I put tons of peels
> and cores down the sink. There is no doubt in my mind I overworked the
> poor disposal.
>
> Called the plumber again. Was told never to put peels of any kind down
> the sink. Or cores. Or seeds. Fine.
>
> Left the house one day while husband was steam cleaning the carpets. I
> begged him not to put the dirty water down the kitchen sink because I
> was tired of it clogging. Told him instead to put it down the sink in
> the garage. Why do we have a sink in there? I don't know, but we do.
> So what did he do? Put it down the kitchen sink.
>
> I came home to a clogged sink. Couldn't manage to unclog it myself
> which I sometimes could by bailing and plunging and running the disposal
> until it released whatever was the problem.
>
> Called the plumber again. He said this time the problem was paint
> chips. White paint chips. I finally determined that it wasn't paint
> chips but egg shells. Or egg peels. Yes, peels. What I was told
> before never to put down there. He also told me that all I needed to do
> in the case of a clog was remove some little piece underneath the sink
> and clean it out. I was kind of afraid to do this for fear of not
> getting it back on right.
>
> About two weeks went by and yes indeedy I had to call the plumber again!
> This time I have no clue what the cause was, but I was told I needed a
> new disposal. Fine. Also had him put in a new faucet because that was
> starting to leak. And he had to replace some pipes because he said
> those were leaking. Whatever.
>
> So he did all this work and then told me never to USE the disposal. I
> was like... Say what? Why do I have it then? He told me a disposal
> was only meant to handle the lone bite of meat, bit of gravy or couple
> of peas left on a plate. It could handle that just fine, but it could
> not handle large amounts of food and would get clogged if I put too much
> down it. Said my best bet was never to put food down it deliberately
> and to run plenty of hot water down it every day.
>
> Oddly, each time the plumbers came, they commented that there was no
> grease in the trap. They said most clogs were caused by grease but mine
> never were. My parents told me years ago never to put grease down the
> sink and I never did.
>
> But I find this hard to believe that I can never use the disposal. I've
> lived in plenty of places and most of them had disposals. I've never
> had problems like this. Except for the time I tried to put the daisies
> down the disposal. I figured they were kind of like salad. But I've
> also been told salad should never go down the disposal either. In fact
> I tried looking it up and found all sorts of conflicting advice on what
> I should or should not put down it.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
>
>

Poor Julie! What a mess to deal with. We don't currently have a garbage
disposal because we're on a septic system and having one is ill advised.
However, I have had In-Sink-Erator units in the last 4 houses I've lived in
and never had a clogging problem. There was very little we didn't grind up
in it, including small bones, corn cobs...really tough stuff. In 3 of
those houses the plumbing was new, the 4th house was older. However, I
attribute it to the particular units we had. If the grinding mechanism is
doing a good job, there's no really good reason for the drain to clog.
Unless, of couse, the drains have a lot of build up in them and it makes
passing anything but liquid difficult to get through.

--
Wayne Boatwright

Date: Dec 19,2007

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Countdown 'til Christmas
3dys 19hrs 4mins 4secs
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When I die, I want to go peacefully in
my sleep like my father did, not
screaming in terror like his passengers.