Garbage Disposal - Installing and Using It

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Here are pictures of a typical garbage disposal installation. Note the fire extinguisher under the kitchen sink. Does your home have one? The second picture shows the dishwasher connection and how the disposal connects to the drain line. Click on the pictures to enlarge.

A garbage disposal in the kitchen sink allows the homeowner to get rid of food waste quickly and easily. It also allows you freedom from smelly garbage and requires very little maintenance.



IMPORTANT NOTE: A disposal should never be installed where you have a septic tank. The septic tank waste system will not handle the extra requirements generated by food waste. A garbage disposal should always be connected to central or city sewer.


Another thing to remember is to run the water after the disposal is turned off. This allows the waste in the drain lines to carry everything further down the lines. For instance, if you grind up pasta and turn the disposal and the water off at the same time, the pasta can re-solidify in the lines causing problems the next time you use the sink or compounding problems later.

Disposals will not work well with pasta, a little is OK. A lot will cause you problems. Check out our pasta story!


Follow the manufacturer’s instructions that came with you disposal. Installation is very straight forward and even if you are not experienced, the installation time should be less than three hours.


There should be an electrical switch near the sink and an outlet box under the sink cabinet. When disposal motors are running, they tend to shake. Even though it is tempting to bypass installing a outlet box under the sink and run the romex wire directly to the disposal, don’t do it. Romex is solid wire cable. It is not rated for vibration. Eventually it will fracture, arc and possibly start a fire.


The correct method is to place an outlet under the sink and run a standard electrical cord with a plug to the disposal. Some of the time the builder will have placed the outlet with one side of the outlet set aside for the disposal and the other side dedicated for the dishwasher.


Installation of the disposal is the easy part and there are many ways to accomplish this. The only wrong way is to have improper drainage.


The outlet SHOULD ALWAYS be higher than the drain line. This way waste and waste water will not stand inside the disposal.


Don’t forget to clean it the disposal monthly and never stick your hand in it!



Here is a picture of a disposal with the drain sloping in the wrong direction. It also uses a piece of flex tubing, the bellows in this material collects small bits of food. This constantly caused drain problems until it was removed. More important is how the drain line incorrectly slopes up toward the house drain pipes.







Here is the same kitchen with the slope in the pipes corrected. Note that the dishwasher is not connected to the disposal. The installer cut off the dishwasher drain coupling. Now a replacement hose must be installed..











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