Repairing Your Garbage Disposal

I must pat myself on the back.  I actually fixed my garbage disposal!  My garbage disposal had been out of action for a couple of days.  When I would turn it on, it would just hum.  I was trying not to put food down into it because the food would have to just sit there. So, instead of calling someone to look at the disposal and spending any money, I turned my attention to my handy helper; the internet. Normally, I turn these kind of repairs over to my hubby, but thought that I would attempt to do it myself.  That is, with the help of the internet.  Isn’t it great to be living during a time when you need quick information, you just google it.

When you’re trying to really save money, doing your own repairs comes in very handy.  Please only attempt repairs that you know might be possible for you to accomplish. Attempting major repairs could cost you more in the end.  However, I am all for small repairs.

When it comes to the garbage disposal, I know that there is a reset button on the bottom. It is red and quite small.  I know this already because my brother-in-law was in town visiting one holiday and the garbage disposal wouldn’t work.  He told me to look up under the sink and find the red reset button and hold it for a couple of seconds.  It started working.  So, I actually have a little knowledge on garbage disposals.

(I took a picture of the disposal under the sink.)

Well, my garbage disposal was doing the same thing. I assumed I could fix it the same way.  Didn’t work.  So, I researched the issue on line. After reading, I tried a lot of the suggestions.  First, I went down into the basement to check the switch box.

It’s probably not technically called a switch box, but my mom use to call it that when I was little.  Anyway, I checked to make sure that the switch was in the ON position for garbage disposal.  It was.  I turned it off and back on to see if that would solve my problem.  Went back upstairs and tried the disposal.  Didn’t work. Next, I went back downstairs and turned the switch for the disposal in OFF position.  Make sure that you do this before you try the next thing I did. You should never, never, never put your hands down in a garbage disposal.  That is very, very, very dangerous. Second, I grabbed the broom. That’s right…the broom.  I used the handle of the broom and stuck it into the garbage disposal.

I tried to turn the flywheel (the bottom of the disposal when you look down the drain) clockwise to see if it would move.  It’s kind of like stirring a cake.  You’re using the broom handle to push down lightly and turn in a clockwise motion.  So, I took out the broom handle.  I turned the switch for the garbage disposal back on in the switch box.  Went back upstairs and flipped the switch for the garbage disposal.  It worked!  Saved myself some money on a repair.