Paul M. Cook said...

>
> "Julie Bove" > wrote in message
> news:4Djaj.5820$Xh1.2340@trndny03...
>> 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?
>>
>
> I have an In-Sink-Erator, the cheaper one. It doesn't work worth crap.
> It cannot grind up the waste fine enough. The higher end models, that
> cost 7 times as much, do a pretty swell job, though.
>
> To sum up everything, a compost pile is your best option. You just dump
> anything organic, save for meat, into the pile and you are rewarded with
> a mulch that is a gift from heaven. You can get these nifty compost
> bins at any garden shop.
>
> As for stuff like the carpets, that is what toilets are for. Never use
> a drain for what a toilet can do when you are in doubt about clogging.
> I have cleaned my carpets and the waste water is mostly solids like cat
> and human hair. Quite disgusting. And easily clogs any drain save for
> a sewer pipe.
>
> Paul


I have a septic system so a sink disposal is out of the question. All food
prep scraps and dinner plate scraps go in the garbage. Oils get funneled
from pans, etc., into used gallon water bottles. The rest is wiped up with
paper towels and tossed into the trash.

My tub has a screened cover over the drain to catch hair, rings, etc, but I
shampoo and shave in the shower. I'd finish my shower standing in 2 inches
of water and would wash my feet last standing on one foot, clean the other
foot stepping out of the tub and repeat with the remaining foot. It was
gross.

One day I finally took the screen cap (it unscrewed) off the drain and
filled the tub with water and then with a plunger opened the drain and
plunged the heck out of it for about 2 minutes and all of a sudden it
emptied in no time at all. Hasn't clogged again, since I've grown a beard
for winter.

Andy