How To Replace a Garbage Disposer - The Home Depot

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If your kitchen is currently equipped with a garbage disposer that is underpowered or just a little too loud, consider upgrading to a new. Installing one is pretty easy and today's model operates more smoothly and quietly than the older ones. They range in power from a third of a horsepower, all the way up to a full horsepower and you have the option of a continuous speed or a batch speed unit. A wall switch controls a continuous speed model and food waste can be fit into it while it is in operation. A batch speed would not operate and less a cover is placed on the hopper, so it is somewhat safer.

If you have a larger family or just wanted to do tougher jobs, definitely consider one of the larger more powerful units. Whichever one you choose though, they all have some common parts. They all have an opening for a discharge too that allows the ground of food waste to travel to the drain pipe and they are all come equipped with an optional opening for our dishwasher to drain through if that is how your particular system is set up. Your disposer will also come with a mounting ring that you will need to install under the sink's drain. This mounting ring allows you to hang the disposer under the sink and form a good seal. Some of the higher end models offer a rubberized collar around the top of the disposer's housing to help reduce vibration and noise.

All right, let us start by removing the current disposer. First, turn off the power to the disposer at the service panel and disconnect the drain trap from the discharge too. Now, if your dishwasher is connected to your disposer, disconnect that also. Now, up at the top of the disposer, you will see the mounting ring that has been installed under your sink's drain hole. Insert a screw driver into that mounting ring just to the right of one of the three mounting logs or turn it counterclockwise by hand to release the disposer from the mounting ring. A disposer is heavy and once you release it, it will fall freely, so place something like phonebooks under the disposer to support. Now, removed the electrical cover plate and disconnect the disposer from the power supply. Again, makes sure you have turned off the power at the circuit breaker box before you attempt this.

Also, if you are replacing the disposer with a similar model, you may need the key to the existing mounting assembly in place; if not, you will need to replace that. Remove the snap ring and the entire mounting assembly will come off the sink's flange. Now, use a screw driver to loosen and remove the knot holding it. Remove the flange from above the sink in any old plumber's padding. Now, let us reverse the process and install the new disposer.

Apply a new rope of plumber's padding to the new flange and press it firmly in place. From below, insert a gasket over the flange then a second flange and then the mounting ring. And here is the tricky part, hold all of these items in place while inserting the snap ring. You may need to place something heavy in the sink to weigh down the flange ad keep it from moving. Now, tighten the screws evenly and firmly against the back up flange.

Now, again, for this particular project we will not actually be hooking the disposer up to a dishwasher, what that means is we are going to leave this plug dislocated in the connection there. If you did infact want to hook this up to a dish washer, all you would have to do is nut that plug out. You simply do that by putting in a screw driver and tapping it out with a hammer. Flip the disposer over and remove the electrical cover plate. Pull the wires out and connect white to white and black to black or red using wire knots. Then connect the grounding wire to the green screw. Push the wires back into the disposer and replace the electrical cover plate.

Many disposer units will come with a discharge tube and clamp that are specially designed to reduce the vibration. If not, just reconnect the discharge tube from your old disposer. Now, lift the disposer up to the mounting ring and line the three mounting tabs up with the slide ramps on the ring. Turn the mounting tabs clockwise until the disposer locks in place on the ring. If your new unit is larger than the one you are replacing, you probably need to trim the link of the discharge tube with a hack saw before it will fit properly with the drain trap. Turn the power back on, fill the sink with water, and test for leaks.