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question on my disposable

I tried to put a bunch of brown rice (uncooked) in the disposable - because there were some bugs and I didn't want the bugsfluing out of the trash - and the next thing I knew, the disposable stopped. I turned it off, and pressed the rest button after I removed the rice as much as I could but some are still in the disposable. Upon turning on the disposable, I can hear the sound like "wuuuuuuuu...." but it's not taking down the water. I wonder whether the disposable is not turnign becauise it's congested. What should I try before calling plunbing?

Last time I called the plumbing, all they did was remove that little tiny fork (for cocktail shrip) and press reset button but I still had to pay $45. So I'd liek to try myself if anyone can guide me before I get the plumbing.

Should I use a plunger? If so, I will have to go get a sink plunger. But I am wondering whether the plunger might damage the disposable's grinding unit which I think is congested right now I'll go try getting more rice out.

Reply to
Amanda
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There may be an Allen wrench tool that came with the unit. If you feel in the dead center of the bottom of the unit, there is the hole that it fits into. Insert it or any Allen wrench that fits, turn it until the unit spins freely, then run the unit and wash the debris down

Reply to
RBM

Uh, boy, rice down the drain. I doubt the plunger would harm anything. Rice is not good to put down drains, as you've learned by now. Maybe a short wooden stick to try and turn the cutters will help, and some diposals have a spot on the bottom to use a certain type of wrench. Just dont put too much torque on the unit, as you can inadvertantly mess with the plumbing/basket etc.. Tom

Reply to
tom

I would know where it is. The first and previous person living here, my brother was a sloppy people).

I'll have to figure out what the dead center is:)

Will try. It seems liek I have to make a trip to home depot for the tools.

Ok. Will report the update.

Reply to
Amanda

I have wooden spatula - may be too thick - and a set of wodden chopstick. I'll have to figure out what the cutter is. Have never seen the inside of the unit.

I think I sense that hole at the center of the bottom. Will look with flash light. Hard to put my head there to see though.

Unless it is very easy to turn, I doub that I will have enough strength to but I'll be careful :)

So, I will get more rice out first and work on it. Will report the result.

Reply to
Amanda

When you go to HD, have them show you the bottom of a display unit, so you can see what your looking, or feeling for. The units probably all use the same size Allen wrench

Reply to
RBM

I have a few tools in a box and I happened to find one which looks like Allen wrench - it's not quite L shape but more like a small letter f w/ the bottom having a tail and w/o the "-" in the midle of "f". It does fit the wole perfectly but I didn't turn because I didn't know which way to turn? Do I turn clock-wise or counter clock- wise?

Reply to
Amanda

Doesn't matter, in fact try both directions, you just want it to spin freely before turning on the switch

Reply to
RBM

And don't forget to take the wrench out.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

that would be the indication that the congestion is gone? I did try both and it turn like 1/8 to 1/6 of a 90 degree angle. So I guess I should try some more till I feel that Allen wrench is spinning freely?

Reply to
Amanda

Once you get it to move a few inches, try the switch and run water, if it jams again keep using the wrench, and like Steve said, remove the wrench before turning on the switch

Reply to
RBM

Now, it's turning like 30-35 degree angle. Kind of scared to put force to turn. I don't have much hand strength and as a reuslt I might put too much force, (w/o good control) if I put force.

Am I supposed to see that whatever is in the stoppage flows freely first before turning the switch on?

Reply to
Amanda

The motor won't turn if there is a slight jam, you want to get it freed up to a point where you can flip the switch, run the water, and let the machine chew up whatever had it jammed in the first place

Reply to
RBM

Okay. Will keey trying.

Reply to
Amanda

Now, it's turning 360 degree and I made several turns before turning the switch on (removed the wrench every time I turned on the switch).

There was some water in the sink already but I truned the water on when I ran the disposable. I could hear the unit working with the nosie sounding like it's grinding rice. But I dodn't see the stuff going down, not even water thought he water became clody with ground rice mixing in water.

I didn't know how long I should let the motor run when things are not going down and so stopped it and tried again but not for very long.

Is it plunger time now? Since I don't have a sink plunger, should I just keep turning the motor on and off? Or would it be safer to go get the plunger? Home Depot is less than 5 mins away to drive with no highway involved.

Reply to
Amanda

I think you are putting us on, but I'll play.

I would keep the disposal full of water, and turn it on every 4 hours (except when sleeping) for a couple seconds. Eventually the rice will soften enough that the disposal will free up. If you leave it on more than a few seconds, you may have to press the reset button again, but that's ok if you don't do it very many times.

I'm reluctant to just say wait 24 hours because I have a vague feeling the rice might get gummy and clog the disposal even when it is soft, so I thought you should flush away as much as you can when it is soft enough to turn.

I wouldn't waste my time trying to turn it when it doesn't want to turn. Dry rice is really strong. Maybe when your sure it is wet, the wrench would help but by then I think it will run on its own.

I wouldn't call the plumber either.

P&M

Reply to
mm

You sound cute..

You need a man, my Darling. If you are accepting applications for the job let me know!

I've always wanted a girlfriend named Amanda, the song from Boston says it all.

:-)

Reply to
Coal Miner

Should I use a plunger? If so, I will have to go get a sink plunger.

Something you don't probably know, but I'll tell you ..............

I didn't know it for a long time, but once I found out this secret, it helped me infinitely with disposal clogs ...................

That silver tower that is about as round as a silver dollar and three inches tall there on your sink ............

that's the vent for your garbage disposal and, I think, your dishwasher.

If your sink has one of these, in order to plunge your disposal, you will need to seal that up. First, pull the silver cover off. It comes right off. Next, put a VERY wet rag over the top as much as you can cover and as best as you can cover. This will stop the air from going in and out of that vent as you plunge up and down. Sometimes, this requires three hands, one to hold the rag, one for the plunger, and one to hold a plug in the adjacent sink. Or you can put the plug in and fill the sink. A helper to hold the plug in there helps.

You can feel when you blow the clog, the plunging gets easier.

Plugging the air vent and plugging the hole in the adjacent sink will shorten the amount of time you have to plunge, and it plugs up the air route so you are pushing on water instead of having a hole where air can escape.

Otherwise, you can really work up a sweat, learn new cuss words, and never have any noticeable effect on the clog.

HTH

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

I looked for it and saw some silver lookignt hings but later realized that it was covered up by some sort of selant material (beige color). I only hope that that sealant material is nto damaged by my putting boiling water at a suggestion by a friend to soften the rice - I guess he didn't know there could be selant.

I tried plunger first - only a few times though - and then when it didn't work, I took out the muddy water as much as I could, boiled water in a kettele and poured the boiling water in. When I turned on the disposable unit, I saw more grinded rice powder coming up and so I took out those hot water. So I boiled more water and added again. After turning on the disposable, seeing rice poder coming up, I ended up taking those hot water out too to get the rice out. Then boiled more water and this time, I poured it in and let it sit.

It was after all that I saw your message, went to look at the unit and saw the sealant. When I touched it, it felt warm and some sealant material came off easily. So I am hoping that the water will get cold quickly and the sealant will not get damaged enough to leak air.

I'll continue with the plunger tomorrow.

Thank you all.

Reply to
Amanda

I meant to say that if you have a vent from the dishwasher on the sink (a silver cap with some holes in it) a plunger won't work. Maybe if you could also plug the vent, but that doesn't seeem especially easy to do.

See my other post and wait until the rice softens up. (It will, won't it, even if the water isn't hot.

Reply to
mm

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