Anyone know of a list of objects that may be put in the garbage disposal Thanks erfrith
- posted
20 years ago
Anyone know of a list of objects that may be put in the garbage disposal Thanks erfrith
Humans, if cut up into small enough pieces ;-)
...Jim Thompson
Anything that will fit through the hole of course.
Whether it will devour all possibilities is another question.....
Seriously though, it's best not to consider your garbage disposal as a substitute for the kitchen garbage can. Grinding up evrything that happens to be in or near the sink will just shorten its useful life and, if your drain system is a little bit wimpy, can cause more drain clogs than necessary.
It's best to let the garbage disposal do just the bits of food washed off dishes by hand or by your dishwasher, Don't stuff it full of corncobs or potato peels just because it's there.
Short of metal and lemon sized rocks, there isn't much a garbage disposal can't handle, though large bones will take quite a while to disappear and are best tossed to the family dog.
They will even handle glass quite nicely. When I was a kid and garbage disposals were just coming into the market (circa 1950), The salesmen at home shows would demonstrate the "power" of the garbage disposals they were selling by dropping glass marbles into them (without water) and letting us assembled gawkers see ground glass trickling from the drain outlet a few seconds later.
May the new year bring you a clean bill of health from your dentist, your cardiologist, your gastro-entomologist, your urologist, your proctologist, your podiatrist, your psychiatrist, your plumber and the I.R.S.
Jeff
I have a policy of taking DAYS to clear drains clogged by using the disposal instead of the can for inappropriate things... like shrimp shells...
It's the only way you can disposal-train a woman ;-)
...Jim Thompson
Hmm-- lets go the other way. Things you *shouldn't* put in there.
Marbles explode & throw glass back at you. [Those little flat glass things that go in flower posts don't seem to explode as bad, but they make an awful sound. I try to avoid getting hard sharp things in mine.
Some sort of melon I got once had a fibrous rind & it just shredded into rope which promptly clogged up my drain. I stick to soft rinds for the disposal these days.
Tough beef does the same 'turn into rope' thing.
Bacon grease is very liquid until it gets below the sink in those cold areas. Then it turns to lard- and solidifies. Makes a good drain clogger. I keep all meats out of mine now.
Jim
I learned a long time ago that disposals are the bane of plumbing. Especially older plumbing. I keep mesh strainers over both kitchen drains and empty them when cooking.
What ever you put down them make sure it is not meat, stringy or fibrous. Sort of defeats the purpose once you think about it.
Once you do put it on your sink, if you haven't already, I've heard that a tray of ice once a month cleans the blades. Don't put things down there, just the scraps of food from plates and such. Think of it as a scrap grinder, not a disposer of garbage.
All good moves!
I moonlight at a restaurant, and there's a bigass (technical term) one in the dishwasher's work sink, and I still laugh when I remember my boss telling me the can/can't rule of thumb: It will ground up a small animal, but you can choke it to death with a handfull of SipStiks (drink stirrers.)
Translation: NOTHING that breaks up into "long and stringy".
Absolutely, it's table scraps only!
...Jim Thompson
During my days as a plumbing full-timer at Payless Cashways, I had the Insinkerator rep tell me that you could put in anything softer than a car bumper (his words). What I told my customers is the same thing everyone else has posted: just because it WILL grind up a ham bone doesn't mean it SHOULD grind up a ham bone.
Unless you have a free afternoon, don't put banana peels or corn shucks in it.
I'd add artichoke anything to that list. Add shrimp shells a few at a time... I stay away from anything really fibrous. I don't add bones.
I hear from my male friends that I followed all the traditional bad behavior of cramming too much stuff into the disposer and that was true until DH gave up on cleaning or fixing the disposer & left the job up to me. I replaced the last disposer myself. I am much gentler with it now.
Too much of a straight line ....
Double-check that you don't have local ordinances governing this, as well. Some places don't even allow them.
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Hmm- I do a banana peel every morning. It has an orange peel with it most mornings- and never more than a single peel. It might also bee joined by some half-bowls of cereal or stuff from the frig.
No problems [with banana peels] in over a year.
Jim
No silverware. No artichoke leaves. No corn shucks. Peanut shells? Doubtful.
Jeff's advice is right on target. I would add that leftover food designed for (entire) human consumption is probably safe -- tunafish dip, moldy spaghetti sauce, limp leftover salad. Not bones. "Garbage disposal" doesn't mean shoving all the trash down the drain.
Don't put "objects" into the disposal at all-- if they can be identified as objects, they can go in the trash or onto the compost pile.
It's easier to say what NOT to put, and that depends on the region. Here (New Orleans) crab and shrimp shells are guaranteed to wreak havoc. Artichokes too. Most people say not to pour hot grease down the disposal. Ask your female relatives and friends,too, and you'll get a list longer than Paradise Lost.
A last, depressing note (from one of the plumbers who pulled crab shells, etc. from my backed-up disposal): garbage disposals are not really made to dispose of serious garbage. They'd be too expensive. When in doubt, put the object in the compost barrel or trash bin. zemedelec
In many locales, disposers are unlawful! At the very least, your city water treatment department has a brochure explaining that disposers must not be abused.
Disposers CAN grind up a lot of stuff that does not belong in your household waste pipes or the sewer system, especially grease, egg shells, shrimp shells, and chunks of food that could have gone in the trash. Think of the disposer as a drain unclogger, not a garbage dump.
-B
And in other locales like ours, rental properties are required to be equipped with them. :)
What about egg shells?
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