Herefordshire CC is promoting GDUs as a means of reducing waste collection. They are even offering a subsidy of up to £80 and I am tempted to go for it.
I've had a couple of opinions re GDUs, the most concerning being the claim that their use requires regular rodding of the gully trap and sewer.
Does anyone have experience of using a GDU?
Thanks,
Had one for years and at first we had bother but it was fitted with a bottle trap , i changed that out for a full bore U bend and had no trouble since. Couple of things does the sink waste go directly into a drain or does it go to a gully as i would not like to have food waste in a open gully. Rob
Well what a surprise.
Of course they would promote this because it is a way of shifting some waste collection off of their shoulders and onto those of the sewerage operator.
I've had one of these in the past and didn't find any issues with drains blocking etc. This was a fairly new house with new plastic drains correctly sloping etc. Also, we made sure that plent of water went through with the garbage.
Realistically, though, most of what can go through them is waste vegetable matter such as peelings and a few bones. Meat, fat etc. should be avoided anyway.
Given that, I don't see too much of a point in them and we didn't fit one in a new kitchen a few years ago.
I would either sling out the vegetable peelings with the rest of the rubbish, or if you see a value in it, compost them.
What make do you have?
Well this is a problem I have been concerned about.
The kitchen sink has a boxed-in run to somewhere unknown and a blockage would be difficult to clear. The kitchen is also overdue for a complete refurb, so I don't want to add anything there atm.
The sink by the utility room back door only has an 8ft run, all above ground. But the waste pipe does go into a gulley trap, shared with two pipes from the bathroom. I think something would have to be done about that.
Thanks,
Herefordshire is worse off than most councils because there is no local rubbish tip. AFAIK the dustbin lorries have to trek over to somewhere near Evesham.
Do you remember what make?
We have big falls on all pipes and the washing machine outlet would go down the same pipework.
We eat a lot of fruit. Things like melon skins and orange peel don't compost well.
I *think* it was Insinkerator but it was a while ago.
Quite. Could be worth it for these although is the volume really that much.
I don't have a particular problem with them, but didn't feel it was worth getting a new one when the kitchen was redone.
The point about the waste is well made. Really you don't want to have a bottle trap - U bend or perhaps a HepVO would be OK and ideally ot should go into a soil stack and not a gully.
Given that, I would wait until you redo the kitchen.
Another thing that could be done is to increase the size of the waste pipe to 50mm.
Hi
We've had an Insinkerator ISE55 for years and never had any problems with it.
It appears to be indestructible. I noticed one of the other posters recommending against putting bones down there - that only applies to the cheap and nasty units. Insinkerator actually recommend putting bones down there to clean the unit out!
Again, as mentioned by another poster, bottle traps are a no-no and it should if at all possible be plumbed direct into the main soil.
We've had no pipe blockages in seven years of use. It's important to follow the manufacturers instructions though - in particular that you should always use cold water. This causes fats to solidify and get chopped up rather than flowing down the drain.
I've always had - and would always recommend - controlling the unit by an air switch. These are safe to use with wet hands.
When we moved house, we took our Insinkerator with us and installed a cheap screwfix one in it's place. It was absolutely awful...
Steve
Using the sink by the door has since become academic. It's an old Belfast and my antennae went up when the Insinkerator website showed an extension piece for china sinks, but then said 'not Belfast'. A long, (and helpful) chat with Panda confirmed this.
There are two problems with a Belfast.... the hole is nowhere near the now standard 89mm and the GDU thickness extension pieces do not have the side- -slots to take water from the B's integrated overflow. Cutting slots is easy enough, but not grinding out the hole size.
I put mine in in 1987 and we have never looked back. It gets replaced when I can be bothered to unpack the new one in the garage.
You must run the water for some time after use to clear pipes but ours has only blocked local pipes under the sink one Xmas when MIL came to stay and caused chaos. Don't put teabags down them.
On Wed, 06 Jun 2007 07:28:25 +0100 someone who may be Tony Williams wrote this:-
Why use the electricity and water you pay for on a waste disposal unit which will flush an edible slurry into the drains to the delight of rats?
If you have little bit of garden then a much better bet is something from
Cos there are no fields to dig up in Hereford? Why should people in evesham put up with other people's rubbish?
I was going to say that!
But why is anybody wasting food anyway?
Couple of things in my experience.
- Feed into a U-trap as per manufacturers instructions.
- Use an air switch to turn on rather than electrical switch on the wall.
- They come in two price brackets cheap and not cheap.
- Not cheap will take bones and anything you throw at (whole turkey carcass once) with out any bother. Contrary to other reports will take tea bags.
- Cheap will jam and thermally cut out leaving you with a sink full of crap as most inopportune moments.
- Cheap will vibrate the place to bits whilst waking all the neighbours.
- You lose a lot of valuable storage space under the sink.
Just run with lots of water to keep things flowing. Not had any blockages or problems in the years I have had one. Mind you tend to only use for plate scraps as we compost all vegatable waste.
I bet you could find space for a "compost blender" i.e. a cheap liquidiser/blender you chuck your peelings in until full, upon which you add a cup or 2 of water then blend into a peeling soup which would almost certainly make for easy composting or be flushed down the drain.
As it happens... When I re-did our kitchen I had every intention of putting in a hefty WDU, as such re-plumbed waste pipe in 50mm through to the waste stack, added a "rodding" point below sink trap and have dishwasher plumbed in which would help keep pipes clean, also had fused spur under sink.
To date We have never had a requirement to fit one, but then we don't do a lot (if any) vegetable preparation etc and what little we do just goes in the bin as the amount is so small.
Pete
There's no problem with orange peel., Melon skins cut up are no problem either, if you can't be bothered just put them in with the general waste. Why waste energy on a device to save the trouble of dumping the odd meln skin in the bin?
Mary
Interesting, thanks. We have a stream at the bottom of the garden, which means rats if you are not careful. A composter on (or in) bare ground is rat-heaven.
eg, We used to shove food scraps through a wormery. Took the lid off one day and there was a rat in there, not 12" from my face. It is on concrete blocks now, but is nowhere near as successful.
Yes, somewhat similar to garden shredders.
My first thought. But then suggested that it was best flushed down the toilet. At which point the whole idea went down the gurgler.
An idea worth re-visiting though.
On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 07:05:50 +0100 someone who may be Tony Williams wrote this:-
One can buy wormeries that are contained in plastic bins. I would like to see a rat get into one of those.
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