More Shoddy Work – Garbage Disposal Edition

One of the awesome things that I insisted on getting when we renovated the house was a garbage disposal. I've never had one but people have told me they are fantastic and life changing so I figured it was something worth adding. We even got the special Kohler Pro sink that has the big sink for dishes and the little sink just for the disposal. When we moved into the house last year I was all gung-ho to use it but within the first week I tried to grind up some lemon and lime peels and the thing totally backed up and had to be taken apart and snaked out. Since then, I've been very wary of using the thing, believing that perhaps the actual disposal unit itself was cheap and not strong enough for what we needed. I always figured we would replace it with a bigger/stronger unit in the future but it wasn't a pressing issue. I just hardly ever used the thing for fear of it backing up on me. Eric used it more often than I did, mostly to grind used tea leaves and I would say in the past year it has backed up half a dozen times and needed to be taken apart and snaked out. So no fun.

Fast forward to last week, late one night Eric was making tea to put in the fridge overnight and have iced the next day. He goes to grind the leaves and the disposal completely backs up again. Awesome! So he takes the whole thing apart and decides this time to go a bit further, taking apart the pipes that go beyond the disposal where the little sink hooks up with the big sink and drains to the main sewer line. And this is what we see:

If you can't orient yourself let me describe to you what you are seeing. The pipes on the left are from the main big sink and the pipe from the disposal that hooks up to the main sink pipe is removed. It hooks into the hole that is right above the bucket. And if you look closely at that hole you can see that the pipe from the main sink was never cut and it covers about 2/3's of that hole which leaves a very small opening for anything coming out of the disposal to drain out. So this is why everything is backing up. Awesome work!

Here's another photo where you can see exactly how small the opening is:

The fact that whoever installed this was such an idiot that they couldn't even be bothered to cut the pipe and knowing left such a small opening from the disposal should be infuriating. But it's really just par for the course at this point. I'm not sure if this was the main contractor's work or the plumber but at this point they are neck and neck for "Idiot of the Century" award so it really doesn't matter anymore now does it? Eric took apart the pipes, cut the opening larger, reassembled them and now I am no longer afraid to use my garbage disposal. So there is a happy ending to the story. Moron contractors, I would wish ill upon them if I wasn't so sure they were messing up their own lives and careers so thoroughly without my intervention. Karma's a bitch, isn't it?

 

Comments

[Gene]

Unbelievable. Whether it was the GC or the plumber, it's incredible that someone could put that together with any delusions that it would work.

[Peter]

God. If I had your experience I think I'd be in jail right now for manslaughter.

As the proud owner of a disposal I can tell you that they can take on pretty much anything. If installed properly you'd have serious trouble clogging it up.

Peter Steinberg
http://www.FlashlightWorthyBooks.com
Recommending books so good, they'll keep you up past your bedtime. ;)

[Tijmen Stam]

I allways find the idea of a garbage disposal so strange - but I come from a household which always separated everything: we had 3 "main" bins for remainder trash, chicken food (like big pieces that came from vegetable, stale bread etc) and compost (we had a large compost heap in the backyard) and then large bins in the barn for waste paper, cans and drink cartons.

Tijmen

[dana]

it's different in a city living in a townhouse with a yard the size of a large postal stamp....composting is a bit too difficult

the good news is the disposal appears to be grinding everything successfully now!