How Does A Garbage Disposal Work?
Table of Contents
A garbage disposal is a must-have appliance in modern kitchens. It helps you dispose of food waste conveniently and hygienically, reducing the amount of solid waste that goes into landfills.
Garbage disposals have a switch, which you need to flip. Then, the disposal unit starts grinding up food waste using a spinning impeller plate and the grinding ring, turning those food waste into liquid, and making them easy to flush down.
In our naked eyes, this is what we see and how the garbage disposal works.
But, many working parts are in the garbage disposal, which work together and dispose of food waste efficiently.
Understanding how those parts work will give you a clear idea of how a garbage disposal actually works.
In this article, I will answer all the fundamental questions you have so that you can understand the principles of garbage disposal operation, including:
- What is a garbage disposal?
- What are the main parts of a garbage disposal?
- How does a garbage disposal work?
- How to use a garbage disposal?
- How do you maintain a garbage disposal to avoid operational problems?
Without further ado, let’s dive in.
What Is A Garbage Disposal?
A garbage disposal is a kitchen appliance that grinds food waste into tiny pieces and makes the waste easy to flush through the plumbing system.
Generally, garbage disposals are installed under the kitchen sink and connected to the trap to drain the food waste into the drain pipe.
As I mentioned, the main job of garbage disposal is to pulverize food waste into small parts so that you can flush down the food waste effortlessly.
But many people believe a myth about garbage disposal that it has a blade like a blender that can chop up every type of food.
Unfortunately, this is not how garbage disposal works. Food waste disposal can only handle small bits of food scraps.
Instead of sharp blades, garbage disposal has impellers that bind the food waste against the shredding rings to shred the food waste.
If you believe in that garbage disposal myth and put everything in the disposal chamber, it will clog the disposal.
That’s why you should be conscious about what and what not to put in a garbage disposal.
Based on how you feed food waste into the disposal, you can find two primary types of garbage disposal. They are:
- Continuous-feed Garbage Disposal
- Batch-feed garbage disposal
What Are The Parts of A Garbage Disposal?
To understand how a garbage disposal works, you first learn how each component of a garbage disposal works.
A garbage disposal is made up of several parts, including blades, a motor, and a grinding chamber. All those parts work together, from grinding up food waste to disposing of it through the plumbing system.
Here is the list of the main parts of garbage disposal:
Grinding Chamber
The grinding chamber is the large opening or compartment where the food waste you feed is stored. Hopper is another name for the grinding chamber.
The hopper contains all the internal components, including a turntable (flywheel) or shredder plate and impellers involved in shredding the food waste into pieces.
Motor
Garbage disposal has a motor right underneath the lower chamber. The motor is attached to the turntable or flywheel.
The garbage disposal motor is a high-torque, insulated electric motor. This motor is responsible for spinning the turntable or flywheel at 1400-2800 rpm.
Grinding or Shredder Plate
The grinding or shredder plate is a metal turntable mounted on the motor shaft. This rotating plate presses the food waste against the grinding ring with the help of impellers and turns the food waste into small pieces.
Impellers
Impellers or lugs are metal teeth mounted on the flywheel or turntable.
Those impellers rotate independently from the shredder plate and bind the food waste against the stationary grinding ring.
As a result, the food waste turns into tiny bits, making the fine particles easy to flush out of the disposal.
Grind Ring
A grind ring or shredder ring (the other name for grind ring) is a stationary component inside the garbage disposal.
The grind ring has sharp cutting edges.
When the impellers on the shredder plate push the food waste against the grind ring, those cutting edges cut the food waste into fine particles.
Then, those fine particles pass through the openings in the grind ring.
Drain Chamber
Garbage disposal has a drain chamber below the grinding chamber that connects the disposal unit to the plumbing system.
The drain chamber collects all the grounded food waste from the grinding chamber and flushes it away through the plumbing system.
How Does A Garbage Disposal Work?
Garbage disposals are often hardwired to a switch in the kitchen. However, batch-feed garbage disposal has a start switch activated by the stopper.
When you turn on the unit flipping the switch, 120 volts of alternating current flows to the disposal motor.
The garbage disposal motor rotates the grinding plate.
Apart from the grinding plate, the impellers or lugs mounted on the plate or turntable also spin independently. The continuous rotation of the impellers creates centrifugal forces and pushes the food waste against the grind ring.
The grind ring has sharp cutting edges that break the food waste into fine particles.
A steady stream of cold water should run through the disposal for the grinding process to work effectively.
Garbage disposals use a splash guard, which prevents the water from being slung upwards.
Once the food waste turns into fine particles, those fine particles pass through the openings in the grind ring to the drain chamber.
The waste disposal is then flushed away from the drain chamber through the plumbing system to the municipal sewage system.
How To Use A Garbage Disposal Properly?
To use a garbage disposal properly, follow these steps to avoid frequent clogs or jams:
- Take out the stopper and turn on the cold water supply.
- Turn on your garbage disposal.
- Feed the food waste slowly into the garbage disposal. Don’t forget to be conscious of what you insert into the unit. Never put starchy, too soft, and hard items in the disposal. You can read this article to learn what not to put in a garbage disposal.
- Never put non-food items like forks, spoons, or other objects in the garbage disposal.
- After grinding up the food waste, turn off the unit and run the cold water for a few seconds to flush the drain smoothly.
These simple usage tips will help you use the garbage disposal trouble-freely for years to come. Moreover, proper usage of the unit will increase the garbage disposal lifespan.
How To Maintain Garbage Disposal To Avoid Operational Problems?
Food particles may build in the grinding chamber and baffle over time. An unpleasant odor from the disposal is an indication of food disposal.
If you don’t clean the disposal, it will cause operational issues like clogging the garbage disposal.
To prevent the garbage disposal from clogging, follow these steps to clean the garbage disposal:
- Set the stopper in the sink and fill the sink halfway with lukewarm water.
- Pour 1/4 cup of baking soda and mix it with water. Then, turn on the disposal and remove the stopper to flush away loose particles.
- Remove the sink baffle and clean by hand or in the dishwasher. Never operate the garbage disposal with the removed sink baffle.
Besides cleaning the garbage disposal regularly, ensure you don’t overload the unit every time you use the disposal. Otherwise, it will strain the motor and cause the disposal to break down.
Run citrus peels to control unpleasant odor.
Sohel Rana is the founder of FixTheDisposal.Com. He is a plumbing expert with 7+ years of hands-on repairing garbage disposals, water heaters, space heaters, and other appliances used in a home. Before the launch of Fix The Disposal, he wrote and provided advice on water heaters, sump pumps, and space heater repairing & troubleshooting tips for LilDutchUncle.Com.
