When I was growing up, these seemed to be ubiquitous and I never liked them. They seemed overcomplicated for the purpose, and created a gross and smelly area under the sink that needed more cleaning.
I haven’t had one in years, as a simple sink mesh does the same job. But I don’t really know how other people are. Are under sink garbage disposals still common, and commonly actually used by people here?
My condo has one. I use it.
I can take it or leave it. I rarely turn it on, and only if its draining slowly. I do not use it purposely for food waste, and honestly don’t know why anyone would.
I’ve had to clean out some nasty clogged pipes before that handled sink waste. Maybe if everyone saw what kind of lovely buildup accumulates nobody would use these things.
Using it regularly for a few seconds when food falls in means no clogged pipes, because it breaks food waste down to a size that is easily flushed down the pipes. If you wait until it gets clogged then you are doing it wrong.
If your pipes are getting gummed up from it then you aren’t using it often enough or using enough water when you do use it. I do all my own plumbing and I’ve used mine for 6 years now without any issue. Hell, I think that sink is the only sink in my house that has never clogged.
Green Gobbler or equivalent is great for the bio waste. My family tries to stuff chicken carcasses down the damn thing, I swear.
I grew up with and around them but they’re generally not a thing here in Japan. I’m trying to compost all my organics and such anyway and most things can go into compost.
Almost impossible to get a condo in my area without one. I do use a mesh but I know from experience I have to run it once a month or it might rust out or something. Washing machine drains to it to.
Washing machine drains to it to.
I hope you mean the dishwasher…
yeah sorry. dishwasher.
Depending on where they are, a washing machine in the kitchen might be a thing. It’s very common in the UK, for example.
There are portable washing machines that hook to a kitchen tap and drain to the sink, had one when renting a place with no laundry on-site and just hung dry everything. So much better than going to a laundromat weekly, and paid for itself too.
Most garbage disposals just cause more trouble that they’re worth since they turn small chunks of food into paste and that’s more likely to stick to the insides of drains and cause more clogs than the small chunks, as long as your drains are properly maintained. And a halfway decent strainer will keep out the larger pieces. It’s also not good for your city drains and makes sewage processing more expensive. Better to use composting for your food scraps if you can.
I compost (and save stuff for broth) and we have a sink disposal. It’s for the little bits of cooked food left on plates, are you composting those? The sink that has one is the least cloggy kitchen sink I’ve ever had, and as far as I understand they are pretty neutral in terms of waste stream.
Grease I agree shouldn’t go in there, that goes in the trash.
They seem more common now if anything
I’m not sure what extra cleaning you’re talking about but if you use them once in a while they don’t stink
We have one, I like it. Never gross smelling, keeps the drains clear, seems to help the dishwasher run better.
It’s definitely not necessary. It can be convenient.
It wouldn’t be very high on my list of wants, but I’ll use one if available.
My problem was not using the thing for long periods of time and it kinda jamming in place. They have a little quarter-inch hex key hole on the underside that you can use with a hex key to get 'em going again if that comes up.
I use mine all the time, much easier than dealing with a nasty sink strainer as I just spray down the sink into the disposal and run it. Also keeps the trash from smelling.
If it’s being smelly under the sink, it’s broken or not installed right. If it’s being smelly from the drain hole sink side then you’re not cleaning it from time to time (Which is as easy as dropping in some cleaner and running it every other month or so).
I’m actually looking to upgrade mine so it can handle some bones
A cup full of ice cubes once a week keeps mine clean
The upgrade is so worth it. I got a 1hp one when I needed to replace the old one. I could probably send a whole rotisserie chicken down that thing without issue (other than destroying my plumbing anyways). I don’t deliberately send bones down it but it has happened and they don’t even slow it down.
They’re not legal where I live. Something about our sewage lines or treatment center not being able to handle it if I recall correctly. I have a clog resistant drain strainer that I clean out every time I rinse dishes in the sink instead.
Never had one, and can’t think of ever having seen one.
Currently live in a condo, I think every unit in the building came with one
The biggest advantage I could find is that they are insanely convenient for making French press coffee! French presses are otherwise a pain to clean (since there’s no filter to aggegate the grounds), but having an in-sink disposal means I can just flush the coffee grounds directly into the sink. Besides this though I’m pretty indifferent to them
Serious question: don’t these things not just, like, grind shit up and send it down the drain? Coffee grounds are already, well, ground up. I flush them all the time.
… which is why I never considered French press “inconvenient”… but from what I’ve heard from other coffee enthusiasts, they all found French press inconvenient precisely because they don’t just pour the grounds down the drain & had to dispose it in the trash bin (and deal with the mess). Maybe I’m ill-informed somewhere, maybe something else… I’m not against just flushing the grounds though.
I went out of my way to get one installed in a house that didn’t have one. So, yeah.
If yours is making a mess under the sink, it’s either broken or installed wrong.
They were never a thing in Europe.
The sewage treatment is not built to handle that kind of stuff. The sewage pipes aren’t too happy about it, either. I might flush some carbs down the toilet. The poop-munching bacteria at the treatment plant get a nice growth boost from it. Grease not only clogs your own pipes, but causes issues for the whole city. I think it’s possible to get fined for it if you’d get caught starting a year or two back.
Food waste goes in the trash or compost. If it goes in the trash it’s burned at industrial temperatures to burn clean. The heat is used for district heating networks.
Yeah, grease and oil kills plumbing
They were never a thing in Europe.
Not really a thing in Canada either. Bought a reasonably midrange ($600k) brand-new apartment back in 2006, it didn’t come with it. Also have never seen it in any other house that I’ve visited, except for the wealthy. And by that, I mean in a house that you would normally pay $4-8 million for. Which is certainly upper middle class where I am, but not overly wealthy.
The sewage treatment is not built to handle that kind of stuff.
They’re also not built to handle it in the US, but lower standards solve that problem pretty handily
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