kitchen waste disposal unit

Ganga

A couple of questions please:

1) Has anyone got one of these fitted in their kitchen sink and

2) are they as good as the web sites say they are

3) are they quiet

4) are they easy to fit

5) what stops knifes and forks etc from going down into the grinder?

thanks in anticipation

Ganga:)

Furts

Hi Ganga
This is from an Eco perspective.

When these were introduced to the house/domestic market the water companies hated them. This is food going down the sewers to be treated at a sewage works. These works were never designed to cope with this. The water companies regarded this as a lazy innovation. Fortunately, not many people bought them.

Spool on a few decades and it is minimize waste, compost in the garden, and use the local authority compost/green/brown box schemes. So, the water companies have been let off this one

I would never have one...but other mse users will no doubt disagree!

Owain_Moneysaver

Don't you have a stock-pot?

Steve_the_fitter

They are fairly easy to fit though with the weight of them can be a bit tricky. Personally I dont really like the idea of them as they can only lead to blocked waste pipes

jennifernil

We have had them in 2 houses now, just over 30 years. We have ISE brand, but there are lots of different ones.

There are 2 types, batch feed and continuous feed. Ours is batch feed, you put stuff in it then insert a stopper which also acts as the on/off control when turned.

With continuous feed there are rubber "fingers" round the hole, you drop/push the food through them and can add more while grinding as you have a separate switch on the wall or worktop.

With both types, you need to be careful not to drop things into them, a teaspoon would probably jam it. The only thing I have allowed in by mistake in 30 years is a J cloth, which was promptly shredded.

In mine, I can get my hand into it (NOT while it is running of course!!) to retrieve things if necessary.

I think they are great appliances, when we go away in our caravan it is the thing we miss most!

It takes pretty much all food waste other than corn-cobs, even chicken drumstick bones, so no smelly waste.

Between that and recycling all our glass, tins, plastic, paper and cardboard, we usually have only about 2 small carrier bags of rubbish per week, it takes us at least 6 weeks to fill a wheelie bin.

They are quite noisy in operation, but you would only run it for about 10-20 seconds at a time, and only when needed.

Ours is fitted in a "half" sink, it was really easy to fit. We have the dishwasher draining via it, which keeps the grinder really clean.

We have never had any blockages, but it does pay to design the drainage with minimal bends. The more expensive ones grind finer, so good to buy the best you can afford.

ryder72

Its a good idea if you dont care much about composting and suchlike. Blockages are caused by lazy users. It is highly recommended that cold water is run while operating and for 30 second after the waste disposal unit is run to ensure that the ground sludge washes down the internal drain pipes and into the sewage system.

Noise levels depend on the model purchased, but the higher spec models are pretty quiet and reliable.

Water utilities dont like them much mainly because the sludge now becomes their problem rather than the local authority but again, that's just them being lazy I think.

gmgmgm

Used to have one (fitted when we moved in). Sometimes a knife would get in there and spin around madly. Don't have one anymore and can't really see the point of them.
Either compost your waste, or put it in the bin (where it might even aid landfill).

mogwai

We have the same one as jennifernil, and tbh I never use it so cant comment on usage, but It's too loud for me, and I've never dropped anything fully down it but have caught a few items of cutlery before they've gone too far..we have th rubber seal thing so it's quite easy for items to slide in..

googler

Ganga wrote: »

A couple of questions please:

1) Has anyone got one of these fitted in their kitchen sink and
2) are they as good as the web sites say they are
3) are they quiet
4) are they easy to fit
5) what stops knifes and forks etc from going down in ...

1 No, but I've fitted one for others
2 no comment
3 I thought the one I fitted was reasonably so
4 Yes, if you're reasonably competent with basic plumbing and electrics, and have a mains supply under the sink
5 You do, by taking care

I'd tend to fit one to either a secondary sink or half sink; one sink for the washing up, the other for food waste and/or utilities

lil.smartie

Yep, having spent time in the US we got used to it so when our kitchen was redone it was a must!
Insinkerator brand here too with an airswitch so water/electric don't cause concern.
Not that quiet but only runs for a min max so not a concern really.
Our plumber whinged about them (he did whinge about pretty much everything though!) and said they were a waste of time and it would break down in weeks, we took that with a pinch of salt as knew the product/brand. It's been fine and with a 4yr old who doesn't always clear her plate and the fact I cook from scratch for most meals we do have veggie waste most days.

Kate

Stooby2

I fitted one, but now we have a recycling bin for food it all goes in there and the waste unit rarely gets used. I'm considering taking it out as it does take up a fair bit of room in the cupboard under the sink, that the old waste trap didn't - I had to lose a shelf to put it in.