Week of Nov. 9, 2014 – Plumbing 101 - Part 2

By Joan Whetzel

 

My garbage disposal recently seized up. It made an awful noise and then it just stopped. I tried everything I could think of and could find on the internet for getting it started. Nothing seemed to work.

So my daughter and I investigated the cost of a new disposal and instructions on how to replace it. In the meantime, I noticed the sink on the garbage disposal side – I have a double sink – was backing up. It backed up fast and furious. The sink on the other side ran just fine.

So I figured I would use some Liquid Plumber to free up the drain before we did anything else. The liquid plumber worked like a charm on the clog. I thought, “what the heck, let’s try the disposal again.” I flicked the wall switch, and whaddayaknow! It’s running fine.

It appears that whatever gummed up the drain also gummed up the garbage disposal. All it took was a couple dollars-worth of drain cleaner. That was the cheapest and easiest plumbing fix we’ve encounter so far. I sure like cheap and easy fixes. Beats the heck out of replacing a disposal – or calling the plumber. (No offense to all those plumbers out there. I'm really glad they're there for the hard jobs that I know are beyond our skills).