New garbage disposal - 3 bolt or not-3-bolt? What's best?

[Stephen Tashiro]

I have an old sink, which might be as old as the house (1941). The current Kenmore garbage disposal (circa 2000) is attached to the drain with the 3 bolt type of connector and the disposal has died. Should I replace it with a disposal that uses the 3 bolt connector? Or is there some advantage to using "the other kind". I haven't looked at the other type of connection, I've only read on the web that there is another kind.

Of course, if I could get another Kenmore that would screw into the existing connection that would be nice. I haven't figured out how to read the specs for disposals and determine a given disposal would do that. So I anticipate removing the old connection and drain.

[Jeff Monson]

Stephen, I'm a big fan of the sinkerator disposal, I've installed 2 of them in my last 2 homes. Super queit, and constructed of mostly stainless. I buy them at Lowe's. The connector is not a 3 bolt, its a quarter turn lock thats easy to remove and install. 5/8 HP is what I have purchased, I can't think of any reason why I'd need a bigger one.

[Dan Friedrichs]

I just replaced an insinkerator (that developed a leak out the bottom) with a Waste King. The Insinkerator used the 3-screw-compression connection, and the Waste King uses the kind of quick-twist-connection that Jeff mentioned. I don't see how either is much different than the other.

One problem I always had with my old disposal was stringy things (like carrot peels) wouldn't always get very chopped up, and end up going down the drain rather un-mangled, resulting in plugging the drain. The Waste King I bought has a different type of grinding mechanism (think more of a "burr grinder" than a "blender"), so this doesn't happen any longer.

[Stephen Tashiro]

I looked at the garbage disposals at Lowes. I don't want a powerful one since the sink doesn't like the vibration, so I looked at 1/2 HP models. They don't carry the Insinkerators in that size. They had a "Badger" brand with a whole one year warranty that didn't inspire me to buy it.

Another thing I notice is that their garbage disposals have two pipes coming out of them and my old one has one pipe. I asked a guy at the store what the second pipe was for and he said it was an overflow pipe that connected to "the overflow on the sink". My sink has no such connection. I looked at garbage disposals on Amazon. I saw models that had a provision to connect the dishwasher drain, but if they had an "overflow" outlet, it wasn't advertised.

Another unrelated irritation: In my kitchen faucet hardware, the little receptacle where in which you set the sprayer when its not in use is broken. The hollow metal threaded part has broken off, so i needed one of those. They told me that what I wanted is called a "sprayer hose guide". They stock replacement sprayers, but they had no sprayer hose guides.

A further irritation: On my sink, the hole for the sprayer is too close to the lever handle of the (modern) kitchen cold water faucet, so the sprayer head hits the handle unless you point it a certain way. I'd like to have a sprayer hose guide that held the sprayer up a little higher. I don't find any such thing for sale. I have to improvise some way to raise the sprayer up another quarter of an inch or so.

The conclusion of this is that I'll order the garbage disposal and the sprayer hose guide from Amazon!

[Jeff Monson]

Another thing I notice is that their garbage disposals have two pipes coming out of them and my old one has one pipe. I asked a guy at the store what the second pipe was for and he said it was an overflow pipe that connected to "the overflow on the sink". My sink has no such connection. I looked at garbage disposals on Amazon. I saw models that had a provision to connect the dishwasher drain, but if they had an "overflow" outlet, it wasn't advertised.

I'd call that Lowes back and talk to a manager, can that guy be serious???? An overflow for the sink? Good help is just obviously too hard to find.

[Bruce Page]

I just installed a Waste King L-8000 a month ago. It was #1 rated in Consumer Reports. It also has the quick-twist-connection and was easy to install. I can’t believe how quiet & smooth it is. Our old Kenmore disposal would practically rattle the windows.

[Ryan Mooney]

I looked at the garbage disposals at Lowes. I don't want a powerful one since the sink doesn't like the vibration, so I looked at 1/2 HP models. They don't carry the Insinkerators in that size. They had a "Badger" brand with a whole one year warranty that didn't inspire me to buy it.

Personal experience (admittedly somewhat limited sample set) is that smoothness of operation is directly correlated with power so I wouldn't rule out higher HP systems on that criteria (assuming the disposal is on a dedicated circuit 1HP is fine, if it shares with other kitchen outlets upgrading it may require some more care in usage to avoid tripping the breaker).

We recently (~1 year ago) put in the 1HP Waste King and I'll add another +1 for that. It runs super smooth, eats whatever you throw at it and generally just works happily.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

I believe the 'Badger' line is Insinkerator's low-end line.

I replaced the Badger that came with our house with an Insinkerator Evolution 3/4 HP, and it works really well. We had the occasional jam-up with the previous one, but this one plows through everything AND is a lot quieter. A neighbor replaced his broken disposal with another Badger, and was surprised how much quieter ours is.

I also installed the Insinkerator 'Septic Assist' on a vacation home we have - it's on a septic system, and although conventional wisdom is for no disposals, we are not there most of the time. It has a small bottle of solution that gets injected every time you start the disposal, and it [supposedly] helps in breaking down the food matters in the septic tank.

[Rick Moyer]

I looked at the garbage disposals at Lowes. I don't want a powerful one since the sink doesn't like the vibration, so I looked at 1/2 HP models. They don't carry the Insinkerators in that size. They had a "Badger" brand with a whole one year warranty that didn't inspire me to buy it.

Another thing I notice is that their garbage disposals have two pipes coming out of them and my old one has one pipe. I asked a guy at the store what the second pipe was for and he said it was an overflow pipe that connected to "the overflow on the sink". My sink has no such connection. I looked at garbage disposals on Amazon. I saw models that had a provision to connect the dishwasher drain, but if they had an "overflow" outlet, it wasn't advertised.

Another unrelated irritation: In my kitchen faucet hardware, the little receptacle where in which you set the sprayer when its not in use is broken. The hollow metal threaded part has broken off, so i needed one of those. They told me that what I wanted is called a "sprayer hose guide". They stock replacement sprayers, but they had no sprayer hose guides.

A further irritation: On my sink, the hole for the sprayer is too close to the lever handle of the (modern) kitchen cold water faucet, so the sprayer head hits the handle unless you point it a certain way. I'd like to have a sprayer hose guide that held the sprayer up a little higher. I don't find any such thing for sale. I have to improvise some way to raise the sprayer up another quarter of an inch or so.

The conclusion of this is that I'll order the garbage disposal and the sprayer hose guide from Amazon!

Likely the dishwasher connection

[Stan Calow]

Very happy with our Waste King. Quieter that Insinkerator we had before.

[Dave Lash]

I replaced a 70's Kenmore disposal with an Insinuator disposal and it connected to the existing Kenmore flange without any problems. The flange looked like this.

[Wade Lippman]

i put in a Badger 10 years ago and it is fine. Not recommending it particularly; I just think they are probably all okay.

[Mike Henderson]

I looked at the garbage disposals at Lowes. I don't want a powerful one since the sink doesn't like the vibration, so I looked at 1/2 HP models. They don't carry the Insinkerators in that size. They had a "Badger" brand with a whole one year warranty that didn't inspire me to buy it.

Insinkerator has several levels of "quality". The Badger is the lowest level and LOUD. Go up to a higher level. You'll appreciate it.

Mike

[Bruce Page]

Note that this is a 5 year old thread.

[Roger Feeley]

I have become a fan of no garbage disposal which is what we have in our house. We have a sink from Kraus with a very deep drain bell and a removable strainer that looks like a miniature version of that pasta strainer you get in a big stock pot. So we can put all sorts of stuff down the sink and it doesn't clog. At the end of doing the dishes, we empty the strainer once.

We built a down-sized house and storage was important to us. But I have to say that if I were to build a bigger house, I would skip the disposal.

Additionally, the environmentalists will tell you that a garbage disposal is a lose-lose situation.
-- you lose the power to grind up the debris.
-- you lose potential stuff for composting
-- you send your compostable material to the sewage treatment plant where it requires additional processing.