Easy Trash Disposal DIY, Saved $100

Our trash disposal stopped working this weekend.     When we would push the button it wouldn't do anything.  We were about to call a plumber when I remembered something about a reset button on the disposals.    Underneath the disposal is a red reset button.  I tried hitting that and then tried the disposal again.  Now the disposal would make a humming noise.   But it still wouldn't do anything.    Again we figured best to call in someone to look at it.  I figured we'd be in for a $100 service call bill.   Oh well, at least a disposal is something you can live without until its fixed.  I decided to take one more stab at troubleshooting it and looked up the manual for the disposal.   We have an insinkerator model disposal.  I found the actual service manual for the model in question and it said to try turning a manual crank on the disposal to clear a jam.   Insinkerator has a page with basic information on how to fix a broken a disposal. I had to find the little wrench for the disposal but once I found it and used it to turn the crank I could feel it grinding through something.   It was tough to move for the first turn or two but then it seemed to clear up.   After that I turned it back on and presto it worked again.

Now I'm not the first person to fix a trash disposal in this way and I'm sure many of you already  know these tricks.  If you don't know how to do this then you could probably look it up on the internet fairly quickly.      I did a Google search for "how to fix a trash disposal" and the first couple results were Youtube videos which walk you through the process.

Note: You do need to be careful when working on something like a trash disposal.   Make sure to follow proper safety precautions.

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