Do you know how to replace a garbage disposal?
In this video I'm gonna show you how and we're gonna do it in ten seconds.
I'm Roger Wakefield, LEED AP, The Expert Plumber.
Welcome back to another great video.
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In this video we're gonna talk about changing out a garbage disposal.
How do you install a new garbage disposal?
So we're gonna assume that you've already got a disposal installed, and we're gonna
take out the old one and put it in the new one.
Now as you can see on our setup here, we have the kitchen faucet off so it's out of the
way.
That way, literally, all you are seeing is the drain pipe and the garbage disposal itself.
So what we will do is we will disconnect it first, remove the disposal and then install
the new one and we're gonna do that right now.
So as you see here we've got a mock sink built up with the disposal already installed so
what we're gonna do is we're actually going to remove the disposal.
In order to replace it, we don't have any power on this one.
The first thing you want to make sure is that your disposal is either unplugged or disconnected
from its electrical input.
So you may have to turn the breaker off or you may have to unplug it depending on if
yours is hardwired or not.
Step number one is make sure that the drains pulled on the inside and there's no water
inside of it.
So we know that there may be some standing water down here in the drain pipe, but really
there's no water in this one at all.
So we know that we're safe.
So what we would normally do is put a bucket under here and take apart the p-trap.
Now with this mounted on the wall, what you'll do with a bucket under it, is undo both nuts,
lower the p-trap, drain it into the bucket, then you've got room to get this out.
Because this piece will actually stay mounted onto the drain, on the wall we're going to
take that apart.
Then we're going to disconnect the rest of the drainage piping down here to literally
get it out of the way.
So we're gonna loosen up all these slip joint nuts and pull all this piping out of the way.
You want to make sure that you save the washers or o-rings on the inside, so that everything
goes back together properly and doesn't leak.
To actually disconnect the disposal now, to take it up loose from the sink, you've got
brackets up here.
It's where the disposal has a flange on it that actually goes up and locks in.
So what we're gonna do is we're going to support this from below and stick a screwdriver or
wrench or something in there and unlock it.
So now we can actually pull the disposal away from the sink itself.
Now this flange is something that if you're putting it in the disposal I recommend going
ahead and putting in a new flange.
Now if you've got a special colored one and you buy the same brand disposal, chances are
you can hook it up and it's still going to be okay, you're not going to have any problem.
But I'm gonna go ahead and take this one out just to show you how to replace it.
And we're gonna undo the three tightening screws.
You're gonna push it up and there's a metal ring in there.
You're gonna take this screwdriver to help you get that ring off, that way you can pull
the flange off and you've got the three sided flange that goes on the bottom.
And as you can see, the screws tighten up here and that's what pushes it up and makes
that stay in place.
So then we're gonna push it up.
And you guys see, you've also got a paper o-ring down here on the bottom.
So this actually takes the flange out from the sink itself so now you can take your new
one and put it back in.
So before you put the new disposal on, you may have to take the old pigtail off and put
the new one on, or put it on the new disposal.
What you're gonna do is you're going to pull your wires get them to where you can get to
them.
Be careful removing the electrical wires, you want to make sure not to tear anything,
your installation pieces on the side here.
And you want to make sure you've got a way to lock those wires in there.
So what I do is open this up, slide them in with the threads here because you know they're
gonna thread into the disposal.
So what I do first is stick in my wires and get them over to where I want them, that
way I can hook up the ground and I can hook up the power.
It doesn't matter which wire you hook to which, as long as you get the ground right.
Just make sure that you get a good electrical connection and it doesn't come loose.
Remember this garbage disposals got a motor in it so it's going to move, it's kind of
vibrate, it's going to twist, it's kind of turn, it's going to do the things that it
does, so you want to make sure you get a very good connection.
Then what I do is tuck my wire nuts in get everything tucked in that way I know it's
in a good spot.
Garbage disposal installation is really something just about any homeowner can do if they take
the time and if they have the right tools.
So what I'm doing is, I'm still cleaning the the putty off the the old flange because really
your new one won't have any on there, but you still want this paper ring up against
the very bottom of it.
And then what I'm going to do is I'm gonna stick this up, turn the way I want it.
Because I'm gonna line this up to where these three screws hit on the outer parts of there.
Because what I'm gonna do is put this up, get it set the way I like and tighten up these
screws.
And that's what's going to push this up and pull the flange down to make sure it seals
off and doesn't leak.
In order to do that, I've got to put this together and then put this ring on, and as
you can see this ring has a split in it.
So it's going to go around and fill in that groove, right there.
And when it locks in I'm going to get it turned the exact way that I want it and I'm going
to start screwing these in finger tight.
As you tighten these screws down, you want to tighten them down equally that way it helps
keep your garbage disposal straight while that's up under here.
On a stainless steel sink, the sink being very thin, you'll have to take these screws
almost all the way in.
If I had a cast-iron sink, or an acrylic, or a porcelain, or anything like that that
might be a little thicker, these screws probably wouldn't go in there as far as they have here.
So now we've got everything here the new flange installed, ready to put back together.
So what you're going to do, if your disposal is not put together yet, you've got the gasket
and then you've got the ring.
Put it in and actually put your gasket down, and it'll go in and snap in place.
Now the one thing that I want to tell you right here, and we don't have it knocked out
here, there's a plug in here and if you're hooking your dishwasher up to drain through
your disposal you want to take a hammer and a screwdriver and knock that plug out, and
then remember to reach down inside here and get it out.
If you don't, that can actually jam your garbage disposal.
So once you get it the way you want it, you turn it to the direction that it's going to
go, and we know we want this pointing over toward the drain pipe because we know where
our p-trap is gonna be.
So you get it lined up, you line these flanges up with the opening here, push it up in place
and turn it, get it right where you want it, and then turn it till it locks.
That's really the hardest part about installing a garbage disposal.
Because now all we're gonna do is start putting the pieces back together.
So remember the o-rings that I told you to make sure you kept?
See how they're beveled?
You want the point to go down towards the bottom, so what you're gonna do is you're
gonna slide your slip nut up, put your washer on and slide it up just a little bit.
And we're gonna do the same thing over here.
Once we get that together, we know this is already the correct length because we're putting
back the exact same size disposal that we took out.
You're going to get it, get everything lined up, and put it together.
You want to make sure you've got fall here, so make sure that this goes up as far as it's
supposed to before you tighten it down.
Now we're going to put our p-trap back together.
Which we know it'll go like that.
As you can see the drain arm here already has the beveled washer on it and it'll go
into the side that has the bevel.
I have seen people turn around put it the other way if they need it to be a deeper trap,
hopefully you won't need to.
Remember this piece is already on the wall, so literally what you're gonna do is stick
this on and slide it up.
And that's really all it takes to install a garbage disposal.
So as you can see, installing a new garbage disposal is not that big of a problem.
Just make sure that you're installing one because you need one.
If your garbage disposal was humming, jammed up, or anything like that maybe you didn't
need one.
Maybe you just need to unjam it or maybe you need to hit the reset button.
The reset buttons right down here on bottom, and as you saw whenever I had it over right
in the middle, that's where the unjam wrench goes to help you take care of your disposal.
If you've changed out your own disposal, or you've unjammed it, or worked on it, please
leave a comment down below and let us know.
Thank you for watching if you want to learn more about plumbing, check out some of the
other great videos we've done on The Expert Plumber, and remember hit the subscribe button
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video if you don't get flushed.