Garbage Disposal Repair & Replacement in Phoenix & Scottsdale, priced before we start.
“It just hums.” That’s how most disposal calls begin, usually with a sink of gray water standing behind the sentence. The hum is good news, of a sort. It means the motor is getting power and trying to turn, and something is stopping it: a peach pit, a bottle cap, a spoon that went down with the dishwater. The unit isn’t dead. It’s stuck.
Inside, there are no blades. A disposal is a motor spinning a flat plate fitted with two swiveling metal lugs, called impellers, that fling food outward against a stationary grind ring. The ring’s teeth shred whatever hits them, and water carries the pulp through the trap. That design is why fibrous food wins: celery strings, corn husks, and onion skins wrap around the plate instead of shredding. It’s also why potato peels and rice cause trouble. They don’t jam the unit. They turn to paste in the pipe.
Often the real trouble isn’t the disposal at all but the drain behind it. Ground food mixed with grease settles in the kitchen branch line, and in older Valley homes with cast-iron drains, that line may already be narrowed by decades of buildup. Hard water adds a crust of scale for the paste to grip. A disposal can seem weak when the actual problem is a pipe that can barely carry what it sends, and that’s a job for drain cleaning, not a new unit.
Before calling, and with the power off at the switch or the plug, look underneath for a small hex socket in the center of the unit. A ¼-inch Allen wrench fits it; work it back and forth until the plate turns freely. Then press the red reset button on the bottom. That clears most jams. If the unit is silent with no hum at all, check the breaker and the reset button first. If water is dripping from the housing itself, the internal seal has failed and no reset will help. Never reach into the chamber with your hand.
Disposals are mostly repair-or-replace, with little in between. A jam, a loose sink flange, a leaking dishwasher connection, or a worn gasket are repairs. A leaking housing, a seized motor, or a unit that rattles at full speed means replacement, and the new one should suit how you cook. Home units run from about a third of a horsepower to a full one; more power jams less, and an insulated model is worth it in an open kitchen. The rest of the kitchen plumbing gets a look while we’re under there.
What the disposal is telling you
Humming, not turning
The motor is trying and losing. The fix is usually on the underside of the unit, with a hex wrench and the reset button. If it jams again within days, something is still lodged in the chamber or the bearings are going.
Complete silence
The thermal overload has tripped, the breaker is off, or the switch or wiring has failed. The red reset button on the bottom is the first thing to try.
Where is the water under the sink coming from?
Location tells you nearly everything. From the top, the sink flange putty has let go. From the side, the dishwasher inlet or the discharge tube gasket. From the bottom of the housing, the unit is finished.
Dishwasher water backing into the sink
Often a clog at the disposal’s dishwasher inlet or in the trap. On a brand-new disposal, it can be the knockout plug inside that inlet, which nobody removed during installation.
Grinding, rattling, or metal on metal
Something hard is in the chamber, or the plate and bearings are wearing. Kill the power and look with a flashlight. Use tongs, never fingers.
A smell that comes back every few days
Food packed under the rubber splash guard and around the grind ring. Ice cubes and a cut lemon help. If the smell is sharp and sewer-like rather than sour, the trap or the drain line is the likelier source.
The visit
- 01
Power off, then diagnosis
Breaker or plug disconnected before anyone reaches under the sink. Then we check for jams, test the motor, and inspect the sink flange, dishwasher inlet, discharge tube, and trap.
- 02
Freed, if it can be
Most jams clear from the bottom socket. If the unit runs cleanly afterward, you’re done, and there is nothing to sell you.
- 03
Or replaced, usually the same visit
We size the unit to your kitchen, reuse the mounting ring only when it’s sound, remove the dishwasher knockout plug (yes, really), and connect the discharge to a clean trap.
- 04
A test with the dishwasher running
Disposal under load with cold water, then a full dishwasher drain cycle, while we watch every joint underneath.
- 05
If the drain is the bottleneck
Sometimes the disposal is fine and the kitchen line is not. You’ll hear that plainly, a camera inspection can show why, and if the line has a history, hydro jetting may be the lasting fix.
Pricing
Flat price, told to you before tools come out
A freed jam or a reset is a short visit. A replacement is priced on the unit you choose (horsepower, sound insulation, and whether it needs to be septic-rated), on whether it plugs in or is hard-wired, and on whether the drain needs rework to connect cleanly. After-hours visits cost more. Either way, the price is quoted before we start and doesn’t move once you’ve agreed.
Financing is available on larger jobsA disposal is a motor bolted to your sink and fed whatever is left on the plate. It deserves a little more discretion than it usually gets.
Garbage Disposals: questions we get asked
Straight answers, the same ones we give on the phone.
