Bill Shupp Software engineer, photographer, musician, space geek

More do it yourself home improvement fun – garbage disposal replacement

The new and improved in-sink-erator, with sound insulation

Ever since we moved into this place over three years ago, our garbage disposal has been a bit noisy, and more recently has started to smell bad.  The model we had, the In-Sink-Erator Badger 5 Plus, was not easy to clean since the black rubber flap at in the drain was not removable.  Since the disposal was pretty old, we decided to replace it.

The old noisy, stinky Badger 5 Plus

The disposal we chose as a replacement is the In-Sink-Erator Evolution Space Saver w/ sound insulation.  The sound insulation is partially achieved by using a rubber connector between the waste tube and the disposal, rather than connecting it directly to the unit.  Further, the rubber flap in the sink is not only removable (and thus easier to clean), but it's designed to absorb sound coming into the sink with it's sharp angles.  Pretty slick.

Installation would require plumber's putty and adjustable pliers, which I picked up as well.  The whole operation only took about an hour and a half, and probably 30 minutes of that was spent getting the old flange separated from the sink.  It also assumes you are replacing an existing disposal, as you have to wire the old power cable to the new disposal.  It turns out I didn't need the adjustable pliers, as our plumber recently replaced the trap with one that can be tightened by hand.  (The old disposal initially was installed BELOW the height of the drain vent, allowing water to sit in the disposal itself rather than the trap.  Our home inspector caught this, so we had the drain lowered by our plumber).  One thing I did learn, though, is that it's a bad a idea to leave your instructions under the trap pipe when you disconnect it.  There's water in there.  By design.

Disposal removed. You can see the original drain above the water valves, the lowered one below.

Once installation was complete, we were quite pleased with how quiet the new disposal is - a big difference.  And I gotta say, these kinds of do it yourself improvements are kind of fun to do.

The new quiet, odor-free Evolution Space Saver