There’s a feeling that for every garbage that goes through your sink, your garbage disposal crushes and grinds it. You stuff several things and expect that your garbage disposal blades never run out of steam. It does actually!
Continuous use of your garbage disposal can cause the blades to be full. This article explains how to replace garbage disposal blades.
What are Garbage Disposal Blades Called?
Garbage disposal blades are called Impellers. The impellers are one of the most important parts of garbage disposal. It helps to spin food or in other words, fling food that finds its way into the kitchen sink to the flywheel. An impeller works with a flywheel and shredder ring.
A flywheel in the garbage disposal is a round piece of an item with holes drilled into it that catches large chunks of food that finds their way to the kitchen sink.
The holes in the flywheel catch these foods and break them down into smaller bits where it goes to the shredder ring and helps grind them into small bits.
A shredder ring grinds the bits of food broken by the flywheel into very tiny pieces. This helps the food chunk go down the drain easily. The shredder ring comes with a sharp blade that helps to grind.
So the impellers do not work alone but work with the flywheel and shredder ring.
Can You Replace Garbage Disposal Blades?
You can change garbage disposal blades. Your blades won’t forever be smooth. Sometimes, the frequency of the usage of the garbage disposal blades can cause it to be blunt.
There are two reasons why your garbage disposal blade may need replacement, they are:
- Due to freezing/ foreign objects sticking in it.
- If the Garbage Disposal Impeller plate is loose
The impellers are held in place by screws against an impeller plate so anything can happen. And when these things happen, the next best thing is to repair or replace the impellers.
Garbage disposal blades, because they are wired, make the typical machine sound when in use. When you hear this sound, it shows that the garbage disposal is working well.
But hearing the sound of garbage disposal especially when it has issues gives a wary rattling sound like the blades are ready to fall apart.
Another issue is that the blades do not all well break the food chunks and this ends up clogging up the kitchen sink.
So at this point, there is a need to replace garbage disposal blades or impellers in other words.
In repairing the impellers, the cost of replacing the impeller plates or the blades can be quite costly. So one thing you need to check is cost-effectiveness.
Check for:
- The cost of replacing the garbage disposal blades
- The cost of purchasing entirely new disposal garbage.
One major reason you need to check this is that majority of the time, the cost of replacing an impeller blade is often as much as purchasing a new set of garbage disposal.
Whichever works for you is dependent on your personal preference and of course, the amount of money you choose to spend.
In all of these, a garbage disposal blade can definitely be replaced or even repaired as the case may be.
How to Replace Garbage Disposal Blades
When you discover that your garbage disposal blades have an issue that needs urgent attention. The first thing to do is to remove your garbage disposal from your sink.
How to Remove Your Garbage Disposal
In the event of realizing your garbage disposal blades has a fault, you need to detach your garbage disposal from the sink.
First off, you turn it off and disconnect the garbage disposal from its power source by unplugging or unhooking the wires from the terminal plate as the case may be.
The next thing to do is to disconnect the P-trap. In disconnecting the P-trap, make sure there’s a bucket directly under the sink so the water can dispense into it. The P-trap holds a lot of water so while loosening it, a bucket intervention has to come into play.
If you use a dishwasher, you have to loosen the clamp firmly holding the drain hose in order to remove the hose.
After doing this, you can remove the disposal by holding firmly with both hands and turning it anti-clockwise in a quarter-turn fashion.
Doing this will release it from its hold. While removing, be sure to hold so it doesn’t fall down. It’s quite heavy and this will prevent an accident from happening.
Finally, remove it from your kitchen sink cabinet and proceed to replace the garbage disposal blade.
Replacing the Garbage Disposal Blades
Prior to doing this, you know exactly what’s wrong with your garbage disposal blades. In most cases where you have to unhook the garbage disposal, it probably means the screws are loosened.
You can have a professional come tighten them if you are really concerned about the warranty. They know what exactly to do and how to run it.
However, here are how to replace garbage disposal blades:
- Unscrew the blades from the garbage disposal. In removing these bolts, you could make use of a piece of cloth or towel so you don’t loosen your grip while loosening so you don’t end up losing any of the bolts.
- The next step is to remove the blades and place them in their replacement. The best replacement will be to use stainless steel blades as they are durable and have a higher quality.
- After this, tighten the two bolts that secure the blades in position. In order to get it correctly, the blades are positioned at the top of the garbage disposal.
- You can also check the impeller plates below the blades to see if there are any foreign objects such as coins, hard bones or strong stalks, etc jammed in between the plate and the blades. If you find any, remove all particles with a wrench. Do not use your fingers to avoid cuts.
- The next is to check the threading on the flange which is always situated below the kitchen sink. Clean it if you notice any food particles.
- After doing all routine checks, fix your garbage disposal back to the sink, reset it by pressing the reset button.
Do Garbage Disposal Blades Get Dull?
Even if you use your garbage disposal with proper care, it is very possible for your garbage disposal blades to get dull. This is as a result of the period of time it was used. A garbage disposal blade becomes dull over time and won’t efficiently spin or grind food as efficiently as it used to.
To prevent this, don’t put grease, fat, or hard items into the garbage disposal as this can cause it to get dull faster. In case your garbage disposal is clogged, learn how to plunge garbage disposal here.
Conclusion
Understanding your garbage disposal and how it works is a plus and even learning how to replace your blades is a super plus. These tips are quite helpful to make it function effectively.
