Are You The Cameraman?: Day 252: Garbage Disposal Woes

About this blog title

I cannot tell you how many times I have shown up at events with a couple of cameras around my neck, a gadget bag full of odds & ends and a lighting kit and have been asked that question. If it happened once every few years, that would be one thing. But it happens a LOT. It's like getting pulled over by the police and he's standing there with uniform, gun, flashing lights and asking him "Are you a cop?" I would love to come back with a witty reply, such as "No, I am Jesus. Don't you recognize my beard?" However, I cannot be that rude.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Day 252: Garbage Disposal Woes

So I have some rental units. I like to have garbage disposals in them so that all the vermin attracting food scraps can be ground up and washed away. In my latest vacancy I discovered the disposal unit was not working properly. The ex tenant said he never used the thing. Anyway, I removed it, checked it out, discovered it had seized up due to lack of use. Simply put, the rotating thing inside was rusted together. Also, the unit had evidently been leaking & the tenant never informed me of it. Hence, the mounting ring and related hardware were all rusted & difficult to remove. I finally got it apart and got it cleaned up and working. But when I went to reinstall it I could not make it fit or lock into place. Try as I might, no go. These things are simple to install. I have installed half a dozen of them. Just a ring that turns to lock it in place. But it will not mate up. All I can figure is I must have deformed it somehow when I held it in a vice and cleaned the rust off with a wire brush attached to an electric drill. Today I am going to pick up a new one and see what happens.

I picked up a new garbage disposal at Home Cheapo, uh.. I mean Home Depot, it is a 1/2 horsepower Insinkerator Badger model 5-81. The one I removed was an Insinkerator Badger 5-75. They appear to be identical. Only difference I noticed was the way the discharge tube connects to the body of the unit. The new one slipped nicely into place and the mounting ring turned smoothly to lock the thing in place. On closer inspection of the old one I could see how the mounting ring became deformed, probably from over exertion when I removed it, breaking it free of the rust. The old one also showed evidence of internal leakage and rust inside the electrical connection chamber. It's been running well for about seven years. The new one cost $108.00 with the NY State sales tax. So, I would rather ave salvaged the old one and gotten 2 or 3 more years use out of it, but it wasn't really practical.