My gabage disposal went up last weekend, so I replaced it Sunday. Everything worked fine until this morning when the diswasher would not drain all the way and now the disposal doesn’t work, but the sink does drain. I have no clue what the problem might be; any suggestions?
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Does the flow from the DW back up into the sink compartment that the GD is mounted in?
Does the outlet of the GD tie into a baffle tee that joins the drains from the GD and the other sink compartment?
If so, there could be a clog lodged in the baffled portion of the tee, which is a restriction in the drain. The clog could be carrot, celery or other fibrous stuff that got run thru the GD and couldn't make it past the baffle.
The DW doesn't back up in the sink (at least I haven't seen it)
The DW drains into a fitting at the top of the GD and out the bottom into the P trap.
Welcome to my world!
The problem you have, is that you sometimes put stuff into the sink in the GD side, without actually running the GD. I do this too. Seems a little silly to run the GD whenever you rinse off a dish...
BUT...
Gunk does build up in the GD. With me, it's the morning coffee grounds. Then, later in the day, you run the GD and get the "soup" in the sink. All it takes to clear it is running the GD for a second.
I put in my sink, and if I did it again, I would NOT run the DW into the GD. My DW has a GD built in, so all I'm doing is flooding my partially plugged GD with a ton of water!
Doesn't sound a whole lot like it's your problem, but a common mistake is to install a new GD and forget to knock out the metal plug in the dishwasher connection. This will prevent the dishwasher from draining at all. Shouldn't affect the operation of the GD, though, unless somehow water is forced out of the dishwasher and into the GD motor housing.
I didn't see any metal plug, I will double check tomorrow night though. I don't think that is the problem either, because the DW worked fine earlier this week.
Read the install instructions for the GD. All of them that I've even seen have the plug. (It may be that it was forced out by the water pressure and is jamming the GD -- what does the GD (not) do that makes you say it's not working? Does it hum but not spin?)
The GD just makes a buzzing sould. I teach Tech Ed. and in the shop, when a motor goes up on a machine it makes the same noise. Knowing this, lead me to think the GD was bad that is why I replaced it, however, now the new one is doing the same thing.
Look inside for the plug jamming the rotor. Or anything else in there.
This is pretty good (the text, not the video) -- it was cribbed from my original USENET article: http://www.ehow.com/video_112319_fix-jammed-garbage.html
I think i've found the problem, the pump on the DW went up. I pulled the drain hose off of the DW and nothing was clogged and I was able to siphon the water out. I really have no clue why the GD wasn't working, but it was when I got home Friday and seems to be working great now. Anyway, is there a way to check the pump on the DW?
While you've got it apart, make sure the DW port on the GD is open. It's still sounding to me like you need to remove that plug.
Check the pump by routing the loose end of the hose (extended if necessary) into the sink. Run the DW and see if it empties OK.
Finally figured out the problem, i piece of plastic (i don't think it was the plug, it was square shaped) was stuck on the inside of the GD. How i missed it several times is beyond me, but it is fixed, thanks for your help.