My sink threw up on me

[The Cat In The Hat]

ok so im cleaning out the fridge, and I spot some spaghetti and sauce thats been in there for like... over a week.

Not thinking anything of it, I yank it and throw it down the disposal in the sink, flip that bitch on and my sink clogs.

Plunge, plunge, plunge... it goes from one side of the sink to the other, and nothing else happens. I flip it back on to try to chew up the mess I made, and it freakin goes ALL OVER my kitchen. On the window, across the room on the fridge and of course, all over me.

What exactly CAN'T you put down the sink?? Potatoes I know you can't, but spaghetti and ground beef??

[Edited on 1-14-2005 by The Cat In The Hat]

[Parkbandit]

My wife does the same thing...

I don't understand why you wouldn't just dump it in the garbage can. You want to shove an object the size of a softball down a pipe the size of a golf ball. Sure it's chewed up.. but it still has to curl down the drain, through the trap, down into the main drain and out to the sewer. I'm amazed I don't have to plunge our pipes more than I do now.

[Samin]

Why didn't you just toss the food in the garbage, and clean whatever was left in the container in the sink?

...I was beaten to the putitinthegarbage rant. Oh well.

[Edited on 2005114 by Samin]

[Tsa`ah]

Garbage disposal

I got so sick of plunging and liquid plumber that every time we have moved I have installed a garbage disposal unit first thing.

[Samin]

I'm too cheap for that. I just stuff the crap in the city issued garbage can out in the front yard... Not flashy, but its umm.. free.

[The Cat In The Hat]

Because that would just be too easy, now wouldn't it?

I've put Spaghetti down it before, and never had a problem. But as I said, I was cleaning the fridge, basically scrubbing the whole room and the garbage was already too full, so I threw it in the sink.. it's raining so I didnt want to take the trash out yet.

[crazymage]

hahahahahaahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahaha

[Jolena]

Mine stopped working on the day after Christmas. Just. Stopped.
:( I tried resetting it, cleaning it out (btw EWWWW to sticking my hand in it to gather up the stuff), I have not plunged it because well, it just doesn't come on. I turn on the switch and it just hums. Le sigh. So now everytime my dishwasher runs, that side of the sink fills up halfway with water and remnants that I couldn't get out with my fingers and it's just ewww nasty. :grr:

[Gan]

Sounds like you already had build-up in the pipe leading from your disposal to the trap, and what made it through the disposal got clogged in the buildup and viola, one stopped up sink. The pipe from the other side of your sink ties in before the trap so the stuff being pushed out of the disposal was pushed back up through the other side, and boy is that some tastey looking stuff.

Avoid pastas, rices, and vegtables (fiberous) things, and as I tell my wife... THE DRAIN IS NOT MEANT TO DISPOSE OF USED COOKING OIL AND GREASE, thats what empty coffee cans are for along with the trash (once the grease cools it congeals, add cold water and it turns into an almost wax like substance that requires professional help to alleviate). Those things I trash, I save the small plate scrapings and sauces for the disposal.

I've avoided putting major food volumes into the disposal the night my left over tacos blew a hole in the side of my old disposal and caused it to vomit all over the cabinet under the sink. And to think I actually ate those tacos. :(

[The Cat In The Hat]

Thank you Ganalon!

Yeah, I usually just put plate scrapings down it too, I learned about potatoes the hard way though, those ALWAYS go in the trash.

[Toxicvixen]

No half pound bag of old rotten fruit! Don't learn the hard way!

[HarmNone]

Gross, Cat! Just gross! I got a picture of a kitchen covered in spaghetti pieces. Eeeewwww!

Jolena, your garbage disposal might just be stuck. Take an old broom handle and try to turn the blades with it. What ya got to lose, eh?

[The Cat In The Hat]

Originally posted by HarmNone
Gross, Cat! Just gross! I got a picture of a kitchen covered in spaghetti pieces. Eeeewwww!


Ok, now picture ME standing at the sink in a kitchen covered in spaghetti, also covered in spaghetti...

THATS gross..

[HarmNone]

I was trying sooo hard NOT to picture that! Eeeeewwwww! GROSS! :(

[Jazuela]

No coffee grounds either. They'll bunch up just like scoopable kitty litter when it gets wet and cement itself shut in your pipe.

We don't have a disposal system so I gotta use the trash. I hate using the trash. I was a spoiled child <whine>

[HarmNone]

It has occurred to me to wonder....

Do young people, like Jolena, even HAVE old broom handles?

:thinking:

[Jazuela]

I wouldn't know about that HarmNone, but I have a <drumroll>

hand-made willow-stick broom.

And I use it to <drumroll>

sweep the floor!

[The Cat In The Hat]

Originally posted by HarmNone
It has occurred to me to wonder....

Do young people, like Jolena, even HAVE old broom handles?

:thinking:

There's a wonderful new invention called plastic. They still make broom handles, but they're generally this newfangled material.

[HarmNone]

Hmmm....I'll bet they'll still work to unstick a garbage disposal! :D

[Miss X]

Wow it's so weird to think that people put ANY food stuff down the sink. Over here everything goes in the bin, I think our pipes must be fragile. Not that I ever really use the kitchen sink.... Thats what dishwashers are for! ;)

[Samin]

I only use disposeable stuff. So I just toss everything away.

Well, I do own one bowl. And one fork. For ramen noodles.

I think it is important, that you all now about my bowl.

I have a plastic bowl that I use for eating ramen. Top Ramen, chicken flavor. Anyways, its a special bowl. Without it, I would probably starve to death. You see, there was once a different bowl. I loved it and cherished it more than anything. One time, after it a tastey Top Ramen chicken favored noodle meal, I went to go clean it, taking the greatest care to ensure every spec of noodle and spice was off. By the way, I burn my hand bad when I clean this bowl. Two hours later, when I was satisfied that the bowl was devoid of all of the tasty morsels that remained of my Top Ramen chicken flavored noodle meal, I went to go put the bowl on my special bowl holding shelf. Thats when disaster struck! The bowl slipped off the ledge, and in almost slow motion, my bowl began falling to the bowl. I tried to get it, but I tripped and fell over, and the bowl, I pity the bowl, fell on the ground beside me. It died in my arms. I tried my best to put it back together, but alas I could not. I called 911, but all they did was fine me for prank phone calls. IT WAS NOT A PRANK!!! Sp for months, I was forced to eat my Top Ramen noodles (No longer chicken flavored, because the spice kept falling off when I'd pour it on the noodles) straight from the package. Then one day, when walking around in the store, my eye caught something! A NEW BOWL! And it was unbreakable. I decided I MUST HAVE THIS BOWL. So I bought it, took it home, and made sweet Top Ramen chicken flavored noodles to it.

And that is the story of my special bowl.

[Edited on 2005115 by Samin]

[Back]

Originally posted by The Cat In The Hat
Ok, now picture ME standing at the sink in a kitchen covered in spaghetti, also covered in spaghetti...

THATS gross..

Actually, thats kinda hawt.

[Gan]

That last paragraph by Samin really made my eyes hurt.

:injured:

[Edited on 1-15-2005 by Ganalon]

[Samin]

For most part, its a true story.

[The Cat In The Hat]

Originally posted by Backlash

Originally posted by The Cat In The Hat
Ok, now picture ME standing at the sink in a kitchen covered in spaghetti, also covered in spaghetti...

THATS gross..

Actually, thats kinda hawt.

if you think that, you frighten me...

Alas Samin guy, I mourn for your special bowl.

Also Gothique lady, I feel your pain, one time I got inspired to make chocolate balloons after watching a cooking channel special, and they asplode everywhere in the kitchen.

[The Cat In The Hat]

I sat a plate down absentmindedly once on a hot stove burner, it exploded all over and I almost got hurt :(

[Jolena]

:lol: Ya know, HN.. I'm really not that young. And even if in your eyes, I am young at the ripe age of 31, my mama taught me well and I already used my old wooden broom handle on my disposal to turn the blades. It didn't work. :(

[HarmNone]

Well, dammitall, Jolena! I was hoping for an easy fix. Plumbers are expensive bastards, ya know? :scared:

[Back]

Dammit, I always have to do the cooking. Women these days... they don’t know their ass from a piece of mozzarella cheese.

[Geoff]

Taking out/putting in a garbage disposal is pretty easy, especially if it isn't hardwired in. Hit up a buddy with a pipe wrench and disconnect the drain pipe and/or dishwasher drain line. After disconnecting the power, you should be able to twist the collar connecting the disposal to the sink off. (You'll probably have to do a little hammer and screwdriver work, normally takes a special tool.) Voila, you can now pull the rubber top off and clean it, fix it, or shitcan it, as needed.

To install, do the opposite. Remember, just over hand tight on the pipe fittings. Much cheaper than going the Plumber route.

<----Removed/replaced many a garbage disposal because he has a wife who thinks they're magical food be-gone devices that can disappear anything.

[The Cat In The Hat]

Originally posted by Geoff
<----Removed/replaced many a garbage disposal because he has a wife who thinks they're magical food be-gone devices that can disappear anything.

You mean...

They aren't??

[Iooy]

On the bottom of most garbage disposals you will also find a spot for a allen wrench. This is the easier way to move the blades around within, if you purchased the disposal new then it should have come with this attachement. Use the tool, turn it both dirrections. Hopefully this will help.

[HarmNone]

Originally posted by Iooy
On the bottom of most garbage disposals you will also find a spot for a allen wrench. This is the easier way to move the blades around within, if you purchased the disposal new then it should have come with this attachement. Use the tool, turn it both dirrections. Hopefully this will help.

You mean my trusty broom handle has been replaced by an allen wrench? Oh, the horror! :scared:

[The Cat In The Hat]

Still clogged! And it did it to me again. I can totally build things, I can decorate, I can even fix various small mechanical things. This is just beyond me.

:grouphug:

Thanks for the advice and help.

[The Cat In The Hat]

After 2 hours with two plumbers... WE HAVE DRAINAGE!

:banghead:

No more spaghetti.. I promise.

[Edited on 1-15-2005 by The Cat In The Hat]