Waste Shredder For The Kitchen (disposer): What Is It For, How To Choose, Types, Advantages And Disadvantages

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

Household waste shredder: how to choose, install and use

A household food waste disposer or disposer, also known as a waste disposer, was invented in the United States back in 1927. American housewives used this device with might and main already in the middle of the last century. In our country, this kitchen equipment was not particularly popular, however, a tendency towards its wider distribution is gradually emerging.

Content

• 1 The device and purpose of the waste grinder

  1.1 Video: the principle of the utilizer

• 2 Types of disposers and their characteristics

• 3 What to be guided by when choosing a disposer

  3.1 Video: choosing a household waste shredder

• 4 Installation of waste shredder

  4.1 Video: installing the disposer

• 5 Terms of use

  5.1 Video: how to clean the disposer

The device and purpose of the waste grinder

The disposer is designed for quick crushing and disposal of any food organic matter with output to the central sewerage system. Indeed, quite often there are situations when it is better to dispose of food waste as soon as possible, and not store it in a trash can.

Disposer is designed for food waste disposal

The grinding device is a metal flask, the lower outlet of which is rigidly connected to the sewer riser. The inlet is combined with the drain hole of the kitchen sink, it is installed in place of a standard siphon. In the upper part of the heat exchanger body, directly under the drain, there is a rotating stainless steel crushing cylinder, the ribbed inner surface of which is very similar to a conventional grater. Rotation is provided by an electric motor located below.

There are no cutting elements inside the dispenser, it simply grinds food residues

The shredder functions due to centrifugal force; inside it there are no sharp knives or augers. Food residues, passing through the drain hole, enter the working chamber, where, under the action of centrifugal acceleration, they immediately concentrate at the walls. Large elements are first crushed by rotating solid-alloy cams located at the bottom of the crushing chamber, and then finally ground into a fine-grained slurry upon contact with its grated surface. The water pouring from the kitchen mixer washes the resulting liquid mixture down the drain.

Shredded food waste is discharged into the sewer

Kitchen food waste grinders have undeniable advantages:

• practicality - there is no need to dispose of food residues;
• durability - the device can serve for more than 15 years;
• safety - it is almost impossible to get injured;
• ease of installation and dismantling;
• ease of use;
• compactness;
• environmental friendliness and hygiene;
• no need to carry out cleaning or technical repair work - the device has a self-cleaning mechanism, and the working elements in the crushing chamber do not require sharpening;
• significantly reduce the risk of clogging the drain system.

Disposers are easy to install and operate

The disadvantages include only the following:

• some noisy work;
• an increase in water consumption - by 3–6 liters per day;
• a slight increase in electricity consumption (for electric dispensers) - by about 100 watts per day.

To turn on the disposer, install a special button

Video: the principle of the utilizer

Types of dispensers and their characteristics

The modern home appliance market offers two types of household kitchen utilizers, differing in the type of food:

• Electric dispensers. The device requires an electrical connection to operate. Powerful, but at the same time quite noisy, devices that can easily cope with grinding solid organic waste (nut shells, medium-sized bones, etc.). According to the principle of cyclical processing of kitchen residues, electric grinders are:

  • Continuous loading (continuous). In this version, the waste to be disposed of is fed into the crushing chamber only after the device is turned on, which will operate continuously during the entire time of using the kitchen sink (washing dishes, preparing food, etc.). It is possible to constantly add cleaning and waste products that appear in the course of activities in the kitchen. Switch off the device manually at the end of work.

    

    Continuous loading dispensers allow continuous recycling

  • Batch loading (cyclic). First, the working chamber of the device is filled with food residues and only then the shredder is connected to the network. At the end of the recycling cycle and complete emptying of the tank, the heat recovery unit is turned off. Such appliances are more economical as they consume less energy and water, but they are not very hygienic, since food residues accumulated in the tank can smell unpleasant.
• Hydraulic (mechanical) dispensers. This type of shredder is rarely found in stores and is considered obsolete. The heat exchanger is powered by a strong stream of water (not lower than 2.5 atm.), The device is completely independent of the electrical network. At the very bottom of the tank are sharpened cutting blades that process food residues that enter the chamber almost silently. Knives are able to easily cope with fibrous organic matter. The power of the hydraulic heat exchanger directly depends on the water pressure in the system. If the pressure is too low, it simply will not turn on, at increased values (more than 6 atm.) It may break. The shredder starts working immediately when you open the kitchen tap and supply water to the tank; you will not be able to turn it off at will.

What to be guided by when choosing a disposer

When purchasing a household shredder, there are a number of important criteria to consider:

• Electric motor power. This metric directly affects the performance and overall efficiency of the device. Usually, for an average family of 3-4 people, a device with a capacity of 0.5-0.55 kW is sufficient. More powerful devices (from 1.2 kW) are able to cope with plant waste of any hardness and are used in professional kitchens (restaurants, cafes, etc.).

• Dimensions. The device should fit into the vanity unit.

  

  The disposer should fit freely under the kitchen sink

• Rotational speed. For efficient operation of the device, this indicator must be at least 1400 rpm. The higher the number of revolutions, the higher the productivity.
• The volume of the working chamber. Varies from 0.7 to 1.5 liters. Usually the capacity of the tank depends on the power, the more powerful the device, the larger its grinding chamber. A large capacity allows you to process more waste per unit of time.
• System water pressure (for hydraulic models). In some cases, for example, for apartments located on the top floors of buildings, their use is impractical due to insufficient water pressure.

• Availability of useful additional functions:

  • overload protection;
  • reverse - allows you to automatically clean the inner working surfaces from food debris;
  • several speed modes - you can process waste of different hardness;
  • antibacterial coating - prevents the growth of pathogenic flora inside the device and prevents the formation of unpleasant odors.
• Body material. The most durable is stainless steel. In extreme cases, all working surfaces should have a protective anti-corrosion coating.
• Reinforcement on the drain flange.
• Complete with various attachments.
• Good insulation. Cheap dispensers tend to make a lot of noise during operation.
• Availability of service centers for servicing this equipment and availability of spare parts.

For us residents of the private sector, waste shredders have become a real lifesaver. The fact is that we do not have containers for collecting garbage, once a week a car comes and picks up garbage bags and bags placed along the road. We never know the exact time of arrival and take out our garbage in advance. Stuffy food leftovers always attract stray dogs and birds, which rip up the bags and scatter their contents all over the street. Collecting then all this is not pleasant enough. When the garbage contains only solid household waste and no food residues, dogs show no interest in it.

Video: choosing a household waste shredder

Waste shredder installation

It is not difficult to independently install a disposer for any person who is in the slightest degree versed in technology and has minimal skills in working with plumbing fixtures.

This is done like this:

1. The first step is to block the water supply to the apartment or house.

2. Dismantle the siphon by disconnecting it from the kitchen sink and sewer system.

   

   First you need to remove the siphon

3. Thoroughly clean the drain hole, remove all dirt and sealant residues.

4. Check the conformity of the sink drain diameter to the disposer neck (90 mm). Expand it if necessary.

   

   The diameter of the dispenser neck must match the diameter of the drain hole in the kitchen sink

5. The fixing mechanism of the heat recovery unit is installed. To do this, remove the retaining ring from the installation block of the device by loosening the bolts with a hex key (included in the kit).

6. Then the rubber gasket and flange are placed above the drain hole, and the entire fastening mechanism (retaining ring, gaskets, etc.) is connected from below. Bolt carefully.

   

   After removing the siphon, it is necessary to install the waste heat recovery mechanism on the sink drain

7. Attach the shredder to the mounting ring.

   

   The housing of the heat exchanger is connected to the fastening mechanism

8. A special rubber divider is installed in the neck of the sink.

9. A rigid, smooth drain pipe is connected to the outlet of the device and is discharged into the sewer. It is not recommended to use corrugated flexible pipes, as food debris gets stuck in the folds, which then rot and smell unpleasant.

   

   Disposer is connected to the sewer

10. Install the trigger button (pneumatic or electrical).

11. The heat exchanger is connected to a separate waterproof socket with grounding. It is better not to use extension cords.

    

    It is better to make a separate outlet for the shredder.

Usually the manufacturer encloses a connection diagram and detailed instructions for the device.

Video: installing the disposer

Terms of use

When operating a household waste disposal unit, you must follow a few simple rules:

• Before turning on the device, you must open the water tap. Waste is fed into the working chamber together with water. At the end of processing (the noise stops), the water is drained for another 30–40 to clean the tank. The tap is closed a few seconds after the device is turned off.

• In the disposer you can dispose of:

  • the remains of vegetables, herbs and fruits;
  • watermelon and melon peels;
  • eggshell;
  • bakery and pasta;
  • cereals;

  • fish and chicken bones, as well as small bone fragments and cartilage (lamb, beef, pork, etc.);

    

    Not all food waste can be shredded in the disposer

  • fruit pits and shells from nuts (if the device is of sufficient power).

• Recycle with care:

  • raw meat cuts and veins;
  • a lot of husk from seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, etc.);
  • large fish scales and fins;
  • cigarette butts, disposable paper towels, used napkins.

• Do not allow the following items to enter the camera:

  • non-food waste (all kinds of packaging, scotch tape, film, etc.);
  • hair, ropes and threads;
  • hard materials (fragments of glass, plastic, buttons, metal particles, etc.);
  • onion husks;
  • long stems of herbs (parsley, dill, etc.), banana peel, as well as anything that has fibers in its structure;
  • hot and melted fat (especially beef);
  • large and large bones;
  • corn cobs;
  • very hot and boiling water
• About once every six months, you can clean the disposer by filling it with a few small ice cubes (frozen baking soda solution) or peeled lemon peels. This will help eliminate unpleasant odors from the drain hole.

• At least once a year, a specialized agent for cleaning waste grinders is poured into the utilizer.

  

  Periodically, the disposer needs to be cleaned with a special tool.

• Do not use abrasive products. Aggressive chemicals (alkalis, acids, etc.) are also prohibited.

Video: how to clean the disposer

A household kitchen dispenser can make life much more comfortable and make housework much easier. The problem of storage and removal of perishable food residues disappears, and the use of the device does not cause any difficulties. The utilizer is reliable, works without breakdowns and is absolutely safe.