Disposals are only designed for the little bit of food left on the plate. They are not meant to grind all of the vegetable trimmings and what not. Id say you at least partially plugged the drain portion. The spacing between the impellers and side of the disposal are not what it used to be.

Thank you Tim. There is no clog, and water drains perfectly. This has been a very powerful disposal with 11 years of hard use and no problems until now. The instruction manual says that the disposal can grind "table scraps, vegetable peelings, cobs, rinds, pits, bones and coffee grounds". The things you cannot grind in it are "plastic, tin cans, bottle caps, glass, china, leather, cloth, rubber, string, clam and oyster shells, aluminum foil or feathers".

This disposal came with a 10-year warranty so the company did not provide those instructions without being confident that the disposal could handle it for 10 years. Now that it is 11 years old, perhaps you are right that the spacing between the impellers and the sides (or the turntable) has become too wide.

I had to look up an exploded diagram for Waste King, I see they are similar enough to the insinkerators I am familiar with that I can offer a fix.

The spinning disc has two loosely-mounted "Flails" that do the pulverizing work. One time mine got stuck so there was no pulverizing action, just rotation. I believe I had ground a large amount of celery scraps, and the fibers had wrapped themselves between the plate and the flailing cutters, so I reached in and moved them until they loosened, stopping now and then to operate the disposal and flush with water.I think a wooden spoon came in handy to gently pry them slightly free. careful they might have sharp edges.

On disposals that are not stainless steel, the parts will eventually rust up together if the protective plating has worn off.

After 11 years of service, it really doesn't owe you much more. But it's worth trying to free the cutters.

Casey

Your disposal might be able to handle it, but your just asking for plumbing clogs. Friday after tgiving is the plumbers favorite day.

Sdello and Sombreuil - thanks so much for your explanations and advice. What I think I am seeing is a separation of the turntable beneath the impellers. When I push the impellers with the wooden spoon handle, they actually spin too freely, and maybe even rock a little. This model is all stainless steel innards, so no rusting that Sombreuil mentioned. There is no water backing up or clogging whatsoever. I've removed the few pieces I had in there to grind, as they weren't grinding, so I am just operating the disposal "clean" to see what happens. There doesn't appear to be anything to clean or clear, nothing wrapped around anything, the disposal is a clean as can be.

It appears to me that Sdello's analysis is correct - perhaps a a broken connection between the motor and the impeller. The disposal does sound normal when running, no odd sounds.

As Sombreuil said, this 11-year-old disposal doesn't owe me any more. I actually called Waste King, and while they did not provide a specific analysis of what's wrong, they said that if there is no jam, and the blades are rotating, but maybe too freely rotating, the problems are not worthwhile to repair, and I should replace. They also let me know that they've recently been bought by Moen, to my surprise.

Tim - my disposal has been handling Thanksgivings, and anything else I've asked of it, for 11 years problem-free. I've said it already a couple of times, but you seem determined that a disposal should not grind anything but the littlest bits of food. I can attest that for 11 years that has not been the case. Not all disposals are the weak Badger style that you may be accustomed to seeing. When you get into the 3/4 hp and 1 hp class, it's a completely different ball game.

FWIW, when I replaced my trusty Insinkerator I bought a new one that mounted to the same flange on the sink. Replacement was as easy as turning the power off and disconnecting the electrical feed, drop the old one out, install the new one and connect the power.

"It is 11 years old..."

That's all I needed to read.

What about the water and electricity you are wasting?

What ''waste''? $1.00 a year?

Tim - so you do not water your lawn, or wash your car? Are all your home's toilets flushing at 1.0 gpf? When you or your family showers, are you restricting your shower time? I could go on about how water can be wasted. Electricity - do you watch TV, and for how many hours? Do you have electronics that are always on? Is every light bulb in your home changed to a LED bulb? Most of all, do you run an air conditioner in the summer? A disposal is on for 20 seconds or less.

I can't stand sanctimony. Though when I read this thread, it looks to me that Tim is trolling - i.e. making comments for the sole purpose of eliciting a heated response.

sahmmy: Tim=troll. Don't feed the trolls.