Service
Garbage Disposal Installation
Fitting a food waste disposer, including the mounting, the waste rework it usually requires and the electrical supply and switch it needs.
- Licensed and insured
- Price agreed before work
- A plumber who works your area
The unit is not the job
What surprises people about fitting a disposal is how little of the work is the appliance.
The waste has to be rebuilt. A disposal discharges from a spigot on its side, at a different height and position from a plain sink waste. The trap and branch below have to be reconfigured to suit, with correct fall. Adapting the existing arrangement to reach usually produces a run that holds water.
It needs power. A dedicated switched supply under the sink, which a lot of kitchens simply do not have. That is electrical work, and it is worth establishing before the plumbing is booked rather than on the morning.
Both are routine. Neither is included in the price on the box.
The knockout plug
One detail causes more failed disposal installations than everything else combined.
Disposals ship with a plug inside the dishwasher inlet, so the unit can be used without a dishwasher connected. It has to be knocked out before a dishwasher hose is attached.
Connect the dishwasher to a plugged inlet and the machine cannot drain. It backs up, throws an error, and the fault gets blamed on the dishwasher.
It takes seconds to remove at the right moment and means dismantling the connection to fix afterwards. Worth checking on any new install.
Does this sound familiar?
Problems this service solves
- Adding a disposal to a sink that has never had one
- Fitting a disposal during a kitchen renovation
- A sink waste arrangement that will not suit a disposal
- No switched power supply under the sink
- A dishwasher that needs connecting to the disposal
Signs you need garbage disposal installation
If more than one of these is true, the problem is usually past the point a plunger or a store-bought cleaner will fix.
- The kitchen is being renovated
- There is no disposal and you want one
- There is no outlet or switch under the sink
- The existing waste arrangement is a simple trap only
What to expect
How the visit works
Check the sink and the space
The flange size, the bowl depth and the cabinet clearance below decide whether a given unit will physically fit.
Rework the waste
A disposal discharges through its own outlet at a different height, so the trap arrangement is rebuilt rather than adapted.
Sort out power
A disposal needs a dedicated switched supply. Where there is none, that is electrical work and it is identified before the plumbing starts.
Mount, connect and test
The unit is mounted with a proper seal at the sink flange, the dishwasher connection made or plugged, and everything run and checked.
What's included
What you get on every job, whoever we send.
- Fit confirmed against the sink and the cabinet
- Waste rebuilt for the disposal outlet, not stretched to reach
- Power requirements identified before the day
- Dishwasher connection made or correctly plugged
Questions
Garbage Disposal Installation questions
What else is needed besides the unit?
Two things people rarely budget for. The waste arrangement under the sink has to be rebuilt, because a disposal discharges from its own outlet at a different height and position than a plain waste, and the trap has to be reworked to suit with proper fall. And it needs a switched electrical supply under the sink, which many kitchens do not have. Both are ordinary work; they are just not part of the box price.
Does a disposal work with a septic system?
It can, but it needs thought rather than a straight yes. A disposal significantly increases the solid load reaching the tank, which means more frequent pumping and more strain on the system. Some units are specifically designed for septic use. If you are on septic, it is worth discussing tank size and pumping interval before fitting one, rather than discovering the effect later.
Can my dishwasher connect to it?
Yes, and most disposals have an inlet for exactly that. What matters is that the knockout plug inside that inlet is actually removed before connecting, because it is fitted from the factory and a dishwasher connected to a plugged inlet will not drain and will back up. It is the single most common mistake in a self-installed disposal and it is easy to check.
Related services
Garbage Disposal Repair
Repair and replacement of jammed, humming, leaking, non-draining or dead garbage disposals, with correct drain and dishwasher connections.
See what this coversGarbage Disposal Replacement
Replacing a failed disposal, including the ones that leak from the body, where no repair exists and the unit has to come out.
See what this coversSink Installation
Fitting kitchen and bathroom sinks, including the cutout, the mounting method and the waste and trap arrangement underneath.
See what this coversWater Heater Repair
Diagnosis and repair of gas, electric and tankless water heaters, including no-hot-water calls, leaks, pilot problems and sediment flushing.
See what this covers
Get it fixed
Garbage Disposal Installation, handled locally
Call with your ZIP code and what you are seeing. We route you to a licensed plumber in your area who does garbage disposal installation every week.
- Licensed and insured
- Answered 24/7
- Price before work