When I was growing up, these seemed to be ubiquitous and I never liked them. They seemed overcomplicated for the purpose, and created a gross and smelly area under the sink that needed more cleaning.
I haven’t had one in years, as a simple sink mesh does the same job. But I don’t really know how other people are. Are under sink garbage disposals still common, and commonly actually used by people here?
They shouldn’t make a gross smelly area under your sink. It sounds like yours was leaking.
Or had a backflow issue
They were never a thing in Europe.
The sewage treatment is not built to handle that kind of stuff. The sewage pipes aren’t too happy about it, either. I might flush some carbs down the toilet. The poop-munching bacteria at the treatment plant get a nice growth boost from it. Grease not only clogs your own pipes, but causes issues for the whole city. I think it’s possible to get fined for it if you’d get caught starting a year or two back.
Food waste goes in the trash or compost. If it goes in the trash it’s burned at industrial temperatures to burn clean. The heat is used for district heating networks.
The sewage treatment is not built to handle that kind of stuff.
They’re also not built to handle it in the US, but lower standards solve that problem pretty handily
Yeah, grease and oil kills plumbing
They were never a thing in Europe.
Not really a thing in Canada either. Bought a reasonably midrange ($600k) brand-new apartment back in 2006, it didn’t come with it. Also have never seen it in any other house that I’ve visited, except for the wealthy. And by that, I mean in a house that you would normally pay $4-8 million for. Which is certainly upper middle class where I am, but not overly wealthy.
I went out of my way to get one installed in a house that didn’t have one. So, yeah.
If yours is making a mess under the sink, it’s either broken or installed wrong.
I use mine all the time, much easier than dealing with a nasty sink strainer as I just spray down the sink into the disposal and run it. Also keeps the trash from smelling.
If it’s being smelly under the sink, it’s broken or not installed right. If it’s being smelly from the drain hole sink side then you’re not cleaning it from time to time (Which is as easy as dropping in some cleaner and running it every other month or so).
I’m actually looking to upgrade mine so it can handle some bones
A cup full of ice cubes once a week keeps mine clean
The upgrade is so worth it. I got a 1hp one when I needed to replace the old one. I could probably send a whole rotisserie chicken down that thing without issue (other than destroying my plumbing anyways). I don’t deliberately send bones down it but it has happened and they don’t even slow it down.
We have one, I like it. Never gross smelling, keeps the drains clear, seems to help the dishwasher run better.
I use it all the time. Dump dishes into trash, rinse everything that sticks off in sink, grind up all the food bits from that in the disposal, put dishes in dish washer.
It’s only gonna get gross and smelly under your sink if something is wrong with the disposal. And if you’re not throwing a shit ton of garbage down it, just the little bits that wash off when doing dishes, it’s not likely to break or get clogged.
They seem more common now if anything
I’m not sure what extra cleaning you’re talking about but if you use them once in a while they don’t stink
Didn’t grow up with one, but consider it standard now. There should be an organic stream to waste disposal. Much more green to send your plate scrapings to the treatment plant than to wrap them up in plastic and bury it in a landfill.
I’ve never not had one, do you scoop all your food waste out of the sink with your hands? Cleaning is as easy as dropping a lemon peel in once in a while or a tray of ice.
Big stuff straight into the trash. Little stuff into the sink strainer. It all settles to the middle of the strainer. Pick up the strainer and dump it into the trash.
Does the debris ever clog the strainer? Sometimes the disposal gets clogged and holds filthy water in the sink, and I just run the disposal and it clears it all out. Otherwise you’d have to reach in and grab the strainer out and that’s… Ew.
ive never lived in a house or apt without one. they seem ubiquitous to me. seems weird there wouldnt be one.
Lol what? They are ubiquitous as ever.
Food waste goes to compost!
I’ve always had one in every place I live. Even the shitty apartment I had one was installed.
I found a solid metal strainer, not mesh for my sink. Holds up forever and much easier to clean. Even if you have a disposal, its not great to just dump everything down the drain [citation needed]. You especially want to catch things like small bones and forks.
The disposals seem common enough, a lot older/outdated homes don’t have them. I have no idea what they’re putting into new houses and renovations.
Never had an under the sink mess like you describe, maybe yours just had a small leak?
Pretty sure they just mean that it can get stinky in there
Never ever lived in a place with one, and I’ve lived in probably a dozen places in my life
