Successfully replaced Cousin’s leaking garbage disposal with help from my Dad yesterday. Nearing ten years of working on construction sites and I’m showing the practical know-how to confidently tackle the more minor in-home projects.
Everybody, including myself was a bit surprised that I knew, step by step, how to address the details: 1) finding and turning off the disposal/dishwasher switch on the breaker panel, 2) unwiring the existing electrical connection before removing the piping connections and removing the disposal unit from the sink drain, 3) taking the old unit to Lowes to match the existing piping connections with connection on the new replacement model’s, and 4) making sure the new model matched the electrical characteristics of the old – Amps 6.9, Volts 120, Hz 60, HP 1/2, and Phase 1. Only the amperage differed (6.3) because the copper wire motor powering the new model is physically smaller.
Then back in Cousin’s kitchen: 5) rewiring the unit using standard wire connectors, 6) reconnecting the existing piping into the new model, 7) turning the breaker switch to electrically test the new installation, and finally, 8) running a leak test on the piping connections.
While we worked, I had to explain to my cousin that when Dad and I are working together we squabble. Even if it sounds like we’re fighting, it’s just how we go back and forth when we’re immersed in a hands-on project. We explained this to her after she heard Dad and I call each other names over a disagreement we were having over a socket wrench – a socket wrench which, it turned out, provided the exact fit my Dad insisted it would.
