What little I do know about these infernal things involves the spinning, or lack thereof that I mentioned, and that lack of spinning is caused by something getting stuck in the mechanism. I keep seeing images from movies where someone reaches down inside for a wedding ring, and the device whirls to life, chewing up the limb in no time flat! I put my hand down there anyway, cause I'm intelligent like that. I decided to man up, use my mechanical prowess, and fix it or die trying. I couldn't feel anything alien, because the whole innards were alien to me. Time to get creative.
I grabbed one of my super flashlights, and went back at it. This time, I saw what I thought was the culprit. A very small, very thin stamped aluminum measuring spoon. I think it was the one marked "1/2 flea spoon" it was so small. It was just thick enough to get wedged in the workings. Confident of my repair job, I flipped the switch and was rewarded with nothing whatsoever. No hum. No spin. No centrifugal choppity death. Zip. Arright. I made another, more intensive pass with the flashlight and my hand. Nothing I could detect. My Sherlock-sense began to tingle as I caught a glimpse of my breaker panel in the laundry room, while twisting in a most unnatural way to dig around the hellish mouth of this whirligig of death. Hmm...breakers...
I pulled out my hand, while it was still whole, and proceeded to check under the sink. I probed and examined the device, looking for a fuse or breaker switch to replace or reset. What luck! I found a reset button for the internal fuse breaker deal, and gave it an arrogant push. It clicked with satisfaction. Back to the control switch I went, careful to keep me mitts and tools away from the disposal. Damn, the hum was back, but no blade spinning action to be found. Was the thing just trashed from it's recent diet of metal cutlery? Not on my watch. Medic!
At this point, I'm pretty damned committed. It's busted, and I can't see as I can bust it any more than it already is. So I'm hell bent for leather, and start looking as to how this piece of junk is held under the sink. I'm gonna just take the damn thing apart. I figure out how to remove the drain pipe from the sink plumbing, and get the lock collar loose from the sink itself up top. A few grunts and heaves later, and I have this heavy bastard in my lap, unplugged from the AC outlet, just in case Alfred Hitchcock has any ideas. Now that I have the thing loose, I can really see down inside the grinder, and lo and behold, what do my eyes see? Another damn measuring spoon. Same make and model as the first, different size though. Even smaller. I think it must be used to measure something like fingernail clippings from bacteria. At any rate, I pry the thing out with a pair of pliers, remove my hands, plug her back up, and give it a go. After a second or so of the old humming noise, the disposal spun to life! Granted, there was a bit of fuss, but it smoothed out right quick.
I smiled, mentally patted myself on the back for being such a bad ass, and put it all back together. The right way even. I fired up the hot water out of the tap, flipped the switch, and let it purr away for about 60 seconds or so to really get things flushed out. It's worked like a champ since then.
While you may not think much of this, I was blown away that I was able to jump on this, something I knew next to nothing about, and muddled my way through fixing this appliance without having to call in a pro. It was a good day for me. I wish like hell I had taken pictures.
-Owen
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