Home Repair: Garbage Disposal Edition

In 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, my lease was up and my neighbor was being difficult, so I made the decision to purchase a home. When I was first saving up my goal was a modest 2-3 bedroom single family home. What I ended up with was a 2 bedroom townhouse/condo thing with some quirks. Built in the early 70s, this condo boasts aluminum wiring, inconsistent plumbing, and DIY'ed upgrades. Nothing against DIY, all my upgrades have been like that.

This weekend's project was the upgrade the garbage disposal. It had died and the sink kept backing up. I had ordered a new one from Costco, and also needed to install an outlet under the sink, as the old one was hard wired. According to my dad, it was, "sketchy." 

So I'm off to the races. I disconnect the old disposal. I unwire it, clip the wire, and install a new outlet. I put the new disposal in, after much finagling, and turn the water on.

The water runs straight through a crack in the bottom between the motor housing and the plastic housing.

 Off to Costco I go. Forty five minutes later, new garbage disposal number two in hand, I am back. I pop the disposal on and, uh oh, the discharge pipe is not the right height. I try to connect it, to no avail. I call my dad for the sixth time to complain.

After 30 minutes of resting, thinking, and drinking my Costco smoothie, I reread the instructions. Turns out this disposal has a rubber connector. After some serious maneuvering of the rubber, I manage to connect the disposal.

I am now the proud owner of an installed, functional, not-leaking garbage disposal with about 4 times the strength and a warranty, as well as my new outlet.

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