Garbage Disposal Repair & Installation in Indianapolis, IN

Jammed, Humming, or Dead

If your disposal hums but won't turn, something has jammed the flywheel — often a bone, a fruit pit, or a stray utensil. Never put your hand in there. Sometimes the fix is as simple as freeing the jam and hitting the reset button on the bottom of the unit, and we're glad to show you how so you can handle a future jam yourself.

A disposal that's totally silent is usually a tripped reset, a bad switch, or a burned-out motor. We trace it back to the real cause. If it's the motor, we'll tell you honestly — at that point a new unit almost always beats an expensive repair on an old one.

Leaks and Backups

A disposal leaking into the cabinet is often coming from the sink flange, the drain connections, or a cracked housing. Flange and connection leaks we can usually reseal or re-fit. A cracked body means the unit is done and needs replacing before it soaks your cabinet floor.

If the disposal drains slowly or backs up, the disposal may not be the villain at all — the clog can be downstream in the drain line. When that's the case, a proper drain cleaning clears it. Our take on DIY vs. professional drain clearing can help you judge when to grab a plunger and when to call.

What Not to Put Down Your Disposal

Most disposal deaths are avoidable. A disposal grinds soft food scraps — it is not a trash can. The usual killers are grease and oil, which harden downstream, fibrous stringy foods like celery and corn husks, coffee grounds, eggshells in quantity, and pasta and rice that swell up in the line.

Run cold water before, during, and for a few seconds after you grind, and feed scraps in gradually rather than all at once. Simple habits like these are the difference between a disposal that lasts a decade and one that jams every month. We'll walk you through them while we're there.

• Skip grease, oil, and fat — they harden and clog the line downstream
• Keep out fibrous foods: celery, corn husks, onion skins, potato peels in bulk
• No coffee grounds, eggshells in quantity, or swelling starches like pasta and rice
• Run cold water before, during, and after grinding

Replacement and Sizing It Right

When it's time for a new disposal, horsepower matters. A 1/3 HP unit struggles in a busy kitchen, while 3/4 or 1 HP handles daily loads with less jamming and quieter operation. We help you match the unit to how your household actually cooks — no overselling, no undersizing.

We install it clean, check the mounting and drain connections, and test it before we leave. While we're under the sink, we can knock out related work in the same visit — a dripping faucet or a running toilet — and save you a second call. New to hiring a plumber? Our guide on how to choose a plumber covers what to look for. We work throughout Fishers and the surrounding suburbs.

Simple Habits That Add Years to a Disposal

Most disposals we replace didn't wear out — they got worn out. A few easy habits keep yours running for years longer. Always run a strong stream of cold water before, during, and for a good 15 seconds after you grind, so waste flushes all the way down the drain instead of settling in the trap. Cold water also keeps fats solid so they chop up rather than coat the pipe.

Feed it slowly instead of packing the chamber, skip the big offenders like grease, bones, and fibrous peels, and grind a handful of ice cubes now and then to knock buildup off the blades. Do that and you'll head off most jams and clogs before they start. When food still finds its way into the line and the sink backs up, our drain cleaning crew can clear it and get you flowing again.