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" Replacing a failed garbage disposer can seem daunting. There&amp;#039;s the usual trepidation about electricity and water, the unfamiliar sink connection and enough drain fittings to make leaks a real possibility. Then there are the hassles of comparison shopping and the suspicion that the job could run into real money. And finally, failed disposers don&amp;#039;t often leak, at least not in the beginning, so it&amp;#039;s easy to put things off. If this sounds familiar, you&amp;#039;ll be happy to know that replacing a disposer is really fairly simple. With today&amp;#039;s plastic waste kits, leaks are seldom a problem and the electrical connections are similarly quick and easy. Finally, retail outlets sell good disposers for every household budget. Before you buy, though, it pays to check out your old unit to make sure it&amp;#039;s not simply jammed. The list of things a food disposer can consume is fairly short. Soft or crisp foods are fine, but hard or stringy foods can be trouble. Disposers can be stopped in their tracks by celery, eggshells and apple seeds, as well as the usual kitchen flotsam, including pop-tabs, scouring pads and twist-ties. Jamming is so common that every disposer comes with a wrench and an on-board circuit breaker, so don&amp;#039;t assume your disposer has failed simply because it stops working. Use a flashlight to check for foreign objects lodged in the perimeter openings of the drum. Remove any obstruction with needle-nose pliers. If you see nothing obvious, insert the wrench into the motor spline, found at the bottom of the unit, and twist right and left. If the motor spins freely, check that the circuit breaker hasn&amp;#039;t tripped and then try the reset button. If these measures don&amp;#039;t work, and your disposer&amp;#039;s warranty has expired, it&amp;#039;s time to replace it. Shopping For Disposals Disposers range between $45 and $250, and most hold up fairly well under normal use. It&amp;#039;s common for a $50, 1/3-hp disposer with a 1-year warranty to last 10 to 12 years. So what does more money buy? Increased longevity, longer warranties, more power and less aggravation. The better units have stainless steel components, auto-reversing starts and bigger motors. Units that reverse direction with each start greatly reduce stoppages, while larger motors can chew through larger and more varied food loads. We chose an In-Sink-Erator Pro SS (In-Sink-Erator, Division of Emerson Electric Co., 4700 21st St., Racine, WI 53406; www.insinkerator.com). The Pro SS has a stainless steel grinding chamber, a reversing 3/4-hp motor and a 5-year warranty. It sells for around $225. Step 1: Removing the Old Unit  Begin by shutting off electricity to the unit at the service panel. Remove the cover from the base of the disposer, loosen the ground screw and remove both wire connectors Step 2: Removing the Old Unit  Next, loosen the hose clamp on the dishwasher discharge hose and pull the hose from its fitting. To undo the drain crosspiece, loosen the bolts that bind the drain flange to the disposer. Step 3: Removing the Old Unit  Disposers fasten to the sink drain fittings in a number of ways--some use threaded plastic nuts, others large hose clamps--but the mounting-ring assembly shown here is the most common. To remove the disposer, support it from below and rotate the large, 3-tab mounting ring at the top counterclockwise until the unit falls away. Remove the remainder of the drain assembly by loosening the three bolts and prying off the retaining ring. Push the drain out through the sink hole and clear away any old caulk or putty. Step 4: Installing the New Unit  To install the new drain assembly, first roll a mound of plumbers putty on the counter until you have a 1/2-in.-thick, 10-in.-long piece. Stick this putty around the underside of the drain and press the drain firmly into the sink hole. Step 5: Installing the New Unit  To finish the drain assembly, slide the cardboard washer and backup ring onto the drain spud.  Step 6: Installing the New Unit  Follow with the mounting flange and retaining ring. Snap the retaining ring onto the drain spud.  Step 7: Installing the New Unit  Tighten the bolts with a slotted screwdriver until most of the putty squeezes out and the drain feels snug in the sink.  Step 8: Installing the New Unit  It&amp;#039;s usually easier to wire the new disposer before you install it. If the old installation was made without flexible conduit, now is the time to upgrade. Begin by threading the old box connector into the base of the new disposer. Step 9: Installing the New Unit  Bring the circuit wires and conduit into the connector and secure the conduit. Join the black circuit wire and black lead in one wire connector, and the white circuit wire and white lead in another. Bind the circuit ground wire under the green ground screw and replace the cover. Step 10: Installing the New Unit  New disposers come with a dishwasher discharge nipple in place, but the nipple comes plugged in case you don&amp;#039;t have a dishwasher. If you intend to use the dishwasher fitting, poke the plug out with a screwdriver and reach into the disposer to retrieve it. Step 11: Installing the New Unit  Lift the disposer up to the sink drain and engage the tabs of the mounting ring. When you have the ring started, slip a screwdriver into one of the tab slots and rotate the ring clockwise until it bottoms out. Step 12: Installing the New Unit  To plumb the disposer&amp;#039;s drain outlet, fit the rubber washer over the flanged end of the plastic crosspiece, then slide the metal flange on from the other end. Tip the bottom of the metal flange into its slot in the disposer and tighten the fastening bolt through the top of the flange. Step 13: Installing the New Unit  Trim the crosspiece to length, connect it to the drain tee and install the P trap. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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