How to replace a kitchen sink macerator
There was a flash, a bit of smoke, lots of beeps and everything died, including my computer. A genie appeared and whispered in my ear. "Your kitchen sink macerator has seized and will never work again." Bit like me . . .
Well it was 15 years old so it'd had a good innings. It'd chewed up potato peelings, wok remnants and cabbage leaves. It'd disposed of onion skins, old baked beans and a variety of leftovers. And now it'll dispose no more.
Not only had it seized, it had leaked. So the under-
Next thing to do was isolate it electrically and reset the earth leakage trips. Then make sure that nothing was poured down that sink. Done. And computer now worked, except I'd lost a few edits here and there.
Decided it wasn't worth trying to repair so I found a new model which looked as though it was a direct exchange. Amazon Prime obliged and it was here next day. And it was heavy.
So, there was an immediate need to get the old one off.
It had an air switch.
An air switch uses a puff of air to throw a microswitch which connects an electricity supply which starts the motor which grinds the food that lives in the house that Jack built. This means that you don't have wet hands near an electrical switch, which stops you getting electrocuted, which is good, believe me.
Disconnect the air switch, then disconnect the waste water pipe and the overflow from the sink. Then stand back and consider the weight of the thing. Quake in your shoes.
When finished sucking air in through teeth, decided to put supports in place so it'd only drop an inch when disconnected. But how to disconnect it?
The instructions are barely adequate and don't tell you the purpose of the various parts, which would help a lot. That seems to be the way with instructions. You have to work it out for yourself. What they should tell you is this.
23 september 2019