We all have used one at one point in our lives, you may have one now and really never gave it much thought, you flip the switch and it chews up what ever you throw at it, but lets take a look at how they came to be one of your most used appliances.

The garbage disposal was first introduced on the market in 1938 by InSinkErator, it was developed by a man named John W. Hammes of Wisconsin. In order for a garbage disposal to work the cities had to rework their entire sewage systems, many of the cities refused including New York City which declared the garbage disposal illegal up until 1997 when they finally removed the law.

Today's disposers are more powerful than previous ones, they run at 200 to 750 watts, have stainless steel parts that resist corrosion, are installed under the kitchen sink with a switch located on the wall near the sink, and may have sound proofing to reduce noise levels.

Disposers have many environmental benefits:

• it creates a more sanitary home since by grinding leftover food you will incur less garbage which means using fewer garbage bags
• sending food scraps to the landfill creates methane gas which is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide gas
• does not require very much electricity to run
• energy can be made from the food waste, the methane gas created at the waste water treatment facility can be captured and used to generate electical power

Some basic tips to using your garbage disposal properly are:

1. always run water when putting anything that is not liquid down the disposer
2. do not over load, never put a whole pot of food or leftovers down at one time
3. always mare sure before you turn it on that any metal objects are cleared out
4. continue to run the water after you have turned off the disposer to make sure everything has cleared out

Over the lifetime of your disposal it will  get clogged, it happens to the best of us, here are a few ways  to get it unclogged,  first unplug the disposal,  if you are unable to get the the plug pull the breaker  to make sure it doesn't accidentally come on when you are working on it. Use a needle nose pliers to reach inside or even some tongs, never put your hands inside as the blades are very sharp and may cut you, if you do not feel comfortable trying this yourself don't be afraid to call your local repairman.

Time and frequent use can cause food and grease build up in your disposal, this build up can affect the functioning and smell of your disposal, here is a good way to clean it out.  Place some ice cubes over the drain, then put either rock salt or vinegar on the ice cubes, turn on the water and the disposal until all the ice is crushed up, for a better scent add some citrus peels.

By keeping these tips in mind you should have a great working (and smelling) disposal for years to come.

KSCDirect.com is an authorized dealer of InSinkErator products.