I replaced my mother's food waste disposal. It was a 3/4 hp Sears Kenmore unit that she had for 10-15 years. It started leaking last week. The connection between the disposal's exit hole and the plumbing pipe had corroded.My brother and I shopped around town. We ended up buying a 1/2 hp GE GFC530F food waste disposal. The price was right as it was on sale for $58.99 at Menards. We felt a 1/2 hp model should be sufficient as Mom doesn't send a lot of waste through the disposal. Also this 1/2 hp model has stainless steel parts to better resist corrosion.
We looked at buying a Sears Kenmore model, but the 1/2 hp and one 3/4 hp model had galvanized steel parts. Supposedly they were treated to resist corrosion, but I didn't want to test them to find out. The 3/4 hp Kenmore model that had stainless steel parts was priced at $129. Hmm... which one would you buy?
The 1/2 hp model we bought was an inch and a half shorter and an inch and a half narrower -- so much the better. That would give mom more room under the sink to store stuff.
However the smaller size turned out to be a problem to overcome.
While the pipe connecting the dishwasher to the disposal was a flexible plastic hose, the connection to the other sink drain of the dual sinks was metal. Can you guess by how much the metal pipe was short in reaching the new disposal? Yup. 
Back to Menards to buy a new pipe. We bought a longer plastic pipe the same diameter. The advantage of the plastic pipe was that it was easier to cut shorter to get to be the correct length we needed.
Another difference between the Sears Kenmore and other disposals, and this GE disposal, was the GE disposal had its own style of mounting to the sink. The other, and apparently the more common, method had a metal three screw twist mount. I had to remove the other mounting connection in the sink and install GE's mounting connection. Not hard to do, but more work. It would have been nice to just be able to screw in my new disposal into the old mount. Also the old mounting unit was metal and the GE unit is plastic. It works, but for some things I prefer metal over plastic.
Another thing I learned about food waste disposals is they do not come with an electric cord. That's odd.
Either you buy a new cord or use the old one. I guess I can't argue from a recycling standpoint. I hate tossing out parts that work. I removed the old cord which took a little effort as I had to remove a metal plate in order to remove the cord. The screws were corroded and took a bit of effort to get loose. One screw I had to chisel the screw's head off.In adding the cord to the new disposal the odd thing was the grounding wire kept squeezing out of the screw to hold it in place. With a tiny area to work in it was tricky to keep the wire in place. Eventually I got it done.
But everything is installed and the disposal sounds fine. I haven't put anything through it yet. As my place in Montana has a septic system I do not have a food waste disposal. (I toss my food scraps in the pasture or hayfield.) So I am not use to using a disposal. I am sure I'll find something to run through the disposal while here.
I got the disposal replaced just in time as mom had a service repair today for her dishwasher. Since the dishwasher's drain is connected to the disposal I needed the disposal in order to test the dishwasher's repair. The dishwasher repair was minor but it is a good thing the repairman was here. He told me this model (also a GE unit -- GE Profile brand) had been recalled. Apparently they can catch on fire due to a problem in the control panel. The repairman said a GE dishwasher locally caught on fire recently due to this problem.
GE has set up a special phone number for their dishwasher recall (1-877-607-6395). The automated prompts had me pressing different buttons based on the brand, and then on parts of the model and serial numbers ("If the second letter of the serial number is ..., press ..."). Having made it through all these prompts the automated voice told me I would be transfered to a live person and that I need my brand, and my model and serial numbers ready for this person to help me.
"What a minute... I just went through 10 or so prompts based on that information. Why wouldn't I have it ready?"
Finally I got to a live person. The first thing she asked me was the brand, model, and serial numbers. Once she validated my mother's dishwasher had been recalled the GE operator gave me two options:
- take $150 or $300 rebate money (the amount depends on what model mom buys to replace her current one), or
- have the unit fixed
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