Stuck grinder

This is the most common fault we are called out for.

Older grinders with a weaker (1/2 HP) motor and induction grinders usually get stuck. Induction grinders have approximately half the speed (1450 rpm), which makes them more prone to jamming.

Turning the plate

You can recognize a jammed shredder by the fact that it only buzzes darkly after being turned on or simply does not rotate. In this case, proceed as follows:

Disconnect the garbage disposal from the electrical network (do this as a precaution whenever you are about to look inside the garbage disposal).
Pull the rubber sleeve out of the hole in the sink (this cannot be done with induction garbage disposals, just open the sleeve here.
Shine a flashlight on the hole
Remove the spoon, metal cap, or any other object if you see one.
If you don't see anything, the rotation may be hindered by a fraction of a seed, nut shell, and similar.
Use a long spoon or a screwdriver to check if the grinding plate rotates freely (WARNING - the entire plate must rotate, not just the two-blade propellers).

If the plate does not turn, lean against it with the same spoon or screwdriver and try to turn it. It should rotate counterclockwise. You can also use the socket from a broom and similar items. Do not be afraid to lean heavily on the crushing plate, it can withstand a lot.

Sometimes you don't manage to completely spin the plate, but just slightly move it. Sometimes all it takes is a millimeter for it to start spinning on its own power.

If you have a tripped thermal fuse, push it back in, connect the shredder to the power supply, and try to turn it on again.

If it starts, let it run for a while together with the flowing water to flush away all the remaining residues that caused the jam of the disposal.

As you can see from the above, a jammed garbage disposal is a simple problem that the user can solve in 95% of cases on their own. Only rarely does the user struggle with this, as evidenced by the following and rather curious cases where we had to intervene.

Really exceptional stories

The first story is about a kitchen waste disposal unit at an elderly woman's apartment in Prague, where her grandchildren were trying to sweep away the traces of a broken souvenir porcelain cup that they had broken together. And because they were alone at home, they threw all the shards into the waste disposal unit and tried to grind them up. They succeeded except for a few pieces, however, several small chips got between the grinding plate and the grinding ring and completely immobilized it. At which point, the lady asked us for a service.

The grinder could not be loosened in a traditional way from the top nor with the use of brute force. I had to completely disassemble it and pull out the pink shards one by one with pliers. The lady then identified the shards and sadly said that she wouldn't be searching for that mug anymore.

The second case is from an unnamed hospital in South Bohemia. There it was a commercial shredder, which did not jam, but in its innards we found crushed dentures.

Of course, they did not crush the patient there; rather, someone simply forgot him on the tray and they washed him down the waste disposal during cleaning. We have addressed the hospital management:

with the question of whether any of the patients are missing teeth
With a warning that it is forbidden to dispose of any inorganic objects in the crusher, especially dental prostheses.

The hospital management did not respond to the first query, while the entire staff was discussing the second query.

If someone's snoring was missing, it remains an unsolved mystery for us to this day. Just like the circumstances of how he lost it.