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Thanks for y’alls feedback. I definitely considered taking out the switch when I bought the house. I eventually decided to leave it because of my own experience feeling I needed it at times, as I described above.
I always put my gloved hand down there each cleaning and 99.9% of the time it’s clear. The septic is inspected very frequently (required by my county to maintain my license). So far, we have passed with flying colors. So, since I do not think folks have been misusing it based on the inspections and no one has complained, I have left it in place.
I am interested to know what (1) other septic owners experience in this regard and (2) w/o a disposal, do you have clogging issues or slow draining issues?
Yes, lots of articles out there from environmental agencies (promoting composting) and septic/plumbing companies describing why…has to do with what the bacteria can break down/throwing off their balance and excess sludge buildup causing you to do frequent pumping. That’s why I’m always thrilled my inspections go well…no more sludge than expected with normal use.
This is an interesting topic in general because even when I wasn’t on septic I didn’t use my disposal as a garbage can and I erroneously assumed others did not either.
I realize it’s called a “garbage” disposal, but I always thought it was for clog prevention vs. “throwing away” food trash. Dirty our water supply even worse than it is and then turn around and have to clean it out…didn’t compute for me.
My MIL and I got into a HUGE argument 20+ years ago about her shoving stuff down my (non-septic) disposal. She was all, “It’s a GARBAGE disposal!” and I was like, “You’re going to clog up my sink!!”. Sure enough, at some point, she put a bunch of leftover pintos down the disposal and clogged things all up. She said," Well, I can do this at home with no problems."
So, I bought a bigger, more robust disposal just for her…happy MIL, happy life?
Er… it is called a ‘garbage disposal’ and here is how the Oxford Dictionary defines it. Whatever you ‘always thought’, this is what everyone else ‘thinks’:
“an electrically operated device fitted to the waste pipe of a kitchen sink for grinding up food waste”.
You will always have issues when you have guests if your version of usage is different than the world’s…
Always? In almost 3 years this one set of guests didn’t comply. Regardless, I am taking the switch disabling under consideration for simplicity’s sake if nothing else. Thanks, again!
I had a new sink installed this past year and took the garbage disposal out. It’s been a year and I have no regrets. That said, I don’t know what I’d do if I had a full kitchen in a rental.
I have a compost bin but I wouldn’t call myself a “big composter.” It’s more like I’m a small consumer. I live alone and I don’t cook as much as some people. So I generate a small amount of garbage.
Well, it sounds like you compost a “big” percentage of the small waste you make. Which is awesome. Or, my kids would say “be-awesome” (short for “beyond awesome” )
I have always had a compost bin. It has 2 sides and when one is full, I start on the other one, letting the first side cook down.
Like KKC, I live alone, so there isn’t some huge amount of food waste generated (and my single neighbor uses my bin as well) , but garden clippings, pulled weeds, yard rakings, unbleached paper products, etc, all go in there too. (you need green material and dry material like small branches and dead leaves for a compost bin to work and not smell- it can’t consist solely of kitchen waste).
I have a screen that fits on top of my wheelbarrrow and once a year I screen the compost in the fully composted side, picking out stones, and roots and branches that haven’t fully broken down, throwing them back in the “working” side.
I end up with beautiful, fluffy, humusy compost/soil that I spread on my gardens and use in potted plants. I haven’t had to buy a bag of potting soil or compost ever.
And I agree that most people consider and use a garbage disposal to put all food waste down. I have never had one in my adult life, but we had one when I was a kid and all food waste was put down it. I would remove it from your rental if I were you, and just put a removeable drain screen in the sink to catch food bits and tell guests where to put what accumulates in the screen- either in the garbage or a compost pail.
I was initially more negative on the guests but having re-read the post and follow-ups, it feels like the rental may have a number of quirks that are obvious to the host, and that they work around, but not necessarily apparent to the guests: Don’t use the garbage disposal to dispose of garbage; fragile dishwasher part; possibly tricky oven door operation; and is the freezer door seal in good order?
Always best to guest-proof the place, rather than hoping they are “seasoned homeowners,” and rather than dealing with breakage or problems after the fact. Everything should work as expected for an average user who is busy doing vacation or other travel activities. The bent knife should have been removed. What if a guest had broken a tooth on the tip embedded in some food?
So you’re left with a kitchen mess, which seems to be that they left dirty dishes, and some extra linen stains.
I wouldn’t have downgraded these guests. But then I have a check out note to wash dishes if there is time, otherwise leave them in sink, as I often have guests rushing to the airport for early flights. As others have noted, every host is different.
You’re right. I have a new one there and backups readily available now.
I love the feature…metal hooks pull/push the lower rack when the door opens and closes. But clearly if I can’t be sure I’ve installed it right then it should go.
Cannot disagree!
Good question. It’s the first thing I checked. After I dumped the stuck ice and reset the bin it’s been great. I’ll check again tomorrow before my next guest arrives, but it seems to be in good working order (seal, making and dispensing ice)
These guests sound fine to me. I would take them. When guests are paying a lot of money and a big cleaning fee then I’d say that a messy kitchen is going to be “included” for some of them. It’s not reasonable for us to charge so much and such a large cleaning fee and expect perfection in cleaning from the guests.
And it sounds like it was just some dirty dishes (the rest of that stuff is really just incidental). I’d give them a decent written review and 3-stars for cleaning. Hosts who are concerned about how much guests are going to clean will be tipped-off by the star rating and can follow up with the guests as needed themselves. Different listings, different hosts, different needs.
Yes, reviews should be honest but they should also be reasonable. Leaving some dirty dishes is not a heinous act. If they smoked inside or snuck in pets or were especially rude and obnoxious to you then everyone needs to know that but you don’t owe it to anyone to publicly shame adults over some dirty dishes. Do what you feel is right. Other hosts can either decline them or stay on them about cleaning before they leave.
As much as hosts want to be forgiven for small issues and want that 5-star rating no matter what, they are harder on guests. If you have a tattered, inexpensive unit but want 5-stars because the listing is “accurate” then that same flexibility should be given to guests who pay a big cleaning fee when they leave some dirty dishes. I hope guests don’t start giving hosts a guide to how to rate guests on Airbnb
These are exactly my thoughts, but MUCH better articulated. Thanks, @JJD!
And look what I found today! It “masks” the disposal and has a strainer & food can’t go down unless a guest intentionally removes the entire contraption. I couldn’t unplug the disposal and I don’t want to disconnect the switch so I put a tiny label “Host Use Only” so that it cannot be switched on w/o removing the label. Guests may not like that they cannot use it but this prevents any “accidental” use. That’s my compromise, so no more fussing at me everybody .
Oh, man, I miss flea markets. We literally went almost every weekend when I was a kid. They had these crazy big slides and those punching balloons. They were great for a poor kid who wanted to look cool… Mary Jane’s for a fraction of the cost of real ones. Soooo many coooool things. I have to see if they have those here. I haven’t even thought of flea markets in years.
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