Potatoes in the disposal

If you are like me, you may have been raised to help peel the potatoes at dinner time. If that is true, the same concept was probably applied to snapping beans, shucking corn and de-bunching grapes. If you don't understand what I'm talking about, well, you missed out on a big part of childhood.

Although I could go into more detail now about those experiences, I merely brought up peeling potatoes because whenever I was young and peeled potatoes, I always peeled them into the sink disposal, and then turned it on and pushed them down. I never had a problem with a clogged sink in my life because of potato peels.

Apparently, it is a de facto standard known to plummers everywhere and common knowledge that you should NOT put potatoes peels into the disposal. They can easily clog the drain. Is this some kind of new development because of the evolution of sink drains now-a-days? The peels hit a wall in the connector that directs the water downward instead of up, which is where they clogged against - maybe that is the technology that has changed over the years. Or maybe I was just lucky all those years (and I think my parents still put the potato peels down the disposal at home) to never have a single clog. In fact, I don't remember my dad ever having to unplug the kitchen sink. I definitely remember unplugging toilets, bathroom sinks and showers (I have 5 sisters whose hair is the culprit,) so maybe I just wasn't involved to remember the kitchen sink ordeals, if there ever was one.

I've had the kitchen sink clog on me twice because of big potato peels. I don't think the problem was normal potatoes. Maybe that is why my parents' sink never clogged. Little potatoes have smaller peels, and small doesn't get stuck. But big potatoes, like yams or sweet potatoes - I've had them clog up two different kitchen sinks.

So what is the trick if you want to remember something? Write it down. Or type it. I'm hoping I'm around whenever my wife wants to peel potatoes into the sink, because after this, and after having to use the plunger to no avail, and then unscrewing all the pipes under the sink and finding the pipe going from the disposal to the u-bend full of peels, and having to put it all back together again - I should remember next time. DO NOT PUT POTATO PEELS IN YOUR DISPOSAL!

The unclogging took me long enough that by the time we put the kids to bed I was too tired to try and rehang my bedroom mirror. It is about 6 feet wide and weighs 35 pounds. Nothing a toggle bolt on one side and a stud on the other shouldn't be able to handle, but I was tired out. Really, I sure staying up last night 'til midnight did that. I was helping program a shopping cart for someone.

So I'll probably hang the mirror tonight and finish the window well on Saturday. At least I haven't had any water in the basement since I dug the hole down a foot and a half next to the foundation. More exciting projects to come!