Garbage disposal or no

[OnMyOwn]

We have garbage disposal and I really like having one. We are on a septic field and have never had any problems, but we don't have huge amounts of food going down it. Just little bits that might not fully come off when scraping the plate over the trash, or a few stray pieces left on a cutting board after I've shaken it over the trash. I don't run the disposal more than a few times a week, but I do find it helpful and always make sure to use the side of the sink that has it for washing dishes. When I've accidentally used the other side, little pieces of food get caught in the drain and are a pain to get out. I would think most people would have those small remnants go down their drain if they didn't have a disposal?

 

A friend of mine had real problems with hers because her husband insisted on dumping his coffee grinds into it every day.

[Catwoman]

This Old House did a segment on disposals. The only thing they said was bad to put down the pipes was fats/grease. Everything else was fine.

I saw that episode, too. They said that if you absolutely have to put any grease down the disposal, you should use plenty of COLD water as you slowly pour it in. The host said it seemed odd to many people to not use hot water, but that when you use hot water, the grease can harden up as it gets farther down into the pipes and cause a clog.