Question: Last week my garbage disposer stopped chopping. It just buzzed. Now it doesnât make any noise. Do I need to replace it?
Answer: Occasionally something put into the garbage disposal will cause a jam. It will hum when you turn it on or it will make no noise at all. There is a wrench that came with your disposal that fits into a hole in the bottom center of the disposal. If you turn this wrench clockwise and then counter clockwise it will usually dislodge the jam. After dislodging the jam, turn on the disposer switch. If it does not start but it buzzes, the jam has not been dislodged. If when you turn on the switch the motor is quiet, either the breaker on the disposer has been tripped or the house circuit breaker has been tripped. Reset the breaker on the disposer by pressing the small, round button. The house circuit breaker is located in your utility panel box.
If you canât locate the disposal wrench, you can clear a jam by putting a broomstick down into the disposal through the sink and rotating the cutter plate by pulling on the broom stick. Alternatively, you can borrow your neighborâs wrench, or you can buy one at the hardware store.
Question: The water level in my toilet is lower than it used to be. The other ones are okay.
Answer: The fix for low water level in your toilet bowl (not the tank) could be very simple. Lift the cover off of the tank. You will see a 1/4â tube running from the fill valve to a 11/4â vertical tube. The smaller tube points down into the larger tube and is held in place with a steel clip. Occasionally, the smaller tube becomes dislodged from its clip and does not feed down into the larger tube. During each toilet flush, this little tube puts water into the larger tube, which goes into the bowl. When it is dislodged the water level in the bowl will be low. The fix is to reattach the clip and make sure the smaller tube points down into the larger tube.
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