Now You're Grinding in Style!

Kenmore 60572 3/4-HP Garbage Disposal

My first clue was water on the floor of the cabinet under the sink. It didn’t go away after I replaced the faucet (I’d have done that anyway) – that was my second clue – so I pulled the old InSinkerator Badger, I found a hole in the grinder chamber – on the back, naturally – and that particualr mystery was solved: another bottom-of-the-line plumbing fixture bit the dust, no thanks to the sleazeball who sold us this house.

Around our house we don’t use what the industry calls a food-waste disposer very often, since we compost a lot of our scraps. Every once in a while, though, one of us finds a science experiment hidden at the back of the refrigerator, and that’s when a disposal comes in handy.  Since any house on a municipal sewer system is expected to have one of them these days, re-plumbing without a disposer wasn’t an option. We didn’t want to spend a lot of bucks on something we only use a time or two a week, though, do we didn’t go looking for a “silent” model. On the other hand, we wanted one that had a good capacity and would last for a while. After the usual online research, I picked the Kenmore 60572.

Specifications The 60572 is a ¾-horsepower model, a sort of mid-range power rating. According to Sears, a ½-horsepower unit would be too small for our 4-bedroom home, and a 1-HP disposal is a little too “commercial.” Sears offers three models at ¾ HP, but we decided against the $230 batch-feed model for our only occasional use. This model is a low-cost alternative to Kenmore 60581, featuring an ABS (“plastic”) grinding chamber instead of steel; it also has less sound insulation. Both motor and steel grinding plate are the same, meaning that for $50 less you end up with the same efficiency but more noise and perhaps a shorter lifespan. Given how little we use the thing, we can live with that - besides, Sears guarantees it for five years.

Installation

I installed it myself, which was made easier because the 60572 mounts to the same twist-on bracket as the InSinkerator it was bought to replace (pretty sure InSinkerator makes this Kenmore models for Sears). The packaging includes a complete bracket, however, if needed. I only had to disconnect power and plumbing from the old unit, connect wiring to the new one (doing that was a lot easier when it wasn’t upside down in the cabinet), and twist the mounting into place. Then I reconnected the plumbing, and I was done. You need to make certain to remove the proper knockout before installing if you have to connect the return line from dishwasher. I'd estimate it took 40 minutes to install, of which about a third was correcting a mis-aligned bracket to get a proper seal on the gasket.

Using

When it's running the 60572 gets the job done without complaining. I’ll admit it’s a little loud - not Metallica-concert volume, but loud enough to wake up the dogs when we flip the switch. More important, thought, is that it grinds whatever junk we feed it and sends everything on its way. We have no more stopped-up drains, no backups into the dishwasher, and no more leaking onto the cabinet floor.

Summary

PLUS: economical, functional, and easy to install

MINUS: a little loud

What They're Saying: If your family are reluctant disposal users like us but you’re OK with installing a no-frills unit that’ll work just fine; we highly recommend a Kenmore 60572.

Installation Tip

Holding the disposal a foot off the floor of the undersink cabinet takes lots of arm strength. If you aren’t that buffed, though, just set the bottom on a block of wood and lift everything to the underside of the sink using the jack out of your car.