Disposing of garbage disposal myths: will you burn out the motor if you don’t run cold water?

If you’re like me, you were raised to never (EVER!) turn on a garbage disposer without first running water down the sink. Just a few seconds of this dastardly deed could be enough to overheat and fry the motor.

But is there really any truth in this?

What the manufacturers say

I read through the use and care manuals from several different manufacturers, and they all gave the same advice: run cold water before operating the disposal, and keep running cold water with the disposer turned on for 15 to 25 seconds after all of the food has cleared. This will help clear food debris and keep your waste line from getting clogged. They tell you to use cold water because it will “keep food waste and fats solid so they can be flushed down the drain.”

But they don’t say anything about the unit overheating.

The motor on a garbage disposal does not get bathed in water while it’s operating, so could this actually make a difference?

I tried running my garbage disposer for three minutes… dry (GASP!), and the outside of the unit went from 80° up to 108°. It was about a 28° rise in temperature.

I waited 80 minutes for my disposer to cool down, and it still wasn’t quite as cool as it was when I did the first test, but close enough. I repeated the test with cold water running, and the outside of unit went from 88° up to 116°. Again, a 28° rise in temperature. No difference.

Conclusion

So what’s the lesson here? Keep running water down the drain when you use your disposal; this help to prevent clogs. But you don’t need to worry about burning out the motor. Many years ago, one of my kids turned on our disposer with no water running, and it ran for about an hour straight before I realized it was running. Years later, it was still working fine with no ill effects.

p.s. – should you call it a disposal or a disposer? You’re surely irritated because I used both terms. GE introduced the Disposall® in 1935, and other brands started calling their devices disposals. But they use the terms disposal and disposer interchangeably throughout their use and care manuals. In short, either term is acceptable.

Reuben Saltzman here, answering the hard-hitting questions all day long.