Yeah, good catch on the impellers vs blades thing. I learned that the hard way after spending an hour trying to "sharpen" mine a few years back...not my brightest DIY moment, lol. Anyway, corrosion can definitely mess things up too. If you peek inside and see rust or pitting, it's probably time to swap it out. Better safe than sorry—those things can get sketchy when they're worn down.
Good points about corrosion—definitely something to watch out for. Before you jump straight to replacing it though, have you tried giving it a thorough cleaning first? Sometimes buildup or debris can cause weird noises and grinding issues.
Here's what I'd suggest trying first:
1. Unplug or turn off the breaker (safety first, obviously).
2. Grab a flashlight and peek inside—look for anything stuck like utensils, glass shards, or even small bones.
3. If it's clear, pour in some ice cubes and coarse salt, then run cold water and flip it on briefly. This combo helps clean off any gunk that's built up on the impellers.
4. After that, toss in some lemon peels or citrus slices to freshen things up.
If after all this it's still making sketchy noises or grinding poorly, then yeah...probably time to bite the bullet and replace it. But I've saved myself a few replacements over the years just by doing this quick cleanup routine every few months. Worth a shot before spending money on a new one, right?
Good advice, especially the ice and salt trick—I've used that myself quite a few times. But honestly, from what I've seen at work, once these things start grinding weirdly, it's usually not long before you're replacing it anyway. Last year mine started sounding like a blender full of gravel...tried cleaning it thoroughly, but it only bought me another month or two. Still worth trying, though—might get lucky and squeeze more life out of it than I did.
Had pretty much the exact same issue last month—mine sounded like it was chewing on marbles. Tried the ice and salt trick, helped a bit but didn't fix it completely. Here's what I learned as a first-timer dealing with this:
- Check underneath to make sure nothing's jammed up around the blades. Sometimes small metal bits or glass fragments get stuck and cause all that racket.
- Reset button underneath helped briefly when mine stopped grinding altogether, but eventually it started acting up again.
- Ended up replacing mine after about two weeks of troubleshooting. Honestly wasn't too hard—watched a couple YouTube vids and knocked it out in an afternoon.
If it's already grinding weird, might wanna start shopping around just in case. Better than waiting till it quits completely when you're in the middle of dinner cleanup...ask me how I know.
"Better than waiting till it quits completely when you're in the middle of dinner cleanup...ask me how I know."
Haha, been there myself—nothing like a sink full of dirty dishes and a disposal that decides to clock out. Good call on checking for debris first; you'd be surprised how often it's just a sneaky piece of glass or a bent spoon causing chaos. Replacing it isn't too intimidating either, especially with all the step-by-step vids out there. Sounds like you handled it pretty well!
