My GE 1/3 garbage disposal that came with the new house finally rusted out after 7 years. I set my eye on InSinkerator Evolution due to it's quietness and double grounding. But it's price was around $200 that is a little above the budget. Then I saw this Waste King 8000 on sale at Amazon for eighty seven bucks, it was no brainner to pick this one for its power and for its capacity. So I checked review and was surprised with the large amount of 5 star reviews. There were some negative review on installation, but it comes with EZ mount, it does not seems to make sense. I'll take the risk. The worst I prepare for bad installation is to get more parts.
The item arrived the next day. I opened it and found it has all the part connected except the discharge elbow. This allows me to play around the connection of each part before install the piece. I found the mount was very easy to connect and tighten with little lift and small effortless twist. This gave me more encouragement.
Checking the manual, I found that I don't even need the plumber's putty to install the sink flange. That is even better, and I don't even have to dirty my hand with the putty and mess around to squeeze out the excess putty. Another positive point.
I had previously installed an inSinkerator at another house, and it was not as easy. I had to buy the external cord, and cord holder, then connect them to the machine. For this disposal, everything is in place and there was no extra parts to buy and connect. Another good point.
The most difficult part of installation was to take apart my old display and remove the old sink flange, and disconnect the pipe. Then I put in the new sink flange, and with a few twist of support ring, it was in place. I used the screw driver and hammer to tighten it another 180 degree. The put in the removable splash guard and stopper. Fill in the water. No leaks.
Next, I put in the mount ring and cushion mount. After screw on the discharge elbow and push out the dishwasher discharge inlet plug, I put it up against the mount right with notch alignment, then a little light twist, it was in place. Holding the discharge elbow to sturdy it, I used the hammer to tighten the mount right all the way to the lock position. This is done in five minute without even dirty my hand or break a sweat (and it was a hot day). Reconnecting the pipes and I am done. I can't believe how easy it was for installation.
Now testing the disposal. I got several corn husks and cob and stick them in the the disposal. It emitted a short puuf sound, and the stuff were gone as if asking: is that it? I am still hungry. It was very quiet and the grinding action was short, nothing like the previous one that makes huge noise and took a long while to ground the food. It was such delight to put stuff in, and I was looking for all kind of scrap to put them in and it just sucked it in a second and ask for more.
One thing I was worried about this disposal was that it does not come with hex wrench for unjamming it. I was regretting that it does not have this feature. Then I did some research and found that Waste King L-8000 has 1 horse power. What this means is that it has more torque to turn the motor. A disposal usually jam when it starts because it does not have enough torque. That means it has enough power to avoid jam. That is why it does not need the hex wrench.
Even if it jammed, it is easy to remove the jammed material from the disposal with its removable splash guard. My old disposal had a fixed splash guard and I can't stick my hand into it. End up I had to ask my kid with small hand to get into it to remove the debris. Now, even with my big hand, I can easily reach in to remove the jammed debris.
If it jammed and trip the safety, it is easy to reach for the reset button that is at side with easy to reach notch. Unlike the other disposal I had, it was at bottom and I always had to reach down and feel around to get to the reset button.
In summary, it is a powerful and quiet device that is huge improvement from what I had, and everything I encountered is better. I would recommend this disposal for your next replacement.
Ren Hayes
Charles Z