Stop Garbage Disposal Waste from Re-Entering Double Sink

Learn how to stop garbage disposal waste from re-entering your double sink. Find out why some garbage disposals spit waste back up through the sink drain, and how a redirecting your pipes can stop it.

LESLIE: Monica in Colorado is dealing with a situation involving a garbage disposal. Tell us what’s going on.

MONICA: Well, I moved into this house a year ago and I have a kitchen sink that has a double sink and the garbage disposal, when I use it, the stuff that I’m grinding up is coming up the other sink.

TOM: OK.

MONICA: Why is that doing that and in every other house I’ve lived in never did that? Why is it doing that?

TOM: Because the way the two drains are configured, the out port on the garbage disposal is too close or the pipes are not angled in the right way to push the waste down the pipe. It’s basically looking for the quickest way out so it’s throwing it up the other side. You need to have a plumber come in and change the configuration of those drains. There should be a Y connection that actually points the waste down so it can’t come back up again.

MONICA: OK.

TOM: The problem is with the configuration of the pipes. I suspect that the sink originally didn’t have the garbage disposal; somebody came in and put it in, tried to hook the drain pipes up in the easiest way possible but it wasn’t the right way when you have a garbage disposal. So that’s why you’re throwing waste up the other side.

MONICA: Mm-hmm. OK, well I will get a plumber.

TOM: Gotta rerun the drains, Monica.

MONICA: Yeah.

TOM: Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.