Photos for today’s post follow the text in a photo gallery.  Maximum dimension is ~300 pixels.

I don’t think I’m obsessive or compulsive, but I can only sit and relax so much before I have to do something.  Linda likes to walk, and I like to walk with her, but I am less inclined to do that on my own just for the doing of it.  Still, I walked to the local ACE Hardware store today for some parts for a “project” and stopped at the Grocery Depot for some supplies on the way back.  It was probably a mile round trip; not enough to really promote cardiovascular fitness, but better than taking the car.

Yesterday I put some water in the garbage disposal opening.  (Yes, our bus has a residential garbage disposal.)  The disposal has never worked since we bought the bus and it occurred to me that the trap in the drain might not have any water in it, which would permit orders from the gray tank to come up into the house portion of the coach.  Not to worry as it turns out; the water did not drain from the In-Sink-Erator.  I left it for a few hours and it eventually drained out.  Examination with a flashlight revealed that the inside was complete rusted, so badly that I could not even see the two pieces that are free to rotate when the disposal is spinning.  I tried scraping the inside, but to free it up, but it was beyond hope.

I also finally understood why the switch which we assumed was for the disposal did not do anything.  At some point in the past someone turned it “on” and the breaker on the bottom of the unit immediately tripped and never got reset.  There would not have been any purpose in resetting it anyway.The only reasonably solution (from my point of view) was to replace the disposer, even though we did not intend to use it very much.  I am not aware of a product that is sold for sealing up the hole where the disposer goes.  (I could have plumbed it into the drain for the main sink basin, but given how small that section of the sink is, that would also serve no practical purpose.)  I did not remove the old unit, but I had a good look at it as I needed to find one of similar size and shape given the space where it had to fit.

Late morning I was getting ready to head to Lowe’s in Gainesville when John (next door neighbor) invited me to join he and Ali and group of folks from the fire pit to go out to the Blue Highway Pizzeria for dinner, so I deferred my shopping trip until later.  (Linda and I had a pizza at the Blue Highway in Micanopy a week or so ago and it was OK.  The staff was great and was very helpful in getting us a vegan pizza, but most pizzas just don’t veganize very well.  They did say that they would put our non-dairy cheese on a pizza for us if we brought it in a sealed package as it comes from the store.  That may be worth a try).

I left early enough to do my shopping at meet up with the group at 3:30 PM.  Luck was on my side.  Lowe’s had a garbage disposer that looked exactly like the one installed in our coach.  It was a Badger Model 1, 1/3 HP.  Badger is In-Sink-Erator’s budget grinder line.

Today I opened the unit, read the instructions (yeah, I’m one of those guys), gathered my tools, and went to work.  As shown by some of the photos that follow, the discharge port of the old disposer was completely clogged with—well, I’m not sure what—some combination of rust and food scraps.  Kind of nasty, although that stuff doesn’t bother me.  I removed the unit and discovered that it was a … In-Sink-Erator Badger Model 1.  Sometimes you just get lucky.  At least it was guaranteed to fit!  Everything went back together fairly easily.  I added water to check for leaks.  Water tight.  Plugged it in and voila, we have a functioning garbage disposer.  And yes, the switch we thought was for the disposer is in fact for the disposer.

The other project I have been contemplating had to do with toilet paper.  Our female cat, Juniper, likes to unroll it, shred it, and eat it.  As shown in the pictures the doors on the bathroom sink cabinet are easily reached when “seated.”  The right door opens into your right knee, but the left door swings clear.  Oh look, I could mount a toilet paper roll holder right there.  Open the door to use, close to hide it from the cat.

So, off to the ACE Hardware store in search of an appropriately sized TP holder.  They had just what I needed; end mounts in (fake) polished brass, and inexpensive too.  I like it when that happens.  I assembled the tools I needed for this project but was not able to find my drill bits.  Back to ACE Hardware for a drill bit.  The project was done quickly as projects go and it works great!  We’ve talked about mounting a paper towel holder somewhere in the kitchen.  That may be tomorrow’s project.

Here are the photos: