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Licensed Chicagoland plumbers who diagnose the disposal, quote repair and replacement side by side, and carry common units on the truck. If a free reset fixes it, we’ll tell you that on the phone.
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4.9
Average Rating
400+
5-Star Reviews
12+
Years of Experience
A disposal fails in a handful of ways, and each one sounds different. A hum, a rattle, a drip under the sink — the noise usually names the problem.
“It just hums when I flip the switch.”
A hum means power but no spin — a jam, nine times out of ten. Sometimes an Allen key in the bottom socket frees it in two minutes, and we’ll talk you through trying that before we charge you a visit. If it hums with nothing stuck, the motor is seizing.
Response
Same Day
Units
On the truck
Quote
Before we start
“There’s water under the sink and I don’t know from where.”
Disposals leak from three places: the sink flange up top, the hose connections on the side, and the body seams underneath. The first two are repairs. A leak from the body itself means the unit is done — no fix holds.
“It died completely. Repair or replace?”
Depends on age. Under warranty, use it. Past seven or eight years, a repair buys you months on a motor that owes you nothing — and a new unit often costs little more than the fix. We quote both numbers and you pick.
How it works
Half of “dead” disposals are jams and tripped resets. We check the free fixes first — even over the phone.
Describe the sound and the symptom. Hums, trips, and jams often have a free fix we'll walk you through on the phone — the reset button and the hex key solve more than you'd think.
Jam, seal, switch, or motor — it takes minutes to know. You get a plain answer about what failed and whether it's worth money.
One price to fix it, one price for a new unit installed — horsepower options explained in plain English. You pick; the number doesn't move.
We run it under load, check every connection for drips, and haul the old unit away. Most replacements are done in about an hour.
Call and let us listen to it. We’d rather fix it over the phone for free than charge you for showing up.
Our Standard
Whether it’s a flooded cabinet at dinnertime or a hum you’ve ignored for a month, you get the same straight answer and the same upfront price.
We name the failure before we price it
Jam, seal, switch, or motor — we show you what failed and what each path costs before any work starts.
Phone diagnosis free
Sometimes the fix is free
Reset buttons, jams, and tripped breakers don’t need a plumber. When that’s what yours is, we’ll talk you through it — we’d rather earn the call when you really need one.
We’ll tell you when to skip the visit
The number doesn’t move
Quoted in writing before we start — repair or replace, the number you approve is the number you pay.
Financing available
Under-sink work, done tidy
Cabinet contents handled with care, every connection checked for drips before we leave, old unit hauled away.
Haul-away included
Warranty registered, in writing
Model, serial, install date, and warranty terms — documented and left with you, so a future claim takes minutes.
Sent the same day
Licensed and local
The plumber who diagnoses your disposal is the one who installs the new one. Nothing subbed out.
DuPage & Kane County crews
Straight answers
Depends on what failed and what unit goes in — which is why we quote repair and replacement side by side. The honest ranges:
Jam clearing & reset service
$XXX – $XXX
Repair (seals, flange, connections)
$XXX – $XXX
Standard unit, installed
$XXX – $XXX
Premium quiet unit, installed
$XXX – $XXX
Usually not — a hum means the motor has power but can’t turn, which is a jam nine times out of ten. Kill the switch, never reach in, and turn the plate from underneath with the hex key that fits the socket on the bottom of the unit. Press the red reset button and try again. If it still hums with nothing stuck, the bearings are seizing — and that one isn’t worth fixing.
Depends which surface the water is on. Leaks at the top flange or the side hose connections are honest repairs — new putty, new clamp, done. Water seeping from the bottom seams means the internal seals are gone, and there’s no repair for that; the unit gets replaced. Look with a flashlight, or send us a photo and we’ll tell you which one you have.
For most households, a 1/2 or 3/4 horsepower unit does everything asked of it. Bigger motors grind harder food faster and jam less, and the premium units are noticeably quieter — worth it when the kitchen opens onto the living room. What matters as much as size: a stainless grind chamber and a warranty measured in years, not months.
Smell is trapped food filming the chamber and the splash guard — and yes, DIY first. Ice cubes and coarse salt scour the plate, a lemon finishes the job, and the rubber splash guard flips out and scrubs clean. If the odor comes back fast no matter what you do, food may be sitting in a poorly pitched drain line, and that’s worth having looked at.
Grease is the big one — it goes in liquid and turns solid in the pipe. Fibrous stuff wraps the plate: celery, corn husks, onion skins. Starches like potato peels and rice turn to paste. Coffee grounds silt up the trap. Small amounts with plenty of cold water, fine. And nothing that isn’t food, ever.
Eight to twelve years for a decent unit with normal use. Signs it’s on the way out: needing the reset button more and more, slow draining after grinding, new noises, or any leak from the body. One repair on an old unit can make sense; two never does.
Flip the switch and tell us what you hear — hum, click, rattle, or nothing. We’ll tell you what it means and what it’d cost, before anyone gets in a truck.
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