Googling and home repair
a few days ago my in sink food disposer stops working. the only think i know how to DIY is to check the restart button at the bottom of the disposer (InSink Erator is the official name). i did that but the disposer still not working. I finally decide to find a contractor to fix it. I started by googling the local plumbing contractor and come across a site that is a forum for the InSink Erator and people are talking about how to fix this thing. i checked a few posts and one of them has a link to the manufacture site that has a chart on how to repair the erator. I tried it and it was that easy. after 5 mins my erator started working. this saves me couple of hundred dollors and the time wasted on finding and waiting and working with the contractor to get this thing fixed.
I do think google (or binging) are changing everyday life but this is a good example of how it affects mine. in the old days if something is wrong and you dont know how to fix it, the obvious option (unless you have an uncle who is a plumber) is to look into a ph0ne book and randomly call people to come and they usually charge $100 just to come out take a look. now, the googling and binging will not only tell you who are the reputable contractors are, it also shows you how other people facing the same issue are doing to fix it. it gives you more options and save you lots of money and time.
so just for the record, here is one of the forum site i found:
http://forum.appliancepartspros.com/garbage-disposer-repair/999-sink-erator-flange-removal.html
and it contains the detail manual about the insink erator:
http://www.insinkerator.com/pdf/US_ICU1.pdf
this leads to the following repair diagram:
InSink Erator
this exactly is the two steps i used to fix my InSink Erator. First cut off electricity. then use an allen wrench to find a thread in the bottom at the middle of the erator and turn counter clockwise and back and force a few times to make sure the stuff that blocks the blade are cleared. then put the power back on, press the reset button (the red button at the button of the erator), turn on the erator, it is fixed!