Garbage Disposal not working

...............Remember when you went to the drivein with your girlfriend , and all your accomplishments were achieved without lights , same procedure for fixing a disposal ! , fordy

how else can I tell if it is working?

Someone just told me it wasn't safe to put my HAND in and now you are suggesting...WHAT!!!! Nope. I'm not fixing it.

You should probably bring it dinner, first.

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Less barking! More wagging!

You have gotten some good advice here so far, but I am going to summarize it a bit. I have changed a few disposals.

1. Flip the switch. You should hear the disposal start humming or you can peek down inside and see if the blades are actually turning. If it is only humming, it is probably jammed and the little push-in breaker on the bottom of the disposal will trip eventually so turn off the power. If it is jammed, most units have a hex head keyhole in the bottom. This is actually attached to the center shaft. Look under the counter for a small plastic sleeve pinned or taped up. Hopefully you will have the actual tool that came with your disposal in that little sleeve. If not, it is about a 1/4" hex (IIRC) so find one that fits. Insert it and turn it back and forth until the unit spins freely. At this point, you should be back in action. If it is jammed, you can use the broomstick from the top, but this is a good way to put a little too much "get down" on the old disposal which leads to popping a hole in the side of the unit ruining the whole thing.

#2. If you flip the switch and do not hear anything, the little push-in breaker is probably tripped. They are normally on the bottom of the unit and are a small square button you just need to push back in. If you do this and turn the power back on to only hear humming, see #1 above.

#3. If is jammed up and you cannot break it free, you will need to do a little dis-assembly to get the gunk out. I would not advocate putting your hand down inside if possible. Get a coat hanger and make you a hook to pull out gunk. Most of the time it is a fibrous material that jams up a disposal.

#4. Once you have it running again (fingers crossed), put a few ice cubes inside, stop up the sink and fill the sink with warm water. Once the sink is full, pull the plug and quickly turn on the disposal (once your hand is out of the sink full of water). The large volume in the sink will create a small "head pressure" and help to "push" out anything that might still be in the disposal. Don't do this very often, but it works well every once in a while to help clean out the lines on the disposal.

One last thing. Disposals do wear/rust out.

If you need to replace the unit. Try and get the same brand and size you already have. Chances are, you will need to do very little to replace it. The lock collar in the sink should work with the new one and the hook-ups should go right on the new one like the old one.

EDIT: I looked again at the OP and I saw that the unit is running but not grinding. Try what I mentioned above, if none of them work the gears in the unit might be shot and it will be time for a replacement.

I think I took that course in college. It was "human female anatomy by the braille method." I got an A.