Garbage Disposal Repair in Longmont, CO

Does Longmont require a permit for disposal work?

Longmont Building Services requires a permit for any changes to electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing systems. Whether a straight swap of one disposal for another under the same sink counts as a change is a question to settle with the plumber, or with Building Services at the Development Services Center, before the work starts. If the job involves new drain piping or a new circuit for a hardwired unit, plan on the permit question coming up.

Whose problem is a clog past the kitchen?

The City of Longmont maintains the sewer mains and investigates main-line problems. The sewer service line running from your house to the main belongs to the property owner, though, along with everything inside the house. So if the disposal drains slowly and other fixtures are gurgling too, the blockage could be in your service line, and that's a plumber's job. If neighbors on your street are seeing the same backup, the city main is more likely, and after hours the city points residents to Longmont police and public safety dispatch.

Are older Longmont kitchens more prone to drain trouble?

Longmont's housing has a median build year of 1991 according to Census survey figures, with about 37% of homes built before 1980. Houses in the older blocks near downtown and St. Vrain Creek are where kitchen branch lines have had the most time to collect grease and food film. In newer subdivisions, the more common story is a builder-installed disposal wearing out. Either way, a plumber will usually check flow past the trap after fixing or replacing the unit, since a weak drain can make even a new disposal seem sluggish.

Longmont's water is soft, around 1 to 2 grains per gallon per the city's water quality report, so mineral scale isn't much of a factor on disposal parts. What goes down the drain matters far more.

Local note

To keep a Longmont disposal running, feed it slowly with cold water flowing, keep grease and coffee grounds out, and run water for several seconds after the grinding stops. Those habits protect the service line you own as much as the unit itself.