Toilets, Sinks, Showers, Tubs and Disposals - Disposal Problem...

Silly question here...

We were cleaning up from a party last night and our disposal gets clogged...I think. The normal drain side of the sink drains, then disposal side of the sink drains...however, when running the disposal with the water running, the drain side of the sink then fills up with water. When I shut the water off, the disposal side of the sink fills up with water. I've come to two potential possibilities...

1) There's a clog somewhere in the drain pipe...

or

2) The disposal needs to be cleaned out.

If it's #1, I have no problem opening up the cleanout and snaking any potential clog. If it's #2, I have no idea how to really go about disconnecting the disposal (other than looking at the installation instructions and working backward) to clean it out...if I do disconnect it, what to look for to make sure I clean it out properly.

As always, any help is appreciated...

Look under the sink should be a trap connected to disposal. That is usually where the clog is. Just take trap out and clean. Will be water put a bucket under trap when removing.

It's been a week...I've dismantled the disposal (at least from the sink), removed the traps from the disposal and the sink sides...ran a snake from the sink cleanout to the basement clean out, and then from the basement cleanout to a few feet below the basement floor. We ran the disposal again after all of that, and nasty, dirty water fills up the sink side. My only conclusion? I need a new disposal. Anyone else come to that conclusion? If in fact I do need a new disposal, my only real question would be, if all of the traps are clear, the line from the traps down is clear (at least from what I gather from seeing and snaking), why would the water back up into the sink and the disposal side, and take a while to drain? I get the basic concepts of plumbing, piping and the workings, but this is still beyond my understanding (guess that's why I didn't go into the plumbing engineering side of the construction field).

I have a few more tricks up my sleeve before I go and buy a new disposal, or even call someone in to tell me I need a new disposal.

Thanks in advance for any further advice.

Put a bucket under the disposal take drain off (unplug or turn power off to disposal) Pour some water down sink and see if water drains out of disposal. If it dose you will need a plumber to clean drain.

I think I get what you're saying, and I tried running water through both sides of the sink without traps on and the water runs through the sink and through the disposal just fine. Is there something with the disposal that I'm missing removing to check?

Disposal should be fine You will need to have drain linr to sink cleaned. Post this in plumbing where they can help you.