I’ve inherited one when I moved. What do I do with it? Does it ever need servicing, maintaining, cleaning? Or do I just leave it to churn up the cornflakes that get emptied in the sink?

If it’s working & it doesn’t pong just use it. On the other hand, it may be knackered. IE blades are worn or have come off. Mine’s a fairly new unit & it swallows stuff as quick as you can stuff it down the trap. I’d use it until it dies 😀

It looks newish, and works well. I just wondered about maintenance, regular flushing or something, we weren’t left the instructions.

I may be talking uninformed tosh, but I would always worry about the state of the drains if I used one of these regularly….

There always a big chance of a methane build up overnight, this may lead to spontaneous bnags and blow up your house!
Hydrogen sulphide will kill if you breathe too much in , this is all supposition and will probably never happen.
Do not stick your fingers down the hole when its on.

Could you not assume it’s knackered anyway and then test it to destruction for our amusement?

Just use it—be careful what you put in it though. Artichoke leaves, too many potatoe peelings at once, etc. can cause the pipe leading from the unit to the drain pipe to jam up. That also depends on how strong the motor is, i.e. 1/4, 1/2 or 3/4 horsepower—the stronger the motor the more crap you can grind. Mine is a 3/4 HP and I think I could stuff a wart-hog down and it would grind it.
Some things won’t grind well, i.e. lemon peels for example.
Assuming you can determine the make, bet you could go online and get an instruction manual

Do not stick your fingers down the hole when its on.

Second on that advice.

Also, not wise to drop a knife, fork, etc. in while it’s running. I did that once and said fork came flying out, up and hit the ceiling

Carry on using it, but Swap the motor for a Small Block V8

It’s the only way to be sure.

We don’t use it really TBH as we recycle our greens etc. But now and again constant delivery’s of crumbs, cornflakes and the like mean a flush/churn is needed.