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HELP I need to wire a switch to an outlet to hook up my garbage disposal

11K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  r8drman69 
#1 ·
Please help DIY friends.

I need help to rewire my garbage disposal outlet to an existing switch, but the tricky part is of the two outlets, I want one constant hot and the top one to be switched hot / off.

I had this working fine, but as my buddy and I changed the outlet to GFCI's, he or I somehow messed it up.

I have tried a few different ways to wire it up, but no luck either I am tripping the fuse, or I can get the bottom one hot but nothing on the top. I can also get both outlets to be hot and both outlets to be switched, but I cant' seem to get it back to the top outlet being controlled by the switch.

thanks for bailing me out!
 
#2 ·
You can use an air switch that mounts to your countertop next to your faucet. It plugs into a constant hot outlet and then your disposal plugs into it. The switch is a button that gets mounted on the countertop and is vacuum or air operated. It costs about $60 but it's pretty slick and extremely easy to install. I just put one in a coupla days ago. customer loved it.
 
#4 ·
If you look at the recepticle that you removed the tab between the two hot screw terminals was removed.


GFI recepticles do not have this feature. So, you cannot have a split wire GFI. You can install a GFI breaker and put the original REC back, IF and a big IF the gd and dish are on the same circuit and not on a multi wire branch circuit.
 
#5 ·
If you look at the recepticle that you removed the tab between the two hot screw terminals was removed.

GFI recepticles do not have this feature. So, you cannot have a split wire GFI. You can install a GFI breaker and put the original REC back, IF and a big IF the gd and dish are on the same circuit and not on a multi wire branch circuit.
But a garbage disposal and dishwasher do not have to be GFCI protected, so use a standard receptacle and break the tab on the brass side to give you the split feature you want.
 
#8 ·
You did bring up a good point. Why install a GFI. Is there some belief that this will somehow make something safer?

It does sound like someone misunderstands the purpose of a GFI and when it will add a safety factor to a wiring installation.
 
#9 ·
thank you for the help

thanks to all your input.

I did take a look at the old outlet and I noticed the broken tab.

I also realized that the GFI outlet was not capable of this, so I removed the GFI and put in a standard outlet, wired it up and broke the tab and I have the garbage disposal working from the switch again.

thanks again for the help.

r8drman69
 
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