Hello everyone! I need some wiring advice. I just had my Kitchen counter replaced and I’m finishing up the installation of my garbage disposal. I have the wire from the panel a wire from the switch and a wire from the disp. also have a junction box installed how do I hook it up.
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Make certain your power is OFF before you start.
Black wire (hot) from the panel to the black wire on the switch. Make this connection in the "J" box.
The white wire from the switch to the "J" box.
At this time you WILL mark the white wire to denote that it is now a hot wire and not a nutral. Pemenant marker or colored tape. Use red or black. Red would be my 1st choice.
Connect this marked white wire to the brass colored input / line screw / terminal on your GFI receptical.
Connect your white wire (nutral) from the panel to the silver colored input / line screw / terminal on your GFI recept.
Make sure all your bonds (grounds) are made up (connected) to one another and to your GFI recpt and switch.
Mount your recpt put on the cover and plug in your GD.
Who ever invented work didn't know how to fish....
It would be helpful to know what color the wires are. You should have a black and white coming from the disposal and a white and black or red coming from the panel/switch.
Your best bet would be to get a basic wiring book like the one by Black & Decker and read up. These books have great drawings and photos.
With electrical, there are a lot of details that you must get right, like connecting the grounding wires together and to the outlet and the switch, and to the electrical boxes (if these are steel). If you don't, you put yourself/your family at risk. Especially with a circuit where water and power meet.
Also for your own safety you need to know a bunch of stuff like how to check that the breaker you turned off is actually the one that controls the circuit you're working on. Breakers are mislabelled opccassionally, and even if you have the right one, you may (by mistake) not completely turn it off. So it's essential to check for voltage before you start handling the wires.
I make these points only because I infer from your post that you're a real beginner with electrical wiring. While I think a bulletin board is a great place to clarify or debate things electrical, I think it's a poor place to learn the basics.
Also I read into your post that you didn't install the wires or switch. I suggest that you open up those boxes and check the installation, to make sure it's right. And the knowledge you get from a good basic wiring book will allow you to judge that.
Good luck--
Cliff
p.s. I've never seen a garbage disposal connected to a GFI outlet. I think it's unnecessary and an invitation to trouble (i.e., nuisance tripping as the motor inevitably starts to leak very small amounts of current, which will flow to ground harmlessly on the grounding conductor--if it's properly connected). CP
Edited 12/28/2003 8:55:59 PM ET by CAP
Edited 12/28/2003 8:56:51 PM ET by CAP
I've never seen a garbage disposal connected to a GFI outlet.
Your point is very apt in terms of practical use of a gfci. However the code wants any outlet withing 6' of the sink to be gfci protected. So that includes the one 12" underneath that winds up with a DW & GD plugged into it. Or, the appliance guys only hard wire, so then, there's a couple of pieces of NM snaked to the appliances, and the gfci outlet left in the box, too ("Blank plate? Whazzat?").Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
"However the code wants any outlet withing 6' of the sink to be gfci protected."
That is not true, by the NEC. Now it used to be for COUNTER TOP receptacles within 6' of the sink. Now it is ALL receptacles that serve the COUTERTOP in the kitchen. An outlet under the sink does not usefull for countertop appliances.
Also all receptacles in the bathroom need GFCI. But for other "wet bar" areas the 6' rule is still in effect.
" Or, the appliance guys only hard wire, so then, there's a couple of pieces of NM snaked to the appliances, and the gfci outlet left in the box, too ("Blank plate? Whazzat?")."
That is not by code either. NM is not acceptable for this application. You need to to use flexible conduit or armored cable. And you need to use approved connectors to transistion from the wall box to the conduit. And you need to have a disconnect means.
And the "appliance guy" really has nothing to do with it. It depends on whether they follow the NEC in this respect or have other requiements.
That is not true, by the NEC.
Quite true. That is exactly what NEC says. In Harris County, the inspectors only know "6 foot of sink." So, that's what they enforce. Electrically, as was pointed out earlier, it makes no sense. But, for the super trying to get 8 houses finished early & under budget, he'll just make the inspector happy.
By "appliance guys," in this application, I am thinking of the crews used by a couple of hational builders who install all of the appliances for the builder's homes. Code compliance does not seem to be a high priority for their work. Which was my point (I probably did not make well enough known). Just sahring the exerience of visiting friends and they ask you to look at something "Does that look right to you?" And there's the disposal hooked up to romex, and the DW the same, both cables run though a knock out on a sufaced mounted box in the sinkbase cabinet.
And, in case I have not set the measure accurately, the "national" builders in question "slow" to only 5 slabs a week for the holiday season; they will ramp up to 10 per week around March, then hit stride at 20 per week by June. Per subdivision. Not bad people to vend to, almost never problems with billing. Just sometimes too scary to see in the field. Not work that would ever be considered "fine" in any sense of the word, either. Just another 1/8 million McMansion Lite with a $250 or $300K price tag.
Oops, sorry, that turned into a bit of a rant.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Sorry.
All we know about your situation is that you have three wires from three sources apparently hanging loose and an empty junction box stuck somewhere, perhaps under the sink. You don't say if your garbage disposal is to be hard-wired or plug-in.
If I were to be doing the installation.....
The wire from the panel would be pulled to the switch box.
Another wire would be pulled from the switch box to the junction box under the sink.
The neutral (white) wires in the switch box would be wire nutted together.
The hot(black) wire from the panel would be connected to one terminal of the switch.
The other black wire in the switch box would be connected to the second terminal of the switch.
The bare (ground) wires would be wire nutted together with a green nut with the small hole in the narrow end. From this hole would extend a leg of one of the bare wires that you intentionally left about 8 inches longer than the other when you twisted them together and then applied the nut. This is then connected to the ground screw on the frame of the switch and if the switch box was metal, then the gound wire would also be attached to the box with a screw (usually green) before the switch.
This completes the connections in the switch box. Close it up.
The junction box under the sink contains the end of the wire coming from the switch box.
You could use a standard duplex outlet (if you have a plug-in style disposal), but a single element outlet would be my choice since no other fixture should be plugged in under there.
White wire to the silver screw, black wire to the gold screw and bare wire to the green or ground screw. In the event that the screws are the same color (it happens) then the black wire to the side of the outlet that has the smaller slot for the plug-in. Another way to note the difference is that the white wire and the ground wire attach to (different) screws on the same side of the fixture. Don't forget to attach the ground wire to the box if it is metal.
Install the outlet cover, plug it in. Done.
Hard wire??
Disposal would (should) have a shielded conductor, either armored cable or watertight flexible PVC, attached. Wire from the disposal goes through that and extends about 6 inches. Install the proper strain relief or PVC connector to the junction box and attach the cable to that. Attach like colored wires with wire nuts in the junction box and if the box is metal then attach the ground to that also. Put the cover on the box. Done.
Junction box installed flush in the back wall of the cabinet?
Attach the cable to the box cover. Make wire connections. Attach cover to j-box. Done.
Still not clear? Could you use some diagrams? Then I think you need an electrician.