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Wiring Garbage Disposal

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dishwasher-disposal-wiring

Summary: This series of electrical wiring diagram pictures shows two scenarios of wiring for a typical half-hot outlet that serves a dishwasher and a garbage disposal. One very important element can be easily overlooked as you will see in these pictures.

Electrical Wiring Diagram for a Garbage Disposal and Dishwasher
These wiring diagrams show typical connections.

The diagram above shows the power entering into the circuit at the switch box location, then sending one power line for the dishwasher and a switched leg for the garbage disposal.

The diagram below shows the power entering the circuit at the grounded outlet box location, then sending power up to the switch and a switched leg back down to the outlet.

Notice that these outlets have the tab removed from the "hot" side or Brass side of the outlet which allows the top half of the plug to be controlled only from the switch while the bottom end of the outlet remains "hot" all the time. This is shown in the pictures below.

Wiring Diagram #1

dishwasher-wiring-diagram



Wiring Diagram #2

disposal-wiring-diagram


Pictures of the electrical wiring process for wiring a garbage disposal and dishwasher:

electrical-outlet-garbage-disposal-1 electrical-outlet-garbage-disposal-2
electrical-outlet-dishwasher-1

This series of electrical wiring pictures shows how the actual wiring is attached using the top wiring diagram scenario #1 where the power enters at the switch box and a 3-wire romex runs from the switch box down to the grounded outlet which is usually located under the sink where it serves the dishwasher and the garbage disposal.

electrical-outlet-half-hot switched-electrical-outlet-1

Above you will see the tab in place that bridges the power between the top outlet and the bottom.

 Here the tab is removed and now the top and bottom outlets are separate from one another. The tab can be removed by using a small screw driver, needle nose pliers or side cutters.

switched-electrical-outlet-2 switched-electrical-outlet-3

Notice above the two separate colored wires, red for the garbage disposal which is from the switch and the black for the dishwasher which is hot all the time.

 
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