I have a wall outlet for my garbage disposal and dishwasher that was working (maybe halfway) and had to replace the disposal due to leaking at the bottom. Upon removing the plug wires from the bottom of the disposal, I noticed the wires had gotten wet (from the leak) and brown (almost corroded). I removed, cleaned, and restripped the wires then wired them on the new disposal.
After I re-connected it and plugged it in, it came on (even thought the switch was off). I turned the breaker off and replaced the wall outlet with a new one. My issue is: the bottom switch doesn't work and the top one works (with the switch in the "off" position)! What do I do now?
By Kerm from Grand Prairie, TX
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There is nothing you could have done on the garbage disposal side of your wiring that would cause it to run when the switch is off; either you accidentally plugged the new garbage disposal into an unswitched socket, e.g. the socket intended for the dishwasher, or you accidentally had the switch on when you plugged it into the switched socket.
If I read your posting correctly, you have only one receptacle, with two sockets, and the dishwasher plugged into one of the sockets while the garbage disposal plugged into the other. If that is not correct, then the rest of my post will not be correct and should not be followed.
If my description is correct, then your new receptacle needs to be adjusted to separate the top socket from the bottom socket so that the unswitched line is separated from the switched line. If you still have the old receptacle, compare it with the new receptacle.
Look at Figure 2 at the URL below. If you look closely between the two lugs where the black wires connect, you'll see that they cut the band of metal that connected the two lugs. You'll need to do this too, and also do it on the other side where the white wires connect.
www.electrical-online.com/
Wire the sockets following the instructions on the Website and make sure to follow the instructions matching the color of the wires and the color of the lugs.
Now you should have one socket in the receptacle that is always on and the other socket in the receptacle should be on only when the switch is on. Test this however you can, and if you don't have the right tools then plug a lamp into each socket.
Plug the dishwasher into the socket that is always on and the garbage disposal into the socket that is only on when the switch is on.
Hope this helps
Sounds as if you have wired the switches or/and disposal wrong.
Yup. It sounds as if the upper switch needs to be reversed and leave the lower switch out of the circuit.
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