We live in an older house, built in the 60s. I've only had a couple of wiring issues over the years, but lately noticed that my food disposal doesn't come on right away when I flip the switch. Switch is by the sink, and it is a double box. Right side of the box has a GFCI plug, and the left has two horizontal switches. One for the light, and one for the disposal. The light switch is working fine, but maybe 2-3 weeks ago I flipped the switch for the disposal, and there was maybe a 1-2 second delay before it came on. I don't use it that often, just at night when doing the dishes. The other night I got up to get some water, and thought I was flipping the light switch but hit the disposal switch instead. It was dark in there, and I saw a small spark then the disposal came on. I'm guessing the switch is just worn out or going bad, but before I replace it, wanted to ask and see what y'all thought about the wiring in there. I can run a new one from the breaker if I need to, but wanted to know what to look for when I take the switchplate cover off to know if the whole wiring is going bad or if it is just a simple switch replacement.

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Posted by Abraham H Parnassis

Member since Jul 2020

2649 posts

Posted on 3/19/21 at 10:34 am to TU Rob

Look and make sure the connections are good. You may have some sort of a poorly-spliced neutral or perhaps either your hot or neutral are not secured properly to the switch body itself.

As far as wiring, it may be hard to really evaluate what you have since you can only see what's in the gang box, but if it's something along the lines of solid Romex material I would say you're probably okay.

EDIT: Essentially, check all of your connections. And be sure to isolate that circuit at the panel.

This post was edited on 3/19/21 at 10:35 am

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Posted by TBoy

Kalamazoo

Member since Dec 2007

28479 posts

Posted on 3/19/21 at 10:45 am to TU Rob

Switches aren't expensive or difficult to replace. Whenever I have a switch that gets soft I just replace it without investigating too much. Just make sure to turn the breaker off. After you wire up the new switch, test the current before screwing the switch down and putting on the cover plate. If the disposal is slow to come on after that, it's the disposal motor, so replace the disposal.

But even if it is the disposal, a new switch wouldn't hurt in an older house.

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Posted by mingoswamp

St. Louis

Member since Aug 2017

975 posts

Posted on 3/19/21 at 10:50 pm to TU Rob

The old dual horizontal switch use to be referred to as a double despard. There is a tab connecting both screws on the line side that you can break off with pliers in the case there are two separate hot leads coming from different breakers coming in to each toggle. They may share the same neutral but have their own circuit protection. The reason for this is, why lose your light if the garbage disposal crapped out on you and created a dead short?

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Posted by ItzMe1972

Member since Dec 2013

12569 posts

Posted on 3/19/21 at 11:10 pm to TU Rob

I've seen this many times.

It's almost always the switch. Easy and cheap fix!

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Posted by rumination

Member since Jan 2020

780 posts

Posted on 3/19/21 at 11:22 pm to TU Rob

quote:
LINK

I just got a button installed. Super easy. I actually drilled my own hole through the sink, but you can mount them anywhere. Some mount on a cabinet door. It's a nicer look to me. IDK.

This is the one I got by BESTILL, except mine is the square one with 2 outlets (I think it's sold out.)

LINK

One plug is for always powered things and the other is for the switch. They also sell these types with just one switch plugin.

I used this to drill my hole.

LINK

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Posted by TU Rob

Birmingham

Member since Nov 2008

13454 posts

Posted on 3/24/21 at 10:27 pm to rumination

Well it wasn’t a bad switch. But I want to find and kill whoever installed this. I’m guessing they did this when changing to. GFCI plug there, but someone had stacked 8 tiny washers on the two screws that hold the switched into the box. Maybe to make it stick out further so the plate sits flush. The lower screw wasn’t screwed in all the way anymore and some washers were making contact with the connections. It was throwing a spark and shorting the switch out when it was flipped. I checked the wiring and the switch works perfectly when I had it out of the box. So I found longer screws and put it back in the right way and it’s just fine now.

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Posted by CoachChappy

Member since May 2013

34194 posts

Posted on 3/25/21 at 10:47 am to TU Rob

^ Wow! I hate when people do crap like that.

I’m the 3rd owner of my home and every project, I hit a point and think “WTF was that guy thinking?” It’s always “that’s the next guys problem”

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Posted by TU Rob

Birmingham

Member since Nov 2008

13454 posts

Posted on 3/25/21 at 12:33 pm to CoachChappy

quote:
^ Wow! I hate when people do crap like that.

I’m the 3rd owner of my home and every project, I hit a point and think “WTF was that guy thinking?” It’s always “that’s the next guys problem”

I’ve been known to make little shortcuts when fixing things, but I learned early on you don’t mess with electrical or water. Stuff like drywall repair or replacing old A/C vent covers can be a pain in an older house like ours. But if anything flows through it I have to do it right. Found out when I replaced the first dishwasher that some previous owner had tapped into the hot water line with a T connection. Didn’t split it off from the cutoff under the sink, so I had to turn all the water off in the house and turn the valve off where it exits the water heater to cut the supply line and do it right.

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