How to Wire a Garbage Disposal (Including Polarity Check for the Wires)

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[@anthonyelectric6045]

Nice bill !! Reminds me of a service call. Person said the damm thing stopped working. I showed up and first thing I said is , where’s the switch? They didn’t know but showed me the two switches above the counter. One was the light but they didn’t know what the other one was- it was in the “ OFF” position 😂

[@SparkyChannel]

LOL! That's a good one! 😂

[@Guardducks]

Could have been worse, could have been unplugged and that leafs to you singing the song plug it in plug it in.

[@SparkyChannel]

@@Guardducks LOL!

[@Guardducks]

@@SparkyChannel i sing it often. Lol

[@gte879p]

Thank you for explaining all the variations of issues you can run into when rewriring a garbage disposal. Especially the what not to dos!

[@RicanVic24]

I'm a new homeowner who had to do this today. Sir, thank you so much for helping me with this. I hope you know you're very much appreciated.

[@SparkyChannel]

Great job!

[@miriamlandau1207]

Thank you so much. When I took my old disposal out I didn't see any ground wire! So I stripped back the wire and didn't find a ground wire. My home was built in the mid 50s but the garbage disposal I removed was replaced since I've lived here about 15 years ago. I know a plumber installed it because I was watching. But I didn't know about the wire not having a ground. I'm not sure what to do other than possibly use a plumber to do the final step of electrical because it's so important I have it grounded! I know this was made a couple years ago. But if you happen to see my comment I would greatly appreciate your input. Thank you so much this was extremely clear!

[@sleeksm4]

Those wago connectors are a life saver.

[@SparkyChannel]

Yep!

[@caputa0531]

The only good quality video on how to do this. The others were dark or they didn't explain it well enough for a beginner. Thanks!

[@SparkyChannel]

No problem, thanks!

[@shubashamim7039]

Thank you so much for this video! I hate dealing with electrical

[@SparkyChannel]

Thanks!

[@supergirl1012]

Thank you so much Sparky! I just installed a new garbage disposal using your tutorials. I have an older home so this video was especially helpful. Thank you again!!

[@SparkyChannel]

Great to hear. You're very welcome!

[@kaydonato8367]

This is the only channel I’ve seen that tells you that you need a different kind of cable connector for a hardwired setup as well as the red head anti-short bushing. Thank you!

[@SparkyChannel]

Great to hear. Details matter a lot in electrical.

[@HRConsultant_Jeff]

i learn so much every time. Thanks, Bill.

[@charlesviner1565]

Bill is cool 😎 👌

[@SparkyChannel]

My pleasure!

[@danielnube-s1n]

Thank you. This was very helpful. I followed it step by step.

[@carson54444]

Thank you, I was very unsure about wiring up the cord myself!

[@tommycho9068]

Great video. Thank you.

[@SparkyChannel]

Thanks Tommy!

[@natecastronovo]

Thanks esp for the polarity callout

[@SparkyChannel]

My pleasure!

[@lightminded6268]

The explanation of the hot and neutral is exactly what I was looking for! Got it done! Thank you so much!

[@SparkyChannel]

Glad it helped!

[@charlesviner1565]

Thanks for the video and you stay safe too

[@SparkyChannel]

Thanks so much Charles!

[@Eddy63]

Great little vid Wild Bill ... Thx for sharing ...

[@SparkyChannel]

Hi Eddy! Thanks!

[@keirstenstrickland2022]

​@@SparkyChannelHey.. need help!!

[@carloscardona2010]

Good job. Greetings from Colombia.

[@SparkyChannel]

Thanks! Greetings from San Diego!

[@elc2k385]

Thanks, Mr. Bill.

[@SparkyChannel]

My pleasure!

[@carriv]

Very informative, sir! Keep on the good work!

[@SparkyChannel]

Thanks so much and will do! Great to hear from you!

[@vince6829]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Much appreciated.

[@SparkyChannel]

My pleasure! That's my goal.

[@BeverlyGill]

Thank you! Uou helped me solve my disposal problem! I try to put the old wire back and it wouldn't work. I watched your video got the proper power cord kit! Installed it! It works! Thank you!

[@SparkyChannel]

Glad it helped!

[@petethehandyman9185]

Good info,I do a lot of those ! Thanks

[@SparkyChannel]

Good man! You're doing excellent service for a lot of people! I get to install mine while standing upright. :)

[@petethehandyman9185]

@@SparkyChannel looks much easier that way!

[@SparkyChannel]

@@petethehandyman9185 Oh man, it's a huge difference!

[@roseschermerhorn5493]

Thank you!!! This was super helpful!!

[@SparkyChannel]

You're very welcome!

[@jamesohanlon4235]

Perfect!!! Just what I was looking for!!! Thank you!!!

[@SassafrasSapling]

Can you do a video explaining how to upgrade the electrical service in your home renovation series?

[@SparkyChannel]

It will be coming eventually but not right now.

[@tedmcdonald3377]

Almost missed this one, thanks Bill😎🛠️😎🛠️😎

[@SparkyChannel]

No problem, thanks Ted!

[@bilyan5003]

Thank you!!!

[@SparkyChannel]

You're welcome!

[@michaelfederoff261]

Make sure you use the top plug inlet too! Hey, no one told me... I don't want to say how many times I used the bottom inlet which is a continuous circuit. thinking there was something wrong with the wiring! LMAO! Thank you for the info to distinguish the neutral/hot wiring. Very helpful...aloha

[@SparkyChannel]

Aloha from San Diego!

[@danielhuerta6575]

Beast video, thanks

[@SparkyChannel]

Thanks Daniel!

[@CarloLibertini]

Thank you!

[@MrTooTechnical]

Reverse polarity. Imagine if the entire sink became energized with water in it. Boom. Great vid.

[@SparkyChannel]

Thanks Dave!

[@garbo8962]

Whenever using type AC ( bx ) or MC armored cable best pratice is to cut sharp edge at a 45 degree angle so it could never pierce insulation. Glad to see you use an anti short bushing on the cable. At a continuing education class an inspector told us that you must purchase a listed cord set. Even a licensed electrician can not make his own cord from a piece of cord & a 3 wire male plug. Going by latest NEC would have to be on a tamper resistant receptacle protected by an Arc Fault circuit breaker ( new house ). All the new AFCI breakers provide ground fault protection.

[@SparkyChannel]

Thanks, excellent advice!

[@mathman0101]

Great job Sparky wonderful and clear. I agree with Ken below safer to confirm polarity with a continuity tester clipping to the male end of the blades and the wires. I would go even 1 step further using a electrical safety tester to ensure protective continuity, insulation resistance and touch and leakage voltages and GFCI trip are within safe electrical standard thresholds for the garbage disposal.

[@SparkyChannel]

Thanks Math Man!

[@illestofdemall13]

You can just follow the wires visually to see which is going to the neutral prong and which is going to the hot prong. They go in a straight line. You really don't need to verify something like that with a bunch of different tools unless you are a layman. If you are a layman then you probably won't have a bunch of meters and tools handy, either.

[@SparkyChannel]

@@illestofdemall13 That's true. But how many layman know which side of the plug is hot and which is neutral? Perhaps I should make a video about that, showing which side of a plug is hot and which is neutral and all the various ways to test, such as your visual method, a continuity test and the method I showed in the video. It's a very important subject. Have a good one Kris!

[@illestofdemall13]

@@SparkyChannel Also show them how to check polarity and the receptacle in several ways, so they know that is also wired properly. I have a really interesting story about polarity I can share with you via email. Lol. Have a great one as well!

[@pjsquee4731]

I don’t have multimeter. The gray cord that was on the prior one was reused and I can’t tell smooth vs ribbed. So no way to tell if it’s wired correctly. It spins when on, but not sure which way it should spin. Would it go clockwise or is it supposed to spin counter clockwise? Besides it spinning in opposite direction, is there some other risk if hot vs neutral is switched?

[@maxheadroom8857]

If you're experienced in electronics and know how to solder, you can tin the tips of the new cord before connecting it to the disposal with either Wago connectors or wire nuts. The flat 3 prong cords usually have a rib as you noted on the neutral wire. The center is the ground, and the smooth side is hot.

[@SparkyChannel]

Thanks!

[@alejandrorangel6588]

Thank you

[@SparkyChannel]

You're welcome!

[@JosephD-y4n]

What do you do if you are hard wiring the disposal in a house that does not have a ground wire (only 2 conductor wires): Hot-blk and Neutral-wht?

[@SparkyChannel]

Are the wires in flexible metal conduit? If so, check the conduit to see if it is a ground. Flexible metal conduit can serve as a ground.

[@hoogooooo]

nice thanks u

[@SparkyChannel]

No problem, thanks!

[@nathantmnguyen]

The Garbage Disposal at the new house we are going to rent out soon was an absolute mess. The cable clamp was missing, the previous owners did a poor splice job using electrical tape and drywall anchors out of all things, the switch was put on the neutral, and the grounding was very questionable. I wish I could send you a picture, but I have since fixed it properly. Also, they ran Romex directly to the thing, and it was flopping all over the place and unsecured inside the cabinet. The wire was rubbing against concrete inside the wall and it somehow got pinched behind some plumbing.

[@SparkyChannel]

Wow! Thanks for fixing it!!!

[@tallr264]

Sometime some owner don’t know how to do it… smh

[@SparkyChannel]

@@tallr264 Yep.

[@Sentrme]

Thank you! I understand electricity and polarity but very surprised the power cord is solid black on both wires. You saved me a lot of extra time digging out my multimeters.

[@SparkyChannel]

Sounds good, thanks!

[@MyBigThing2010]

Most of the time the smooth wire is hot or the 1 of the 3 that don't have a pattern or ribbing on them. You can remember it easiest by knowing BLACK = DEATH and it's real EASY (smooth) getting DEAD. This hot will always be individually different visually or by feel. DON'T get me wrong though.... I've seen some $hit in the field and breaking out your meter to be safe is NEVER a bad idea or something that's frowned on, cuz you NEVER TRUST the guy that was there before YOU! ESPECIALLY if you're a weekend warrior that knows just enough to be dangerous but not enough for the correct standard to be common knowledge and you have to go to the internet to figure things out.

[@Litehds]

Would it still work if smooth was connected to neutral white wire?

[@SixTwoHemi]

All Disposals come factory installed cored and non corded...You simply need to check the part number on the box.

[@kenbrown2808]

had a property management company employee once ask, "if I buy five disposals, could you just put cords on in advance?" also, safer to confirm polarity in a cord like that by reading continuity from the plug blade, instead of energizing the cord.

[@SparkyChannel]

Yes, come to think of it the plug could be mis-wired.

[@kenbrown2808]

@@SparkyChannel well, I'd assumed you'd wired and tested that receptacle, already. but funny-in-retrospect story - saw an incident where a person bought a cord for their new clothes dryer, and thought they should check to see if it matched their receptacle before they installed it.

[@SparkyChannel]

@@kenbrown2808 LOL!

[@cricketcookiewings]

What if the wire comes out of the cap and touches the metal? Won't it energize the whole sink and you will get electrocuted by just touching one single thing? Is there some sort of restriction? Thanks for the answer if you do Bill!

[@SparkyChannel]

Hi! The garbage disposal has a built in circuit breaker that will trip in such an instance. There is a small red button on the bottom that needs to be reset in that case. Also, there should be special breakers to add to the safety. But yes, that would potentially be a quite dangerous situation.

[@donaldlee6760]

I realize this question is locale specific, but in general terms should you add a GFCI when replacing an older garbage disposal if it didn't already have it? If I understand correctly, NEC 2020 requires a GFCI receptacle inside a cabinet for the disposal (but 2017 NEC did not require gfci). In my case I have the extra obstacle of armored cable. I'm pretty handy so if there's value, I can add the gfci but I've not heard of injuries from this scenario so I'm not sure I'd really be adding value.

[@kenbrown2808]

I don't know about your locality, but in mine, GFCI protection for undersink equipment, including using a faceless GFCI as a service disconnect for the dishwasher, is perfectly fine under the sink.

[@AlanCurtiss-y6d]

Should the disposal turn clockwise or counterclockwise? Thanks.

[@davidbarham9113]

I plan to replace an older garbage disposal within the next few days. If the wiring is weird or unusual on the old disposer I will send you pictures.

[@SparkyChannel]

I hope everything is fine but thanks!

[@a..d5518]

@@SparkyChannel Thanks Bill timely video I'll be installing/replacing a new GD unit in the next week or so. Bill does the NEC say anything about where the switch may/may not be mounted?

[@SparkyChannel]

@@a..d5518 Great! Check out my video description for links to GD cords. HD has a high price of $14. No, I don't know of any such code.

[@chriswarda6114]

Why use a "regular" plug for the disposal and not a GFI one ( since you are close to a water source) ?

[@Hatim.13]

Because all of the kitchen receptacles that are 6ft away from the sink (which is the case here) are protected by either a GFCI receptacle or gfci breaker.

[@joejoe6949]

Nowadays everything is on a gfci or afci breaker

[@_helena.kim_]

What is size of the clamp? Thanks!

[@SparkyChannel]

1/2" NM Clamp Type Cable Connectors for Metallic Conduit Protect Cables Silver-Zinc: Amazon: amzn.to/3BO502G

[@sarahb8147]

At 4:26 what do you mean by “stray strands” and what problems can they cause?

[@mikburg]

I believe stray strands cause problems if they make contact with another surface/wire which could result in a short or failure to operate as expected.

[@scott_meyer]

The last disposal I bought came pre wired with a 2ft cord.

[@SparkyChannel]

Yes, some models do come with a pre-wired cord.

[@faisha123]

@@SparkyChannel Have you done a video of how to switch out a pre-wired cord. I bought a new disposal, but it's pre-wired. The one I am replacing was not pre wired. I do not have an outlet under the sink, the wires just disappear through a hole in the wall. Do you have a video for this? Thanks,

[@Okun240]

Wish every disposal were 3-phase with a direction reversing switch, grandma could put a pair of slippers down and it’d be hard to jam.

[@SparkyChannel]

LOL!

[@Oscarh.23]

I had a service call from a home owner who’s garbage disposal was on 24/7 he trip the GFCI in order to turn it off because the contractor that remodeled his kitchen canceled the switch for it😂😂

[@SparkyChannel]

LOL!

[@christophereaton4694]

That's not how it usually is. You have to do it after the plumber installed it. You know, upside down and doing the yoga pose.

[@SparkyChannel]

LOL, that's so true!

[@T-towncluemaster]

My garbage disposal had white smoke coming out today. We just purchased the home a few weeks ago. Turned off the breaker and called the fire department. My husband had been on an errand when this happened. After the fire department checked everything and confirmed the breaker was off, my husband started to disassemble (his dad is a master electrician and he worked with him in the past, my husband is a bomb technician) the disposal. We discovered that who ever installed this disposal was connected using reused 14/2 white electrical wire. It was straight wired to the switch using what looks to us like an old piece of 14/2 that was scrap reused to connect the disposal. This isn’t right? Right? We can see charring on the copper wire from the 14/2 and the smell is horrible!

[@SparkyChannel]

It does sound like a bad wiring job. Also check out this video: Garbage Disposal Cords $13.98 vs. $3.37, Why?: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n2XCdJKbrcx7ldU

[@THEBEARDEDMUKFILMS]

So the black wired cord that’s ribbed goes to the white striped neutral cord, and the smooth black wired cord goes to the stripped black cord, yes? Lol

[@SparkyChannel]

Yep.

[@prevails85]

@@SparkyChannel just finished installing!! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 sore now hahah

[@kenbrown2808]

the bad ones I usually see are a homemade cord made out of romex and a cheap cord cap.

[@SparkyChannel]

Hi Ken! I think that is what they have at 8:29. LOL!

[@mwhite2300]

Your close up of the smooth vs pleated part of the wire was essential for me, when you're not a pro you can't take these things for granted, when I pulled my disposal off and pulled the wire off it never occured to me that the hot wire would be black and that the neutral wire would also be black, assumptions make an ass out of u and me

[@SparkyChannel]

Yep! Thanks Mark!

[@keirstenstrickland2022]

Email sent as well.. So I have the metal clad wiring from under the sink.. So you're saying the metal clad is the ground.. so essentially, I dont need the wire for the badger (the one not provided).. Id just connect the white and black from the disposal to the white and black within the metal clad.. As far as the ground.. the clamp is what works as the ground.. provided that its securely in place? I dont need the green ground? Any help is appreciated

[@Bluesman57]

Great video Bill. It would also be good to mention the NEC requirements for cords, this is the 2017 codebook (which Michigan is currently using): 422.16 (B) (1) Electrically Operated In-Sink Waste Disposers. (1) The flexible cord shall be terminated with a groundingtype attachment plug. (2) The length of the cord shall not be less than 450 mm (18 in.) and not over 900 mm (36 in.).

[@SparkyChannel]

Excellent, thanks!

[@MrFitness94]

Wouldn’t “polarity” not *technically* affect anything? Although bad practice, and possibly unsafe, the neutral and ground aren’t bonded in that box, hell if they were *any* way of hooking it up would be unsafe

[@SparkyChannel]

I would say that if you reverse polarity on the cord you run the risk of energizing metal surfaces.

[@commoncentstx]

@@SparkyChannel if the metal surface is grounded and bonded, and the metal surface gets energized, it will trip the breaker (and/or the GFCI that is now required for garbage disposals).

[@konamanstudio2447]

👍🏻🍻🍺🐶

[@SparkyChannel]

Cheers with beers!

[@jirehelectric]

The plug for the stove is seems too high.

[@SparkyChannel]

I agree.