Dead Disposal. Can I remove it?

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llmercll

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Great, thank you so much!

Should I put all three wires in one nut (hot, ground, and common. It looks like romex so I'm guessing that's whats in there), or use a nut on each wire separately? And that would basically have the safe effect as leaving them connected to the switch, right? maybe it's a little safer using the wirenuts?
 

llmercll

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alright thanks =)

for curiosity's sake, if i were to wirenut them together and flip the power back on, would that cause sparks/fire/explosion?

Also, I was told by an electrician that I could just leave the hot wires connected to the switch. Why do you guys recommend the wirenut method?

thanks again!
 

Jadnashua

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If you connect all the wires together, you have what is called a short circuit...i.e., one where it does not go through a load first (power goes directly to the return). It would immediately blow the circuit breaker or fuse. You could pull the wire off the switch controlling the disposal and cap it, but it would probably be safer to run the end into a surface mounted box, and cap each lead separately.
 

llmercll

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I'm still confused =(

I know that one option is to cap the wires separately, use a knockout closure, and leave them in the switchbox (under the sink in the pictures).

But could I also just leave the hot wires connected to the switch? Would that gives the same result and be just as safe? (as long as I remove the wire coming out, and still use a knockout closure?)

Because if I have options, it's simpler to leave the switch connected, and would rather do that. I was told by an electrician over at diychatroom forums that I could safely do that, but just looking for confirmation. Maybe I misunderstood him?

I really have no prior experience and don't understand any terminology, please bear with me. I need the simplest method possible =p
 

Cacher_Chick

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It really does not make any difference. If it is a regular switch, I would remove it, cap the wire ends, and install a new blank cover on the box. There cannot be any exposed romex wire in the cabinet.
 

llmercll

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Great, I will just remove the romex and use a knockout closure. Won't even bother capping the wires if I don't need to, and I'll leave the switch intact. (please chime in if this is going to burn my house down, but from what I'm hearing it's ok, just not the "clean or professional" method?)

And theres my breaker. I'm guessing w-d is washer dryer and d-w is dishwasher? I don't know what G-F-I is.

Should I flip kitchen 1 kitchen 2 and d-w? And then double check with a multimeter?
 
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Cacher_Chick

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Any wires in the box that end up being not connected to anything need to be capped.

Don't assume the labels in a panel are correct, always test the circuit to make sure the power is off.

If you don't understand what might or might not burn the house down, you should get someone that does to assist you.
 

Gary Swart

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There is more than one way to skin this cat. One way is as I described earlier if the disposer is on its own circuit. Just disconnect the wires from the circuit breaker in the box. Another way is to is disconnect the wires in the switch, leaving the wires coming to the switch for the breaker panel attached to the switch and nipping the bare ends of the black and white wires going to the disposer off and capping them. That will render the wires going to the disposer in place but completely dead. You can just leave the switch alone as it will not do anything if inadvertently switched on. This would be the best way if the disposer is not on its own circuit because everything else on the circuit will still function. If you do this method, then you can connect the two wires together because the will be no electricity in them.
There is no reason to cap the bare copper wire because it is bare all the way through the Romex cable. What we are calling "caps" are actually called wire nuts and are use to connect 2 or more wires together in a junction box. They come in different sizes to fit the size and number of wires being connected, so you will need to determine the size wire you have. If enough Romex is showing, you can probable find this on the Romex cover. It would be something like these numbers. 14/3 or 12/3. This means size #14 wire and a ground (bare copper) or #12 wire with a bare ground. There are other wire sizes, they would not be in this wiring. #16 wire would be too small and #10 would be much heavier than necessary plus it is difficult to use that heavy of a wire in regular household circuits. Also more costly. If you can't see the number on the cover, then get a nut that will connect two #14 wires and a nut that will fit two #12 wires. Then use the one that works the best. (These are very inexpensive.) To use the nut, you just stick the two wires you are connecting into the nut and twist the nut tight. That all there is to it. The bare copper ground wire can just be shoved into the box as it is.

I realize this is rather a long dissertation, but in actual practice it is quite simple.
 

llmercll

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Thanks a lot Gary, I never even thought about wire size. I will check my romex for any markings and let you know what they are.

Only thing is, I thought I was capping each of the wires separately? As capping them together would cause a short circuit?
 

llmercll

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Got my parts, going to start the job tomorrow morning! Everything went very smoothly at home depot, and picked up everything I needed for around $30.

I noticed that my garbage disposal is actually leaking through the hole the romex runs into!!! very dangerous stuff...I need to take care of this asap.
 

Gary Swart

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If you disconnect the black and white wires from the switch, you can safely cap them together. No electricity will ever be in them, so no short will be possible. The capping is just to prevent either of the wire ends from contacting the hot wire to the switch.
 

llmercll

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There are some pictures, everything went very well! No leaks, very fast draining, and the dishwasher seems to be working again! I also didn't get electrocuted or blow any fuses =p

thanks everyone here for all the help. It would have never happened without your assistance =)
 
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