Wiring – How to wire a GFCI duplex outlet with a garbage disposal switch & combo outlet on load

garbage-disposalgfciwiring

We moved into a new house last week. I was greeted with a faulty garbage disposal switch in the kitchen. The switch works intermittently depending on how hard it's pressed.

The second issue was the GFCI duplex receptacle on the right of the switch, was not working at all. A reset did nothing.

So I figured I'd replace the GFCI duplex with a new one from the hardware store. After installing that, the new GFCI would not turn on either, despite 120v power to the line terminals (as tested with my meter).

So I disconnected the load wires (pictured on the bottom), and the GFCI started working. The garbage switch continued to work (albeit just as flakey as before). Obviously the downstream receptacle (on the left) that was connected to load (on the right), wont work if it's disconnected.

So I'm wondering should I just replace the switch combo and wire it the same? Or maybe the thing is not wired correctly to begin with. Unfortunately I'm unable to ask anyone about what occurred here.

For reference this is a 2-gang box with 4 wires coming in (actually 5 if you include the ground on the left).

As they say though, a picture is worth a thousand words 🙂 Any help would be great!

[Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/udwbzjV.jpg)

Best Answer

I don't know your "switch/outlet" combination in detail, but I'd guess there might be a connection by default (ie, the switch is tied to the outlet unless you break a tab) that's getting upset by the switch being fed from the line side and the outlet being fed from the load side of the GFCI. In any case, the disposal probably ought to be connected to the load side of the GFCI.

If the switch is the same one that worked or not depending how hard it's pressed, why haven't you replaced it yet?

The ground wire should be connected to the box. The other cable should be checked for a ground wire, and that should be connected to the box if it exists. The box & grounds should be connected to the GFCI and Switch/outlet ground terminals.

If you haven't dumped the trash yet the GFCI you removed might work fine, given what you have found with the new one.

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