Can You Hard Wire Garbage Disposals?

Power

• A garbage disposal is usually rated by how powerful its motor is. Light-duty garbage disposals may come with a one-third horsepower motor. Common residential units with a one-half horsepower motor are suitable for everyday use. More powerful garbage disposals may have motors ranging from three-fourths to 1 horsepower. Garbage disposals may also be rated by the capacity of their grinding chamber and the speed at which their grinding blades turn.

Electrical Access

• There are two primary methods for supplying power to a garbage disposal. Some disposals may be plugged into an existing electrical outlet. Some disposals must be hard wired into an electrical circuit. Some disposals provide you with the option of using a plug or hard wiring the unit. Regardless of whether the unit uses a plug or is hard wired, the disposal must be properly grounded to prevent electrical shock.

Codes

• The building codes of some municipal jurisdictions may require certain appliances, including garbage disposals, to be hard wired. Since codes vary from municipality to municipality, contact your local code department to determine whether your disposal needs to be hard wired.

Installation

• Hard-wired garbage disposals must be grounded to a metal permanent wiring system. You can use BX cable to hard wire the unit by connecting the white lead wire on the garbage disposal unit to the white wire of the cable. Connect the two black wires, then connect the bare ground wires. You can hard wire the unit without using BX cable by connecting a separate ground wire to a cold water metal pipe. If the cold water pipe is plastic and no other suitable grounding apparatus is available, have the unit installed by a professional electrician.