"Kurt V. Ullman" wrote in news:Mr-dnTnmuctQzVXEnZ2dnUU7-
:

On 9/24/17 8:25 PM, trader_4 wrote:
On Sunday, September 24, 2017 at 7:14:13 PM UTC-4, Kurt V. Ullman wrote:
On 9/24/17 6:23 PM, Doug Miller wrote:
"Kurt V. Ullman" wrote in
news:LeOdnQC_jsCVt1XEnZ2dnUU7-
:

My garbage disposal stopped working. The voltage meter says I have power
to the on/off switch and it is good. The continuity tester at the plug
the GD plugs into shows open hot (no lights). The voltage meter notes no
power. I am never sure how much is open hot and how much is just no
juice. I changed out the plug with no luck. Anything I can do before I
call an electrician?

Check the switch again. Possibly the switch has failed, or the hot wire from the switch to
the
disposal receptacle is not connected at the switch.

I think you should just replace the switch anyway, even if you're pretty sure it's good.
It's
certainly a lot cheaper than calling an electrician. Even if it doesn't fix the problem,
you're only
out a buck.

That did it. A little education is a dangerous thing.
Thanks to all

Good that you got it fixed. You had said you had power "to the switch".
I was going to ask if you checked if you had it on the load side of
the switch with the switch closed.

Yep I had. I checked and in off one terminal was hot and the other
wasn't. I flipped it to on and both were hot. That was when I was sure
it was okay. I switched out the plug, since I thought the switch was
good. Still didn't work so then I decided to follow Doug's advice to
switch out the switch before I called an electrician. For some reason
that worked.

If you were checking with a digital meter, or a non-contact voltage tester, you could have
been reading a high voltage at almost zero current. The switch contacts may have been
passing enough current to light up a detector but not nearly enough to power an electric
motor.

Glad my suggestion helped.