# Electricians: Best safety and ergonomic light/disposal switch for kitchen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 1, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricians-best-safety-and-ergonomic-light-disposal-switch-for-kitchen/721364 "2015-06-01T17:51:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricians-best-safety-and-ergonomic-light-disposal-switch-for-kitchen/721364/21 "2015-06-02T16:18:05Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > How well does the tubing hold up after time? I presume this is hydraulic and one is essentially squeezing a bulb that puts air pressure on a switch. It’s pneumatic, not hydraulic. The hoses I’ve seen are ordinary 1/8" poly tubing which is not under any static pressure. Lifetime is measured in centuries, and replacement tubing is $0.12 / foot at your local big box store. IOW, IMO tubing reliability is not really a significant concern. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricians-best-safety-and-ergonomic-light-disposal-switch-for-kitchen/721364/22 "2015-06-02T16:36:57Z")
Choices Go with air switch Go with red switch You are remodeling so you can make major changes. In my kitchen the light over the sink and the disposal are in the same 4X4 box to the right side of the sink. The light switch is on the left side of the box, that is closes to the sink and the disposal on the side away from the sink. Never see anyone hit the disposal switch going for the light. Also a little suggestion add more outlets to the kitchen now. Most of our outlet boxes are double gang outlets, that is 4 outlets per box not 2. And I put in more outlets than is normally found. Now my wife and I do not use all the outlets at one time. But we can put what ever we want to plug in next to an outlet that is already being used because not every plug is being used. An example is the corner where all the phone chargers are plugged in. When we have a gathering and I want to plug in a coffee pot I can set it near the charging station and not have to drape the cord. Even with all the outlets we have there are times where I wish we had more. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricians-best-safety-and-ergonomic-light-disposal-switch-for-kitchen/721364/23 "2015-06-02T16:55:06Z")
What’s the point of an air switch? Is it so you can get it wet without risk of a shock? Seems like adding a lot of unnecessary complication vs just using a wall switch. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricians-best-safety-and-ergonomic-light-disposal-switch-for-kitchen/721364/24 "2015-06-02T17:11:01Z")
Yes, it’s to isolate the wet hands using the switch from any electricity. Seems kind of gimmicky to me, but there you have it. It’s also a way to add a disposer in a code compliant way to a kitchen that never had one without having to dig into walls and run conduit, etc. It’s not unusual to have a plain old outlet box under the sink with all outlets always powered. So you can add an air switch which is a wallwart that plugs into the always hot outlet box, and has a switched outlet on its side that you plug the disposer into. Then you run the air tubing from the wallwart to the remote switch which goes into a round hole drilled in the counter top. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricians-best-safety-and-ergonomic-light-disposal-switch-for-kitchen/721364/25 "2015-06-02T18:37:17Z")
If you are really paranoid about getting your fingers mangled or have kids who use the kitchen, consider a batch feed disposal. Also known as cover control (insinkerator’s name), they require the lid to be placed on the drain and that turns it on. Not as easy to rinse things down but a lot safer. Not that it’s really easy to hurt yourself with a normal switched one. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricians-best-safety-and-ergonomic-light-disposal-switch-for-kitchen/721364/26 "2015-06-02T18:49:44Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > What’s the point of an air switch? Is it so you can get it wet without risk of a shock? > > Seems like adding a lot of unnecessary complication vs just using a wall switch. In my case I added an insta hot under the sink and I did not want to drag a second 20A circuit into my kitchen. I also did not want to trip the breaker by running the disposer while the insta hot was running. The switching box for the air switch has two outlets on it. A and B. If A (disposer) is off B (insta hot) is on and vice versa. In addition my wife was no worries about getting electrocuted by using it with wet hands. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricians-best-safety-and-ergonomic-light-disposal-switch-for-kitchen/721364.md?page=1)