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25 of 25 found the following review helpful:
 Great, especially if there is no other place for a switch. Nov 11, 2011
By AgedWireHead
I was recently faced with the problem of where to put a disposer switch with a sink centered in a long peninsula cabinet that has a 3 cm granite top on it. Placing a switch on the 3-foot wide wall at the end of the peninsula, over 6 feet away from the sink seemed really inconvenient, and placing a switch under the lip of the counter top on the face of the cabinet isn't good. I know from experience that this results in unintentionally turning on the disposer.
I saw this device offered when I purchased a disposer on Amazon. I purchased it just to see if it might work. It solves the problem perfectly. It comes with interchangeable rings and buttons. Mine came with white, polished chrome, and brushed nickel. Brushed nickel is close enough to stainless that it matches the faucet, soap dispenser and drinking water dispenser that I also installed. It also comes in oil-rubbed bronze and black. The nickel finish snaps on to a black plastic base. The nickel button cover on mine had popped loose. I put a dab of clear silicone under the cover and snapped it back on. Permanent fix.
The unit consists of three components: the switch box, the button unit, and a flexible tube.
The electrical switch is inside a black plastic box that plugs in to a standard 110 volt socket. It has a socket on the front of the box to plug in the disposer (or anything else you want to turn on and off). The box will plug into the bottom socket on "duplex" receptacle and leave the top socket completely unobstructed.
The button is a simple air piston that compresses the air in the tube that connects the button with the switch box. Inside the switch box is another piston that moves the switch. Press it once, the switch turns to the opposite condition that it was in, so it is a "press off, press on" mechanism. One does not hold the button down to keep the disposer running. One must push the button in about 1/2 inch to activate the switch. I have not been able to "accidentally" activate the disposer. The button is easy to press with a finger, but it does take several pounds of pressure to depress it enough to activate the switch. I can imagine that this would limit the usefulness of this switch for folks with no fingers or with very, very painful arthritis, but I have no personal knowledge that it does.
The tube pushes easily onto the bottom of switch box and into the bottom middle of the button unit. The tube can stay neatly out of the way against the back of the cabinet. Cutting the tube shorter (that is, removing most of the excess tubing) will improve the performance of the switch (less pushing to activate).
It is possible to fully depress the button so slowly that the switch does not activate. I tried this about 20 times as a test and it did not activate 4 times. I can't imagine this would be a problem as it really takes a very slow and gradual depression.
For those of you who do not read instructions, and this product is so simple to install I am sure this will be a lot of us, please note that the switch may already be on when you first install the unit. What a surprise if you plug the disposer in for the first time and it is immediately "ON". I recommend plugging a lamp in to test this first, just before you plug in the disposer. And I do mean just before. "Folks" (read this as "Helpers") love to play with the switch before everything is installed, so plugging in the disposer can be a bit like Russian roulette.
I rarely use plumbers putty any more when installing this sort of thing, I have switched to 100% silicone II caulk for kitchen, bath, plumbing. This provides a far better installation than the foam washer provided with this unit. Don't be stingy with the caulk and don't over tighten the nut under the counter. Use a paper towel or two to wipe off any excess silicone. Let the silicone firm up under the escutcheon and in the hole and the button will say put very nicely and water will not leak under the escutcheon and into the cabinet.
Silicone Caulk - Ge Clear Caulk Mildew Resistant - 1701GE
15 of 16 found the following review helpful:
 STS Switch Aug 20, 2010
By J B
"Jaybee"
Switch works fine out of the box. The button quality - the satin nickel - is very poor and discolors instantly in use.
Insinkerator should have a better QC check - one quick way to downgrade a reputation.
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Simple to install, works great! May 16, 2010
By Delighted
I should have purchased this a long time ago. It works great, and is as simple as: Screw the button into an unused hole in your sink, plug the power module into a standard outlet for your disposal, plug the disposal into the power module, and connect a simple plug-in airline from the button to the power module. All in all, less than 3 minutes to install. Note that you do need to have an unused hole in your sink to mount it. If you wanted to wall-mount it, you'll need to come up with some mechanism to do so as there isn't any rough-in kit included to add the button to a 1-gang or 2-gang electrical box.
It's a little pricey, but if you're ok with the price you'll be very happy with the product.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 Works great! You don't need an extra sink hole to use this... Aug 18, 2011
By Berries
I just moved into a duplex and discovered that it didn't have a garbage disposal! For some reason, I had just assumed it would have one. Also, there was no outlet under the sink to even install a garbage disposal. I bought the disposal for a great price here on Amazon and then found this to use as the switch. Luckily my sink is right next to the stove, so I just cut a circular hole in the cabinet to plug a quality extension cord into that then plugged into this (soon I will figure out a way to mount this plug and the slack on the cord to the upper inside area of the cabinet so it won't run the risk of being in the way. So far I had solved my first problem. Next, my sink does NOT have an extra hole in it and I did not want to even attempt to try to cut a hole in it. I have a double sink with the double door cabinet below it. The doors to the cabinet are separated by 2" of wood and I had just enough space to cut a circular hole in the cabinet to perfectly install the button right under the sink. A hole that has a diameter of 1.25" is the perfect size to fit the button. So that had solved my second problem! the only way I could ever see this button location being a problem would be if someone had a baby/toddler that would want to come push the button. My son knows better to not even attempt to try to push the button, so this works for my family. Honestly I was not going to attempt to try to live without a garbage disposal with all the cooking I do and this helped make getting one very simple. My landlord will be so excited to hear that I have installed one! I will try to post a picture soon of how I mounted the button in case anyone is interested or likes the idea.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Does what's expected, but you need these install tips. Jan 04, 2011
By James W. Davis
The product works as expected and the convenience is what I had hoped for. No more reaching around counter top items to find the switch and which one is it? The light or the disposal? So that part is great and I love it. The issue I have is the install. If like me you want to use an existing sink top hole, then you will find the hole is larger then ideal. At least for me it was. There are provided washers to accommodate this, but the end result is a button the has a gap under it. The stainless washer and rubber/foam washer creates a gap that is not only unsightly, but a water ingress point. I opted for minimizing the gap and then creating my own seal. I used the stainless washer to provide the desired support to the plastic assembly and then taped the top to protect the finish on the button and added white silicon sealant around the bottom. This creates the seal and blends in the the white porcelain sink with the button. Don't over tighten the under sink nut that threads the assembly. It will flex the thin stainless washer. I tried plumbers putty and the foam/rubber provided washer and this worked best for me. Works great now. I'm getting another for my girlfriend, so the product works great, but the 4 stars is for the less then ideal sink top assembly.
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