Flow interlock

[The7_thson]

Hello All and thanks for any assistance. I'm a do-it-yourselfer and I'm updating my kitchen and relocating the sink water supply line and I noticed a gadget connected to my cold water supply, about 2ft away from the kitchen sink hook-up. The gadget is called a "Westinghouse, Flow Interlock". It is connected in-line to the cold water supply line, near the kitchen sink, via 1/2 rigid pipe, and is also connected to, what appears to be 120 volt power line. I'm not yet sure if there is power running to the gadget or if it is controlled by a switch because I didn't have any testing equipment with me while I was in the crawl space.

Does anyone know what this is used for and should I leave it installed?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[plumb_bob_square_pants]

Is there a garbage disposal on the kitchen sink?

 

[The7_thson]

No disposal. House is a 1940s build in need of updating.

 

[plumb_bob_square_pants]

I'm looking into it. Westinghouse made a lot of electrical devices then seemed to get into the nuclear business. They had a product like this that made sure water was on when the disposal was turned on if I'm looking at it right. You may find that this is no longer connected and is just abandoned in place. I had several components that they did that with on my house in NC.

 

[The7_thson]

Thanks! I'll get a better look at it this weekend with a volt meter and see if it's active.

 

[plumb_bob_square_pants]

From what I can find this interlock was for a disposal or possibly for a pump of some sorts. I'm pretty sure when you check this with a volts meter or trace the wire you will find that it is dead or disconnected. They still make interlocks for disposals today. They are mainly for commercial kitchens. I would say that you may want to consider a re piping of your domestic water system if it is all threaded pipe. When you remove this component you will see why.