[SEL] OT! Electrical troubleshoting

Jim Dragoset jdragoset at galvotec.com
Thu Oct 28 05:49:24 PDT 2010


Curt,
Mark the line location.
Lay a temporary wire above ground but away from the underground route.
Connect it to the black wire at one end.
Connect the signal generator to that wire and the black wire at the other
end .
Use the tracer offset from the original line location.
Best Regards,

Jim Dragoset
Cathodic Protection Specialist
Galvotec Corrosion Services, LLC
ph 504 362 7373
Cell 504 329 5883


-----Original Message-----
From: sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com
[mailto:sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com] On Behalf Of
curt at rustyiron.com
Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2010 7:19 AM
To: The SEL email discussion list
Subject: [SEL] OT! Electrical troubleshoting

Hey guys and gals,
Since the SEL is a vast pool of knowledge to draw from, I need help with
troubleshooting an underground wire at the new place. From the house is a
12 ga wire that goes underground a couple of hundred feet to feed a couple
of pole lights. This is that gray outdoor wire.
The lights quit working and after some troubleshooting was surprised to
learn the wire itself is bad. That's highly unusual as wire rarely goes bad.
After disconnecting at each end and using jumpers and a ohm meter, I have
determined the black wire is the one bad. The white (neutral) and ground
wires are both good.
Yesterday I had a fellow come over with a signal generator and tracer. We
hooked the signal to the black wire and the other to a grounding rod.
Strangely the signal went all the way to the pole light. This wire will
conduct the trace signal, but not a bit of current will pass. Perhaps the
wet dirt is creating a bridge for the break in the wire allowing the signal
to continue on past the break. We've had several inches of rain the last
days.
So, how do I identify where the break is w/o digging up the whole yard?
Is there a way to completely "burn" this wire at the bad place, so the
tracer signal can no longer pass across the bad place?

Looking forward to your creative ideas.
Curt Holland


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