1/2 acre backyard. outlets in each corner powered by direct burial wire 120V. GFI opens when breaker is closed.
How do I locate the break, argh!
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Replies
bethio
Go to the furthest made up junction, disconnect what's past that and try your breaker/gfci. If it still trips, keep going back towards the beginning and test again at each made up junction.
I'm assuming the gfci is the first outlet on that run. And, the gfi is good.
I am unsure of the wiring run. The GFI was swapped out.
First, pull the hot from your GCFI breaker and se if it tripps with nothing connected. Might be a bad breaker.
Then go to every outlet and completely disconnect them, so no wires that come into each box is connected to anything anymore.
Now power up the GCFI - If you have a break here, you know it's in the first wire segment. Disconnect the Hot, Neutral, and ground in your panel from the GCFI and wire nut them together. Now go though each bare wire in your outlet boxes with a continuity tester to see which Hot and Neutral pair have continuity. That is the first wire connection back to your panel.
If you don't have a break here, go around with a non-contact voltage tester and find out which hot is currently live - that is your first wire segment. Power off the GCFI, reconnect that first segment to the next segment, and retest. Keep going until you find the break.
Thank you. It is hailing so I will wait until tomorrow to play with the wires.
beth
Unsure of the run?
think cheap. Go to the gfi box and look to the rest of the outlets. Shortest distance between points is what usually decided the run. You don't need to know the route, just which outlet is next on the line.
This electrical didn't happen after a fence was put in, a tree planted or some other excavation, did it?
The RIGHT way to find the fault is with a time domain reflectometer. Junkhound probably has a spare one in one of his sheds.
How long has the wire been in place? Does it run under a driveway or some such at any point? Has the ground subsided badly anywhere? Do you have a septic tank?
Beth
Best of luck.