A garage 400 feet away from the house? Well anything is possible?and so sure distance is a factor. Remember, my first suggestion for replacement alluded to wire fished in pipe, and replacing any damaged wire in such a case is the only feasible option. But outside of the wire being damaged when it was originally pulled, there has to be some other factor involved, which could be, rusted out conduit or degrading wire insulation.
and as we know...Rarely does wire just break and definitely will not fault to ground without the cable being compromised for some other reason.
I don?t dismiss a repair to buried USE, but if this cable has been corrosively compromised such as the sheathing degrading from age or other factors, or is buried too shallow, or the use of the wrong cable type (not USE), then just merely fixing this cable may be merely like placing a band-aid on a infected wound?more problems down the road, more cost to the homeowner.
The integrity of a previous installation should always be considered before a repair. Like I said, wire just don't short or ground-out inside a jacket for no reason. Honestly neither you or I are there, who knows what happened.
