My interesting afternoon....

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K8MHZ

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
So my friend Jeff calls me yesterday because he has some receptacles not working. No prob, I figure. Bad connection somewhere in a box.

I get out there and find the recepts have not only an open neutral, but an open ground as well. Hot is fine.

So I connect my circuit tracer to the neutral and trace it to another recep. Still, no ground or neutral. Again, to another recept. Same thing. Jeff didn't even realize the recep. I found didn't work. Trace from there to another recep that was working. No problem in the box. But the problem is somewhere in between. I trace the signal to a bedroom in the basement to a point where I would have had to stand on a bed to continue. I asked Jeff to use the probe as I watched because I didn't want to stand on the bed. He is following the signal across the ceiling and I notice a hole in said ceiling.

So I ask Jeff, what's up with the hole? Jeff's face loses color and he looks at me and says, "the hamster".

The hamster?

Well, it seems their hamster got out and decided to live in the basement ceiling for a while. I got out my SeeSnake and found a pencil, a couple crayons and a piece of Romex.......with the neutral and ground chewed all the way through and the hot's insulation chewed off.

Granted, I was relieved that I found the problem, but was concerned about the hamster.

"Did you find him alive?" I asked.

Yes and no, Jeff said. It seemed that the hamster came down from his new electrically heated penthouse for a walk and encountered Jeff's Jack Russell Terrier and met his demise shortly thereafter.

I have seen mice eat NM before, but never a hamster.
 
iMuse97

iMuse97

Senior Member
Location
Chicagoland
I know, I know, Yeah, Yeah: that's why all homes should be wired in conduit--from a Chicago guy.:grin: Glad you had a good day. :roll:
 
K8MHZ

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
iMuse97 said:
I know, I know, Yeah, Yeah: that's why all homes should be wired in conduit--from a Chicago guy.:grin: Glad you had a good day. :roll:
Click to expand...

I have piped a couple homes here for Habitat and one for an upper scale residence. If I were to build my own, I would pipe it. That's because I wouldn't be an EC trying to compete with others that were roping a house, thus losing his derriere in the process, and I have a tendency to keep adding things. And adding things. And adding things.

Really, once you get good at piping a house you can get them done for a decent price. One trick is to have all your stub ninety's bent ahead of time, preferably by minimum wage labor or your wife and kids. Another is using the quick connectors you can get that allow you to install EMT into a box without tools.

You have to admit, the Chicago guys have got it down. Cowproof, to this day.
 
K8MHZ

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
Charlie Bob said:
K8MHZ what kind of circuit tracer did you use? i've been thinking about getting me one, apparently yours works really good.
Click to expand...

I went all out. What's 30 bucks when you think of the children?

41QJ4YW3GKL._SL500_AA280_.jpg



http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BO6Y1O
 
Charlie Bob

Charlie Bob

Senior Member
Location
West Tennessee
i got mine at Lowe's i think its ideal, i maybe wrong though, it's yellow.
I don;t like mine at all. It find mine very hard to differenciate the signals. I mean strong and weak sound about the same. Well i thought what can you expect for that kind of money.
 
K8MHZ

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
Charlie Bob said:
i got one of them.
Did you use that to trace wires behind the wall????
Click to expand...

Yes, that is what it is for. Once you learn how to use it, it works great. Just remember that it is a radio transmitter with 2 antenna leads. The red lead goes to the wire being traced (ie, the driven element), the black needs to go to a counterpoise, usually the ground. Sometimes it takes some tweaking to get a strong signal.

Now, realize that the wire is now the antenna and will likely not be resonant. No prob as that means the input point and the open will have the strongest signals with the middle of the run being the weakest due to the current / voltage distribution on the wire in question.
 
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K8MHZ

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
Charlie Bob said:
i got mine at Lowe's i think its ideal, i maybe wrong though, it's yellow.
I don;t like mine at all. It find mine very hard to differenciate the signals. I mean strong and weak sound about the same. Well i thought what can you expect for that kind of money.
Click to expand...

I have used other cheap makes that just didn't get it. This GB is actually the only one I have used that works at all.

I have had the same luck with stud finders. I went through four or so before I found one that worked.
 
P

Power Tech

Senior Member
Location
Lebec, California
Had a rabbit that loved extension cords.

A goat that ate dog food.

A meat and egg eating rabbit.

A German Shepard that loved copper wire, 500 mcm right through.
Soup cans - just the lid left.
 
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