Cool find in troubleshooting

[Jpflex]

Outside a house there is a 15a GFCI receptacle not working.

No power was found at its line side or load side

The GFCI line side red 12 AWG wire goes all the way to a 20 ampere breaker and is on and measures 120 volts out

Along the wall routs this wire via a 1/2” EMT conduit

Looking as an open circuit I did a continuity test between hot terminal of GFCI and wire to breaker while off and disconnected from breaker. A little redundant I know but an open was confirmed either in the wall or EMT conduit. (I have done this for neutral circuits while still connected to the neutral bus and never had a problem not sure if there are any cautions I should be aware of other than making sure line hot is disconnected?)

After pulling out wire from panel, wall and EMT I found the break in the wire in EMT closer to outside GFCI outlets box.

The wire looked burnt open but I never came across a wire as large as 12 AWG burning open nor am I sure how exactly this happened?

Apparently the EGC did not trip the breaker as just enough insulation was present to stop contact between conductor and EMT. No voltage was detected on EMT prior

See pic

 

[augie47]

Appears to me to be damage from a loose connection which would not trip the breaker.

 

[Jpflex]

Here’s the arc burn I found on EMT

I’m thinking that there must be a no system bonding jumper or supply side bonding jumper to transformer because wire was allowed to burn open instead of tripping breaker

 

[Jpflex]

Appears to me to be damage from a loose connection which would not trip the breaker.

This is not from a loos connection this is what remained from one solid 12 AWG THHN wire inside the EMT conduit but not the end connected to GFCI receptacle connectors

Here is the pic of wires going to GFCI receptacle

 

[Jpflex]

This is not from a loos connection this is what remained from one solid 12 AWG THHN wire inside the EMT conduit but not the end connected to GFCI receptacle connectors

Here is the pic of wires going to GFCI receptacle

Picture is after I removed wire from GFCI connector

 

[Jpflex]

update:

Lol now I think I know what caused this short circuit to cause an open wire.

Apparently, whoever ran this circuit got their fishing cable stuck in the EMT, punctured the wire while trying to fish it out and left it there.

I pulled a portion of the fishing wire out to show on the picture

 

[Jpflex]

Here’s the icing

Water in the conduit

 

[Jpflex]

How about the last installer getting the fishing cable stuck and leaving it then 1

 

[Jpflex]

And taped up EGC and fed through EMT, this partially explains why short didn’t trip breaker

 

[ggunn]

Outside a house there is a 15a GFCI receptacle not working.

No power was found at its line side or load side

The GFCI line side red 12 AWG wire goes all the way to a 20 ampere breaker and is on and measures 120 volts out

Along the wall routs this wire via a 1/2” EMT conduit

Looking as an open circuit I did a continuity test between hot terminal of GFCI and wire to breaker while off and disconnected from breaker. A little redundant I know but an open was confirmed either in the wall or EMT conduit. (I have done this for neutral circuits while still connected to the neutral bus and never had a problem not sure if there are any cautions I should be aware of other than making sure line hot is disconnected?)

After pulling out wire from panel, wall and EMT I found the break in the wire in EMT closer to outside GFCI outlets box.

The wire looked burnt open but I never came across a wire as large as 12 AWG burning open nor am I sure how exactly this happened?

Apparently the EGC did not trip the breaker as just enough insulation was present to stop contact between conductor and EMT. No voltage was detected on EMT prior

See pic

Was the conductor rated for a wet location?

 

[tthh]

Wow

 

[Frank DuVal]

Was the conductor rated for a wet location?

You mean underwater location?

I thought I saw a little hole in the EMT picture, so I thought screw went into it. Must have been a hole made by the arc? I agree, fish steel did the damage.

 

[guschash]

Gift doesn't need ground to operate

 

[guschash]

I think gift was wired wrong to begin with.