Finding a Broken Electric Heater Wire

[JROD]

Hi All,

I just got a call for a heater not working in an apartment building.
The owner said that it is a heating wire system in the ceiling and in the past the wire has broken his old electrician hooks up a fluorescent light ballast to the hot wire and then he ties a metal putty knife to a broom stick attaches a wire to the end of the knife and runs along the ceiling till it pulls an arc. Once he finds the arc he digs into the ceiling and connects the broken wire.

I?m going to try and take a look into it this evening and I was wondering if anyone had heard of this technique for finding a broken wire? I am even drawing a blank on the heating system. He didn?t give me much info except that it is old.

Thanks,
Jos?

 

[JROD]

Re: Finding a Broken Electric Heater Wire

Sorry, I cut short my question.
I know in the past I have seen posts for wire tracers, can anyone recommend a decent wire tracer?

 

[bdarnell]

Re: Finding a Broken Electric Heater Wire

Originally posted by JROD:
Hi All,

his old electrician hooks up a fluorescent light ballast to the hot wire and then he ties a metal putty knife to a broom stick attaches a wire to the end of the knife and runs along the ceiling till it pulls an arc.

Yikes !! I'm surprised his electrician ever lived to be old.

This is a cable heating system, used a lot in the good old days in homes and multifamily dwellings. I've had to repair some of this in the past and used a locator that I also use to find underground wire. It uses a tone with no voltage applied. Works pretty well.

 

[bdarnell]

Re: Finding a Broken Electric Heater Wire

Sorry, forgot to tell you, it's a Greenlee 501.

 

[JROD]

Re: Finding a Broken Electric Heater Wire

Originally posted by bdarnell:
a Greenlee 501.

Thanks for the advice. I've been doing research. The only tester I found locally was a Greenlee 2011. Its pricey, but I've been thinking of buy one for a while.

 

[GUNNING]

Re: Finding a Broken Electric Heater Wire

I like the ballast and putty knife thing. The Phone company used to use something similar called a "breakdown" if they couldnt find the fault they would hook it up to it and basically melt the wire in half at the point of resistance. They took them out of service when a lineman used one on a party line and set a kitchen on fire. The woman was not amused that owned the kitchen and the phone on the party line but not the trouble.