Help me out

[jes25]

if you suspect a broken wire sometimes it's helpful to ask the HO if they had any other work performed recently. I always ask like, when they first noticed the problem, and the like. Sometimes it will yield a clue.

 

[wawireguy]

I'd bet the farm it's a buried GFCI somewhere. Ask the owner about bathroom remodel work. Look behind mirrors, in drawers, under cabinents. Look behind furniture, behind shelves anywhere it could be hidden. Found one behind a mirror one time.

 

[ceb58]

Found it !!

Found it !!

I'd bet the farm it's a buried GFCI somewhere. Ask the owner about bathroom remodel work. Look behind mirrors, in drawers, under cabinents. Look behind furniture, behind shelves anywhere it could be hidden. Found one behind a mirror one time.

It was a hidden GFIC. On ether end of the basement it is unfinished, one end has two air handlers the other end is storage and the two panels. After tracing from 2Nd floor down to 1st and then down into basement I found a GFCI in a cavity between the unfinished and finished ceiling in the basement. The box was about 16" into the finished ceiling. The clowns that wired this house ran from the panel to this box, one wire fed a post lamp, the other wire hit a recp on front of house, then went to the basement bath, then up stairs to master bath, over to half bath, then dead ended with the recp. in 2Nd floor bath. Thanks for the help. You just gotta love a PITA job:grin:

 

[wawireguy]

Way to ferret it out! Just like easter egg hunting!

 

[K8MHZ]

Call from sister-in-law her boss's recpt. in master bath stopped working.

Was she using a hair dryer at the time?

:grin:

 

[hurk27]

I have a greenlee tracer system that I don't leave home with out it, even at over $700 it's worth every penny, saved me many times its cost in time hunting down these types of failures, traces a hot or dead circuit up to 600 volts, finds shorts, buired openings, phone wires and much much more.

 

[LarryFine]

The only thing I have found that is worrying me is on all of the dead recp. I cannot get continuity between ground and the neutral. (grounds and net. tied together in panel)

That's your clue. GFCI receptacles open both conductors. It's one you just haven't found yet.

My guess: a receptacle in the basement or garage, probably hidden behind something.

 

[LarryFine]

A heavily or well-used recept will have the neutral burnt a lot of times. Don't know why the neutral seems to be the weak spot the majority of the time but that's the way I've found it.

He'd still have power between the hot and the EGC.


Found it, I see. I should finish threads before responding.



Nah!

 

[ceb58]

He'd still have power between the hot and the EGC.


Found it, I see. I should finish threads before responding.



Nah!

Dont make me agree with you again:grin:

 

[ichimo23]

elaborate on 'extension cord' troubleshoot method

elaborate on 'extension cord' troubleshoot method

Can someone please explain how the 'extension cord' troubleshoot method works? I've recall hearing it mentioned on the forum before, but never caught how it works
thanks

 

[George Stolz]

You plug it into a known good outlet, and string it around the house using it as a reference point for voltage measurements.

 

[PEI]

Also can be useful in 'backfeeding" the dead recptacles, to find broken conductors or bad recptacles.

 

[LarryFine]

You plug it into a known good outlet, and string it around the house using it as a reference point for voltage measurements.

Exactly. :smile:

Also can be useful in 'backfeeding" the dead recptacles, to find broken conductors or bad recptacles.

Never. Well, I wouldn't do it. Not without specifically isolating the circuit or section of wiring under test. An intermittent open could become a 240v arc.



When it comes to troubleshooting, start with one basic premise: It used to work. Something has changed. You have to find out what it is, and restore it. The symptoms should be able to help you narrow it down before starting real work.

Added: If you have intuition and investigative skills, including asking questions, you can usually narrow things down to one of two or three boxes. Don't forget to check both sides of a wall, plus up or down in older construction.

Plug a 3-wire cord into a known-properly-wired receptacle. That gives you a hot, neutral, and ground reference that you can carry around with you. I strongly recommend a solenoid-type tester, or at least a low-impedance meter.

Stab one tester lead into the cord's hot slot, and test its own grounded and grounding terminals first. Don't assume anything. Always check your reference for proper operation. Also, always test the circuit's hot to its EGC, in case the grounded conductor is open.

Now, test the cord's hot against all three of the suspect circuit's conductors. You should get 120v on the grounded and grounding conductors, and either 0 or 240 on the hot. If you get nothing at all, figure on a cut cable. Power only to the EGC suggests open GFCI.

One more test: check the circuit's hot against the cord's grounded (or grounding) slot. Sometimes, as mentioned above, what seems like a de-energized circuit is actually an open grounded conductor. Loads don't show which conductor is open, because they have no line-to-EGC load.

Hope this was helpful.

 

[PEI]

Sorry, Larry is correct. Should have mentioned that when "backfeeding" be sure to be on the same phase as the circuit in question.

 

[ichimo23]

Thanks for the detailed explanation Larry. Now i clearly understand how this method can narrow down the problem, and make it easier to diagnose. I actually had enough sense to realize using the cord to backfeed a circuit was potentially a bad idea.

 

[hurk27]

Also a very good way to make sure which wire is which when dealing with old cloth cover wire that is almost imposable to distinguish between the hot and neutral, had a few shocking appliance's in a garage caused by this messup.