Underground Wire Tracer

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A/A Fuel GTX

A/A Fuel GTX

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WI & AZ
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Electrician
After another service call with an open conductor in a USE -2 cable assembly, I'm entertaining the idea of investing in an underground wire tracer so I can hopefully pin point the open conductor, dig a small hole, make the repair and be on my way. In the past, I've condemned the whole run and re-trenched and pulled new wire. Now with wire prices where they are and these situations being longer and longer runs upwards of 150', I'm looking for an alternative. Has anyone had any experience with these tracers, particularly the Amprobe AT 2001? I'm currently shopping around.
 
The Amprobe AT2000 series seems to be what most people are using nowadays. I'm still using the old Dynatel tracer, and it still works fine. I don't even think they make those anymore, but there are zillions of them out there.
 
amprobe at 2005

amprobe at 2005

This is by far the best tracer I have owned over many many years here is an old post there is so much more I could say but I dont have enough time #13 04-28-2007, 03:04 AM
quogueelectric
Member Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 61

underground tracers

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I personally dont believe in wishing sticks. I have quite a few tracers and they all work a little quirky. the yellow fiberglass type that the utulity trucks used to carry a progressive that looks like an egg on a string. 2 goldack units simple to use but quirky imho. 2 rd 400 ditchwitch units and one ditch witch 950r the most expensive by far it is very almost too sensitive and I usually keep the rd400 on the truck as my bread and butter tracer very simple to use and acurate you can pick up a used one on ebay for a few hundred dollars if you are patient. the amprobe 2005 is not necessarily an underground tracer and I have not used this one outside but having used this one almost weekly I can say for sure that this is by far the best tracer I have ever used and has payed itself off over and over again. they say it can be used for simple underground residential and it can trace romex and other cables about a dozen feet in a wall. A customer called me about 6 months ago and said they experienced a near fatal shock in thier shower newly installed. I went right over and found that the grab bar had become energized. I put the tracer on it and it went right to the problem I cut a small 2inch round hole in the kitchen on the oposite side of the grab bar. When the plumber installed the grab bar he used a long screw and it pierced the plastic box in the kitchen drove itself right into a non gfi 20 amp hot wire energizing the grab bar. when the customer grabed the diverter valve he almost was electrocuted he said he couldnt let go for some time. The tracer loceted the problem within an inch and I didnt have to wreck thier new kitchen to solve the problem. Priceless.
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Labor rate 75 per hr straight labor, 100 per hr you watching, 150 per hr you helping.
 
So what I'm looking for is a fault finder opposed to a tracer? I just need something that will show me an open wire buried underground.
 
m73214 said:
Marc.....Do you find these testers reliable and worth the investment?
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Only when I've wanted to find a cable or a fault. :)

I still try to sell a new run in conduit as a first effort, then I lay out the price schedule for fault locating. You can go to the effort of finding and fixing a fault, megger the cable, and still find out your cable is pretty much trash anyhow. It's a crap-shoot, I always tell the people. If there was a place bad enough to burn off underground, there's bound to be other compromised places in the conductor's insulation that will "leak" when checked with the megger. "The next place it will burn off", is how I put it sometimes. You just don't know for sure until you repair it and megger the cable. Personally, I will not place a cable back into service that megs at less than 20 megohm. Pay me now or pay me later. People that direct buried the cable in the first place should have their toenails yanked out.
 
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mdshunk said:
People that direct buried the cable in the first place should have their toenails yanked out.
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In my area, even the POCO direct buries wire. The only exception is under a street or driveway or in very rocky soil ( rare around here ). In those areas, I've seen that underground ENT used, no couplings, just roll it out.
 
And now that several of the POCOs in this area no longer maintain the wires from the meter on, I thank them every time I go out.

When installing underground we make sure the owner knows that there is no warranty on direct buried conductors and very likely making one repair will have paid for the sched 20 raceway.
 
I have used all kinds of tracers over the years,sometime you get lucky but most of the time the place ends up looking like a bombing range,if the wire is burnt or broken the customer will have to pay for it anyhow.By the time you you find the short and dig it up and repair it you could have pulled the new wire in and moved on to the next job.Any thing underground should be T&M anyhow. But thats just my thoughts from digging over the years.
 
Ok Im gonna say it

Ok Im gonna say it

Get ready to pounce. I just in 30+ years havent seen in my experience wires that just open up underground. underground is the safest place for a wire to be. Unless mr backhoe is in the house When someone tells me that a wire broke underground without some excavation being done in the vicinity I just dont believe it. Given the exception when a contractor hits your cable and makes a shoddy repair like a red wirenut with hich carbon springsteel coils in it which will rust out in a few years depending on the soil conditions wires just dont jump apart unless acted upon by some other force. There is no mystery to ohms law usually a little investigational work goes a long way. Not all the actors are in Hollywood and you can take that one to the bank!!
 
quogueelectric said:
Get ready to pounce. I just in 30+ years havent seen in my experience wires that just open up underground. underground is the safest place for a wire to be. Unless mr backhoe is in the house When someone tells me that a wire broke underground without some excavation being done in the vicinity I just dont believe it. Given the exception when a contractor hits your cable and makes a shoddy repair like a red wirenut with hich carbon springsteel coils in it which will rust out in a few years depending on the soil conditions wires just dont jump apart unless acted upon by some other force. There is no mystery to ohms law usually a little investigational work goes a long way. Not all the actors are in Hollywood and you can take that one to the bank!!
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Always some sort of reason for the wire to open up. Tree planting, tree staking, fence posts, gardening. Gophers, mice, a rock in the trench. Ask that gopher where he nibbled last. It may have been several years since he had a taste, but he might remember. Track down the plumber that installed the new drain field 15 years ago. Then there are the more difficult ones. Water trapped in the plastic conduit has a tendency to freeze, and causes a lot of pressure when it does. Thermal expansion and contraction of the earth. Heavy equipment that has traveled over that wire for thirty years. Faulty manufacturing process. Poor installation practice. Previous repairs.

Hints:
Use a heat shrink or the new gel $$ filled wraps over your splice. Bruising or nicking the insulation while digging requires that area to be treated. We use Scotchkote and good tape. Several layers. The steamboat type splice with an integral setscrew butt splice is job security. You will be back. Just tape works better and lasts longer from my experience. Use compression splices.
 
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