Locate buried electric line?

[LouNY]

I have an electric line to a post light that no longer works. There is no power - open circuit. Years ago I cut the wire when I was digging the yard and spliced it using an underground splice kit. My guess is that water got into the splice. The strange thing is that the breaker is holding. It should trip if there was a short. Anyways, I was thinking that I should inspect the splice; but how do I find it? Is there a way to trace these wires?

The OP was trying to find the wires, and find a previous splice

 

[PILOON]

My tractor absolutely needs a block heater to start most times come fall.
It was connected to a GFI circuit for a while but even snow flakes in or around a connection would trip the GFI it was so sensitive.
Needless to say that circuit no longer sports a GFI and I even have a small witness light* wired parallel to the block heater just to be sure I'm connected and heating.

LOL, I used a LED 'night lite' with the sensor taped over for continuous glow.

 

[Cord]

Cant imagine a gfi going bad with time, unless something mechanical gets stuck.

The GFCI was mounted in a exterior enclosed box. My guess is that a little moisture was getting into the box causing the device to fail. That and there was a colony of sugar ants in there as well. I don't know what the conductivity is for a sugar ant, but they can't bode well for the devices longevity. Ultimately, I felt that replacing the device would only result in another failure because the new device refused to hold. They can be a bit too sensitive to false trips.

There are some exceptions where GFCI's are not required because they're not reliable. De-icing cables and sump pumps are two specific examples that come to mind. There may be others as well.

If anybody is curious the "post light" was an over simplification of what I have. I actually have a decorative 20' concrete pole with a street light on top. In place of the HID fixture I have a motion detector controlling a 100w corn bulb.

 

[Diggin It]

If anybody is curious the "post light" was an over simplification of what I have. I actually have a decorative 20' concrete pole with a street light on top. In place of the HID fixture I have a motion detector controlling a 100w corn bulb.

How far from the house and is it a straight shot or does the existing cable go around obstructions?

 

[Cord]

It was built in stages so the line does not take the shortest run. The route looks a little like a Z.

 

[Diggin It]

It was built in stages so the line does not take the shortest run. The route looks a little like a Z.

Again, how far? How many feet?

Also does it go under anything hard, pavement, walkways, landscape bricks or timbers?

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Again, how far? How many feet?

Also does it go under anything hard, pavement, walkways, landscape bricks or timbers?

And what is the existing cable and how deep is it buried? If it's not in conduit and less than 24" it needs that GFCI.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Why witch the wire if you cannot find the fault what does that accomplish?I think the OP knew where the wire was.He was trying to find a fault in the wire.

I went back and read the OP. Reads like he wants to "trace" the wire to find the fault. He probably forgot how he ran the thing originally like I have a habit of doing. However he is getting info that may be of assistance either way. Or, this may be a semantic drill.

Ron

 

[coobie]

I went back and read the OP. Reads like he wants to "trace" the wire to find the fault. He probably forgot how he ran the thing originally like I have a habit of doing. However he is getting info that may be of assistance either way. Or, this may be a semantic drill.

Ron

I think it is a mute point at this stage.Have not seen him post since 8/28.Maybe it"s fixed.

 

[AndyMA]

Dug into this a bit deeper last night and it appears my assumption was wrong. Initially, I tried to reset a GFCI outlet that was before the post light. The GFCI refused to reset. I tried checking for power and it was dead so I assumed the line had a break because the breaker was still on. I pulled the gfci last night and found that it had 120v to it. The device was bad. I had another GFCI on the shelf so I replaced it, but it wouldn't hold. You press the reset and it would immediately trip. There must be a little voltage leak somewhere down stream. I finally just twisted the wires together bypassing the GFCI and light worked. I think I'll just put an outlet in and not bother with the hassle of a GFCI.

I'm thinking about getting one of those wire tracers for some future use. I'm somewhat hesitant because they have such mixed reviews. Sure would love to hear more about peoples experiences with them.

I've had this one since before Greenlee bought it. Works great down to about 8 feet. The plastic case has a loop in in so you can induce a signal in a wire you can't get to, By triangulating you can determine depth. We trace empty plastic conduits/pipes by putting a metal snake in them

Greenlee 51 Tracker II Cable Locator - Pipe Locators - Amazon.com