"terry" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Nov 5, 10:56 pm, "Bob F" wrote:
My father has a underground wire to a panel in his garage from his house. One
lead of the 220V service has apparently "opened" somewhere underground. It is
probably about 100 feet long.

I'd love to trace the break so I can dig it up next time I visit. We suspect
that a splice was made in the wire someplace that may have failed.

Can anyone offer any good ideas for a way to locate the break without digging
the whole thing up? Maybe something using a transister radio as a locator and
a
relay buzzer or something as a signal source.

Bob

Before digging I'd try something along these lines.
Disconnect the 3 wires (Assuming it is North America? two hot and one
neutral???) wires at both ends. Leave any ground connected.
Using a multimeter that has a 'capacitance measurement' measure the
capacitance of each wire with reference to the ground wire from both
ends.
If you find that say wire A has 0.2 microfarads and wire B has 0.1
micro farads and is roughly the same ratio from both ends B is broken
somewhere around the middle. Etc. We have an electricians quality DMM
(Digital multimeter) that measures capacity. You may be able to
borrow?
Have never done this, but many years ago did so using a 'telephone
Test board' meter and DC supply reversing switch keys, to find open
circuits in telephone lines. Wet leakage to ground and stray currents
often made it difficult though.
Any help?

I had a meter that measured capacitance, but it died. But this is definately
worth checking out. Thanks.

Bob