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amdx[_3_]

On 6/3/2020 5:18 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 3 Jun 2020 15:45:35 -0400,
wrote:

10 years ago I installed a post lamp in the front of my property. The
house builder left a 2" plastic conduit (maybe 100 feet) from the house
to the area where the post light was to be installed. I put a 4" square
plastic box at each end of the conduit as ground level. The house end
is no problem as it is in the asphalt driveway. At the house end, I
connected an underground "romex" to a breaker on the panel. At the
other end, I connected 2 underground "romex", one to the post light and
one to an outlet, some 25' away. Through the years, the outside box has
disappeared and I can't find it. I've tried raking up the leaf mulch.
Nope. I've also tried one of the non touch voltage testers. Nope.
I've tried a tracing unit connecting a signal to the power line and
snooping with the other end. Nope! I don't have a metal detector.
Not sure where to go from here. Any great ideas out there?

Two possible ways to find the box/wire. Easier way first.
Take a portable AM radio, tune into a station, hold the antenna so the
back of the radio faces the ground. Rotate the radio around keeping the
back facing the ground. You should find a direction where the signal
drops very low or disappears completely. Now keeping the radio in that
direction, lower it to the ground and pass it over the area where you
think the wire is. When you pass it over the wire the signal level will
pop up. (The wire in the ground re-radiates the AM radio signal and
causes it to locally come from a different direction, thus the radio
picks it up) Once you find the wire, just work your way to the box,
sliding the radio back and forth listening for the signal to come and go.
The second way, Since you have a box on the end, you might try a 1/4"
3ft iron rod. put a rounded but sharp point on it. Set up a grid where
you think the box might be. Start poking the rod into the ground at
least as deep as you think the box might be, and work your grid until
you hit the box. I have found 3/4" PVC conduit using this method, but
I'd search for the box.
If the ground is hard, I heat the end of the rod and flatten it, maybe
1/2" wide and then grind/file to an arrowhead shape. Stick the other end
into a portable drill and drill it into the ground until you find the box.
Mikek