Tracing Burried Romex in Yard
 

The previous owner of my home burried some Romex to power up a pool pump and
he ran a branch to a receptacle for a non existent sheded off this to
provide a receptacle to a non existent shed.

I like to do some trenching in my yard to run conduit to a workshop that I
built but want to avoid the existing romex.

Is there a way/device to help me find the burried romex. I tried a metal
detector and after adjusting the sensitivity it still picks up a lot of
stray stuff in my yard and does not give me a clear picture of the location
of the romex.

Thanks,

Shouldnt use romex in the first place, remove it by finding where it
comes out and start pulling it up. Easy to find them

If it's hot maybe one of those wire-finding things could locate it.
But that is a dumb way to run power, it's sposed to be in a PVC pipe I
think. I would not only rip it out but also check the previous owner's
other wiring "handiwork".

Ray wrote:
The previous owner of my home burried some Romex to power up a pool
pump and
he ran a branch to a receptacle for a non existent sheded off this
to
provide a receptacle to a non existent shed.

I like to do some trenching in my yard to run conduit to a workshop
that I
built but want to avoid the existing romex.

Is there a way/device to help me find the burried romex. I tried a
metal
detector and after adjusting the sensitivity it still picks up a lot
of
stray stuff in my yard and does not give me a clear picture of the
location
of the romex.

Thanks


Andy writes:

I haven't tried this, but I've heard of others who tried it....

Into the receptacle, plug a hair dryer or electric drill and have your
wife or somebody run it..... this puts a LOT of static on the power
line.

Use a little transistor radio to probe around in the vicinity of where
you think the underground feeded might be..... The feeder will be
radiating a lot of interference, and you might be able to track it
this way......

If you have success, please let us know about it on this group. Thanks.

Andy

A similar method that has been used is to turn off power to the
circuit, strip the wires on the load end, and twist them tightly
together, attach a wire nut, and then wrap the wire nut with electrical
tape.

In the circuit panel, take the wires feeding the circuit and remove
them from the circuit breaker and reattach directly to the incoming
mains power.

I never said I used it, you big silly. I simply said it _had_ been
used.

Pay more attention.

In article .com, "Matt" wrote:
A similar method that has been used is to turn off power to the
circuit, strip the wires on the load end, and twist them tightly
together, attach a wire nut, and then wrap the wire nut with electrical
tape.

In the circuit panel, take the wires feeding the circuit and remove
them from the circuit breaker and reattach directly to the incoming
mains power.

Thus creating a dead short across the incoming mains, and one HELL of an arc.
What a brilliant idea -- NOT.

You have no business offering electrical advice to anyone.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

"A similar method" ... to what?

Matt wrote:
A similar method that has been used is to turn off power to the
circuit, strip the wires on the load end, and twist them tightly
together, attach a wire nut, and then wrap the wire nut with electrical
tape.

In the circuit panel, take the wires feeding the circuit and remove
them from the circuit breaker and reattach directly to the incoming
mains power.

Thanks Doug.

Cause, I mean, I was serious and everything, and I really expected
someone to actually believe it.

Thanks for being the usenet safety marshall today, you are doing your
job well.

Put a capital G on that geek, will ya?

Putz.

"Matt" wrote in message
oups.com...
A similar method that has been used is to turn off power to the
circuit, strip the wires on the load end, and twist them tightly
together, attach a wire nut, and then wrap the wire nut with electrical
tape.

In the circuit panel, take the wires feeding the circuit and remove
them from the circuit breaker and reattach directly to the incoming
mains power.


I don't even see a remote possibility of that procedure showing you anything
useful. It's been used to turn the power off to the circuit? By shorting out
the mains?

I say the redneck method for turning a breaker off for a particular circuit
without having to know which breaker it's on is to short out the hot to the
outlet box with a screwdriver. You already know which circuit(s) the main
provide for.

Well, I believe the theory is that the romex will heat up like a
toaster element, burning a black streak from its origin to it's
destination.

Sort of like on "The Money Pit" when Tom Hanks turns on the kitchen
lights.

And careful with that redneck advice, Olaf.

You'll probably get a warning from the safety marshall.

Matt:

I like a joke as much as the next person but this group is a mix of seasoned
individuals with a wealth off knowlege on may subjects and other who don't
know much about anything. Going on a public forum like this and even
indirectly hinting that shorting out the wiring at the main box might help
a person trace the path of a wire is just plain stupid. If just one person
out of the possible thousands who lurk on this site follows your advise you
could be responsible for someone killing themselves.

I look forward to your response

Jimbo


"Matt" wrote in message
oups.com...
Well, I believe the theory is that the romex will heat up like a
toaster element, burning a black streak from its origin to it's
destination.

Sort of like on "The Money Pit" when Tom Hanks turns on the kitchen
lights.

And careful with that redneck advice, Olaf.

You'll probably get a warning from the safety marshall.

I don't even see a remote possibility of that procedure showing you anything
useful. It's been used to turn the power off to the circuit? By shorting out
the mains?

Well, if you can get to the other side of the transformer,
your heirs will be able to find where the wire was by
hunting for the little furrow left when said wire exploded..

A $35 tool like the following will do the trick
http://tinyurl.com/agr9z

Ray wrote:

The previous owner of my home burried some Romex to power up a pool pump and
he ran a branch to a receptacle for a non existent sheded off this to
provide a receptacle to a non existent shed.

I like to do some trenching in my yard to run conduit to a workshop that I
built but want to avoid the existing romex.

Is there a way/device to help me find the burried romex. I tried a metal
detector and after adjusting the sensitivity it still picks up a lot of
stray stuff in my yard and does not give me a clear picture of the location
of the romex.

Thanks,

Jimbo -

If someone goes out to usenet and follows advice that gets them killed,
then they shouldn't have been messing with it in the first place.

Usenet is not a qualified, guaranteed safe source of information FOR
ANYTHING, and I don't recall getting the memo that said if you follow
advice given here, everything will turn out just dandy.

I'm also very tired of the line "you could be responsible for someone's
death". If that is true, then the exact opposite is also true - people
giving reliable instuctions on how to do something, and someone follows
it and dies.

By that logic, this group should not exist at all - it's a hazard and
kills people!

Bottom line is - if you don't know what you are doing, and "it"
involves fuel, electricity, powerful springs (garage doors), or
anything else that holds the potential to kill you (a clothes dryer, a
stove, a microwave) ... then don't **** with it. Call someone who knows
what they are doing.

If a person isn't smart enough to know their own limitations and
capabilities, a usenet forum isn't going to change a damn thing.

Your response in nothing less and nothing more than I expected.

I have been using usenet for years in my hobby of restoring old cars and in
my sons specialty TIG welding business. Nobody can have all the right
answer to every problem and I have always found most usenet posters to be
very genuine and willing to help others through a difficult situation. The
number of top quality professionals willing to share their knowledge is
amazing to say the least. However I guess it should be expected that their
will always be people like you looking for an opportunity to mess with
peoples heads.

Have a great day

Jimbo
"Matt" wrote in message
oups.com...
Jimbo -

If someone goes out to usenet and follows advice that gets them killed,
then they shouldn't have been messing with it in the first place.

Usenet is not a qualified, guaranteed safe source of information FOR
ANYTHING, and I don't recall getting the memo that said if you follow
advice given here, everything will turn out just dandy.

I'm also very tired of the line "you could be responsible for someone's
death". If that is true, then the exact opposite is also true - people
giving reliable instuctions on how to do something, and someone follows
it and dies.

By that logic, this group should not exist at all - it's a hazard and
kills people!

Bottom line is - if you don't know what you are doing, and "it"
involves fuel, electricity, powerful springs (garage doors), or
anything else that holds the potential to kill you (a clothes dryer, a
stove, a microwave) ... then don't **** with it. Call someone who knows
what they are doing.

If a person isn't smart enough to know their own limitations and
capabilities, a usenet forum isn't going to change a damn thing.

I have stumps in my yard smarter than you.

Yes, I've heard trees stumps are all the rage in mobile home parks.

I'm sure you have quite the collection.

Your response in nothing less and nothing more than I expected.

I have been using usenet for years in my hobby of restoring old cars
and in
my sons specialty TIG welding business. Nobody can have all the
right
answer to every problem and I have always found most usenet posters to
be
very genuine and willing to help others through a difficult situation.
The
number of top quality professionals willing to share their knowledge
is
amazing to say the least. However I guess it should be expected that
their
will always be people like you looking for an opportunity to mess with

peoples heads.

Have a great day

Jimbo

That's an awful lot of words, Jimbo.

You could have just said "Ya know - your right".

Oh wait. I guess you did.

Have a fantasticaly wonderful day!

Matt

On 4-May-2005, "Matt" wrote:

If someone goes out to usenet and follows advice that gets them killed,
then they shouldn't have been messing with it in the first place.

Usenet is not a qualified, guaranteed safe source of information FOR
ANYTHING, and I don't recall getting the memo that said if you follow
advice given here, everything will turn out just dandy.

No doubt all true. However...
Speaking hypothetically suppose some idiot did follow your advice and
shorted the mains and for arguments sake let's say they lived. Then let's
say they sued you for giving them this advice to begin with. It's not
likely they really have a case but they do have the right to sue I believe
(I'm not sure, not an attorney).

So ok, you make your above point and you do probably win the case.

Do you think that the judge or civil adjutant or whoever is just going to
say very good carry on? I think that you would most like have a discussion
with someone in authority about the wisdom of giving life threatening advice
in any forum.

If the person following your advice died I think that while you still might
legally prevail that discussion would be a tad more serious. And some
prosecutor somewhere might make it their business to hit you with some
charge and they might just make it stick.

Not a good idea giving out life threatening advice even if it's obviously a
joke. Just too dangerous.
ml

In article . com, "Matt" wrote:
Thanks Doug.

Cause, I mean, I was serious and everything, and I really expected
someone to actually believe it.

So you said something stupid, got called out, and now you're pretending it was
a joke all along - which makes you look even sillier than you already did.

On the off chance that this really *was* a joke -- that's even more stupid.
Many people who post here know even less about electrical safety than you do,
and do *not* have the technical competence to distinguish between good advice,
dangerously stupid advice, and dumb jokes.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

wrote:
On 4-May-2005, "Matt" wrote:

If someone goes out to usenet and follows advice that gets them
killed,
then they shouldn't have been messing with it in the first place.

Usenet is not a qualified, guaranteed safe source of information
FOR
ANYTHING, and I don't recall getting the memo that said if you
follow
advice given here, everything will turn out just dandy.

No doubt all true. However...
Speaking hypothetically suppose some idiot did follow your advice and
shorted the mains and for arguments sake let's say they lived. Then
let's
say they sued you for giving them this advice to begin with. It's
not
likely they really have a case but they do have the right to sue I
believe
(I'm not sure, not an attorney).

So ok, you make your above point and you do probably win the case.

Do you think that the judge or civil adjutant or whoever is just
going to
say very good carry on? I think that you would most like have a
discussion
with someone in authority about the wisdom of giving life threatening
advice
in any forum.

If the person following your advice died I think that while you still
might
legally prevail that discussion would be a tad more serious. And
some
prosecutor somewhere might make it their business to hit you with
some
charge and they might just make it stick.

Not a good idea giving out life threatening advice even if it's
obviously a
joke. Just too dangerous.
ml


Agreed.

But what about the other point I made?

Isn't someone giving technically accurate advice just as likely to end
up at the end of a lawsuit in the event someone is killed/injured
following it?

If not, why not?

On the off chance that this really *was* a joke -- that's even more
stupid.
Many people who post here know even less about electrical safety than
you do,
and do *not* have the technical competence to distinguish between good
advice,
dangerously stupid advice, and dumb jokes.

And yet you continue to give them advice on performing electrical
procedures. Moreso, you have elevated yourself to the poistion of "mr.
electrical know it all" in this forum, usually chiding and deriding
others who have the audacity to also offer advice, and then getting
into stupid, pointless arguments about therotical details the OP never
cared about in the first place, until you are finally satisfied you
have gotten in the last word.

Put a sock in it Doug, put a G in that alphaGeek, and do try to get out
more often.

If you can't tell that my original post wasn't serious - you have been
catching WAY too many CRT rays.

In article .com, "Matt" wrote:
On the off chance that this really *was* a joke -- that's even more
stupid.
Many people who post here know even less about electrical safety than
you do,
and do *not* have the technical competence to distinguish between good
advice,
dangerously stupid advice, and dumb jokes.

And yet you continue to give them advice on performing electrical
procedures.

To some, yes. Others, who appear to have no clue (perhaps you'll recognize
yourself here), I advise to hire a pro.

Moreso, you have elevated yourself to the poistion of "mr.
electrical know it all" in this forum, usually chiding and deriding
others who have the audacity to also offer advice,

I have no sympathy for those idiots who, lacking any understanding of
electrical safety, offer useless or dangerous advice to those who are in no
position to tell it apart from good advice. Perhaps you'll recognize yourself
again, as either the former or the latter, probably both.

Those who give safe and correct advice never receive a reproof from me.

Your confusion is understandable, though, being as you are yourself unable to
tell the difference between good and bad advice.

If you can't tell that my original post wasn't serious - you have been
catching WAY too many CRT rays.

Whether it was serious or not isn't really the point - electricity is not a
joking matter. What you proposed could be FATAL to someone who thought that
was actual serious advice.

I don't really believe you were joking, anyway. I think you haven't a clue,
you posted something stupid, and now that you've been called out on it, you're
trying to pretend it was all a joke. And if you *were* joking... that's REALLY
stupid.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Those who give safe and correct advice never receive a reproof from
me.

Yeah.... sure.

Get over yourself Doug.

You really aren't that important.

I'm no lawyer but my son is an insurance adjuster and he see courts pay out
judgements on some very strange cases and I don't think it's beyond the
realm of possibilities that and injured or dead persons insurance company
would try and sue you under the subrogation clause of the victims health or
life policy. Now wouldn't that be something we could all laugh about, an
even bigger laugh would be your legal bill.

Jimbo


"Matt" wrote in message
oups.com...

wrote:
On 4-May-2005, "Matt" wrote:

If someone goes out to usenet and follows advice that gets them
killed,
then they shouldn't have been messing with it in the first place.

Usenet is not a qualified, guaranteed safe source of information
FOR
ANYTHING, and I don't recall getting the memo that said if you
follow
advice given here, everything will turn out just dandy.

No doubt all true. However...
Speaking hypothetically suppose some idiot did follow your advice and
shorted the mains and for arguments sake let's say they lived. Then
let's
say they sued you for giving them this advice to begin with. It's
not
likely they really have a case but they do have the right to sue I
believe
(I'm not sure, not an attorney).

So ok, you make your above point and you do probably win the case.

Do you think that the judge or civil adjutant or whoever is just
going to
say very good carry on? I think that you would most like have a
discussion
with someone in authority about the wisdom of giving life threatening
advice
in any forum.

If the person following your advice died I think that while you still
might
legally prevail that discussion would be a tad more serious. And
some
prosecutor somewhere might make it their business to hit you with
some
charge and they might just make it stick.

Not a good idea giving out life threatening advice even if it's
obviously a
joke. Just too dangerous.
ml


Agreed.

But what about the other point I made?

Isn't someone giving technically accurate advice just as likely to end
up at the end of a lawsuit in the event someone is killed/injured
following it?

If not, why not?

To some, yes. Others, who appear to have no clue (perhaps you'll
recognize
yourself here), I advise to hire a pro.

I forgot to ask - where did you get that device that lets you
accurately judge the capability of the person asking the question, or
the actuality of the situation they are attempting to descibe? Is this
some sort of new internet device?

Is it possible that the advice you give could be passed from a friend
to a friend via telephone to one who say, couldn't ask the question
themselves as they have no computer?

How do you judge their ability?

Oh, what about the people who are just reading the thread, have no
ability to perform electrical work, but inspired by you - decide they
can handle it?

Face it Doug. Giving advice here - posting ANYTHING here, accurate or
not, can lead to the death or injury of others. There is NO WAY to know
how the information you provide will be used, or whose hands it will
wind u pin.

If you are really concerned about the safety of others, then you will
either ALWAYS tell people to use a pro - OR - post nothing at all,
therefore causing the person to call a professional.

There is no difference between good, bad or joking advice here.

It's all just information to be used or ignored by those who seek it,
whether they are qualified or not to actually use it.

Jimbo,

Can't you just go away?

Thanks
Matt

It's obvious to me a least that your not getting much support for your
twisted way of thinking. I think a lot of respondence are posting more out
of the concern that someone out there might actually think you know what
your talking about. Your obviously an intelligent person but that doesn't
mean your worth listening.

I think you have done more than I have to help me make my point, so I'll let
you play with someone else.

Jimbo



"Matt" wrote in message
oups.com...
Jimbo,

Can't you just go away?

Thanks
Matt

In article .com, "Matt" wrote:
To some, yes. Others, who appear to have no clue (perhaps you'll
recognize
yourself here), I advise to hire a pro.

I forgot to ask - where did you get that device that lets you
accurately judge the capability of the person asking the question, or
the actuality of the situation they are attempting to descibe? Is this
some sort of new internet device?

To some extent, it can be inferred from the questions the poster asks. For
example, from your questions, I'm able to infer that you're an argumentative
horse's ass.

Face it Doug. Giving advice here - posting ANYTHING here, accurate or
not, can lead to the death or injury of others. There is NO WAY to know
how the information you provide will be used, or whose hands it will
wind u pin.

That's exactly the point I've been trying to pound into your skull, Matt. I'm
glad it finally got through to you.

If you are really concerned about the safety of others, then you will
either ALWAYS tell people to use a pro - OR - post nothing at all,
therefore causing the person to call a professional.

There is no difference between good, bad or joking advice here.

Just proves what I said before - you can't tell the difference.


--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Whatever you say Jimbo.

It's obvious that you are more concerned with getting the last word in
then you are about actually discussing the validity of a topic - which
is good - because as you said: YOU ARE NO LAWYER.

You ain't no Jack Kennedy, either.

****, you don't even match up to the capabilities of rain man.

I think you have done more than I have to help me make my point, so
I'll let
you play with someone else.

I think you are right. So I'll let you go back to playing with
yourself.

And for god's sake PLEASE put me in your killfile.

Thank you.
Matt

According to Phil Munro :
"A similar method" ... to what?

Chernobyl I think.

Theoretically, it _might_ work. Just look for the trench the explosion
dug.

Mind you, you won't be able to, because the explosion in the main
blinded you.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

According to Matt :
You could have just said "Ya know - your right".

But that's not what he said, now is it?.

I suggest you read it again.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

Bennett Price writes:
A $35 tool like the following will do the trick
http://tinyurl.com/agr9z


I would seriously doubt that such tool would be any help in tracing
(properly) *buried* wire as per the OP. Heck, these tools have enough
trouble going through 3/4" of sheetrock.

According to Matt :
Isn't someone giving technically accurate advice just as likely to end
up at the end of a lawsuit in the event someone is killed/injured
following it?

If not, why not?

Say, you're on the wrong end of a manslaughter charge. Which argument
do you think would work better:

a) The advice I gave was harmless, at worst he'd look silly crawling
around his yard with a transistor radio glued to his ear.

b) I _knew_ my advice was hazardous, and would quite likely result in
property damage, injury or death. Or all three.

Think carefully.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

According to Ray :
The previous owner of my home burried some Romex to power up a pool pump and
he ran a branch to a receptacle for a non existent sheded off this to
provide a receptacle to a non existent shed.

I like to do some trenching in my yard to run conduit to a workshop that I
built but want to avoid the existing romex.

Is there a way/device to help me find the burried romex. I tried a metal
detector and after adjusting the sensitivity it still picks up a lot of
stray stuff in my yard and does not give me a clear picture of the location
of the romex.

Some of the "buzzer" suggestions _might_ work, but don't count on it.

[In case it isn't obvious, futzing with the main like that other
stupid suggestion can kill you.]

Call your local power company. If that line is delivering power to
something, they can probably detect it with their equipment. Despite
it not being their main feed, they _may_ be willing to search for it.
Especially if you need them to find your main feed anyway.

[Recently, I did just that. I needed the mains found before some
garden work, and when the guy was onsite, I asked him if he'd take
a quick scan for the buried feeder to the garage which was only a
few feet away and I needed to avoid it too. He spent a few seconds
searching for part of it, found it, I thanked him, and that was that.]
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

"Matt" wrote in message
oups.com...
Well, I believe the theory is that the romex will heat up like a
toaster element, burning a black streak from its origin to it's
destination.

Well then, I stand corrected. I guess it would probably reveal the path of
the wire. :-D


Sort of like on "The Money Pit" when Tom Hanks turns on the kitchen
lights.

And careful with that redneck advice, Olaf.

You'll probably get a warning from the safety marshall.


Thanks for the heads up. G

Oops. I meant, the better answer is: A.

Damn!

Now we are up to manslaughter. That was quick!

Obviously, the bettter answer is B.

Now, counsel, if you would: please explain to me how I got charged with
manslaughter.

Ray posted for all of us...

The previous owner of my home burried some Romex to power up a pool pump and
he ran a branch to a receptacle for a non existent sheded off this to
provide a receptacle to a non existent shed.

I like to do some trenching in my yard to run conduit to a workshop that I
built but want to avoid the existing romex.

Is there a way/device to help me find the burried romex. I tried a metal
detector and after adjusting the sensitivity it still picks up a lot of
stray stuff in my yard and does not give me a clear picture of the location
of the romex.

Thanks,



Use your areas "one call" system.
--

Tekkie