ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Help Finding Fault

Looking for suggestions: How to quickly locate a short and cause minimal damage in the process.

A mobile home energizes its metal roof whenever a certain circuit is powered up. The circuit continues to operate. There has been extensive “remodeling” performed over the years by unqualified parties. Note this is information provided to me by the customer; I have not yet surveyed the site.

The last time I was faced with this, I nearly destroyed the trailer before finding the problem. A screw holding down bath tub trim had pierced the cable.

I am open to suggestions as to both methods and equipment.

Mark all the outlets on that circuit and see which ones will de-energize the frame when disconnected. Then try to analyze how the wire is run and isolate it to one span. You could also isolate it with a meter, looking for the ground fault.
The trick is to keep cutting the circuit down until you get to one cable. It is time consuming tho unless you get lucky early.