Spent 5 hours tracking down a zone 2 short in a panel I installed 3 years ago

Went back to a house I did in 2021 for a new keypad. Simple job right? Well something in zone 2 was showing as shorted on the 6160. Started checking connections and it took me forever to find where a wire was pinched behind a drywall anchor. I must have walked around that basement 20 times before I found it. Anybody else ever chase a ghost in their own work for way too long?

2 comments

2 Comments

grantschmidt17d ago

Man that basement walkaround hits home. I had a similar one last year where I spent almost 4 hours on a zone 4 short in a house I wired in 2019. Turns out I had a staple that must have been just a little too tight and over time the wire insulation wore through. Found it by pure luck when I was about to give up and just run a new wire. The worst part is knowing you did the work and still missing something so obvious. Makes you double check every staple after that trust me.

gonzalez.reese17d ago

Oh man @grantschmidt that's brutal. I used to roll my eyes when older electricians would go on about staples being a hidden problem, like come on how much damage can a little staple really do? But then I had a call back on a bathroom fan circuit I did in 2017, same deal - staple too tight, insulation rubbed through over the years. It was right behind a stud too so I must have missed it when I was running the wire. Took me forever to find and I felt like such an idiot. That changed my mind completely though. Now I'm that guy checking every staple twice before I hammer it in.