Spent 4 hours chasing a short that was right in front of me...

I was wiring up a new panel in a remodel over on Elm Street and had a breaker that kept tripping no matter what I did. Checked every junction box, tested all the home runs with my meter, even pulled out the old wire fish to trace the whole circuit again. Turned out the drywallers had put a screw right through the Romex behind a finished wall, took me an extra 3 hours to find it. Has anyone else had a simple fix turn into a whole day ordeal like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

gibson.robert29d ago

Had a buddy that tore apart his whole garage looking for a water leak, like pulling down drywall and everything. Turned out it was just the toilet seal in the half bath that he replaced six months ago. Seven hours of work cause a five dollar part started weeping. Makes you want to just walk off the job sometimes.

amy_sanchez29d ago

@gibson.robert I gotta push back on this one a little. Your buddy tore down drywall without checking the simplest thing first. That's not the toilet seal's fault, that's him skipping the easy checks. Most leaks can be found with a $10 moisture meter and 20 minutes of patience, but people want to jump straight to demolition. If he'd just dried the floor around that toilet and watched where the water pooled, he'd have saved six and a half hours. The part didn't fail, his process did. Sometimes you gotta slow down to speed up, you know?