OK so I have the fault finding tool sent to me and it located the break, 243 ft on the yellow lead and 88 ft on the white lead. I found the break in the line and fixed it. However the fault meter is still giving me the same reading. Is it possible I have two breaks within the same foot of the first break? A little more background, to find theis original break I pulled up a tile that was close to the break and cut the wire to take a measurement and it read 243 and 83 I also cut a wire on the other side of the break while locating the original problem and this reading was 150 instead of 243. I corrected both of these secondary cuts to get me back to 243/88 and then connected the original break I found yet I am still getting a read of 243/88! Hope this makes sense. Chris

Hello again Chris,

The first thing I’d suggest is to ensure that you’re looking in the right place. Are you certain the start and end leads of the heating mat weren’t reversed? If this was the case, then your 88ft will be from the other end of the heating mat. The fact that you cut the wire at 88ft and then got a reading from that point of 150ft (88 + 150 = 238 which is extremely close to 243 and is within the tolerance of this type of tester), it would suggest to me that you need to measure the 88ft from the other end of the mat.

It is possible that there is still a problem in the same vicinity of the first cut, or there is a small strand of the sheathing (ground) wire that is still creating a short circuit.

What are the readings on a regular Ohmmeter? Does it still show an open circuit or is there a short circuit now.

Give me a call on the phone if you need more help.

HI Gareth, I definitely know that the break is somewhere under my shower unit and it consists of about 5-6 feet of heating cable. So I am proposing that I connect the two ends that are registering back to the thermostat and cut that broken loop out. I would like to confirm that this is OK and then ask if I can use the extra lead wire that I cut, to make the circumvented loop? Or else I am going to need some more of the heater cable itself. I do notice that the lead cable inner core is a little heavier gauge and not copper like the cable in the mesh part of the floor. The loop I am going to create will actually go through my subfloor and completely under the floor itself. Luckily the room below is a drop ceiling which makes access very easy. Let me know if this will fly and you will soon be rid of me and have your fault tool back! Thanks,Chris

Hi Chris,

As discussed, the method you describe will work very well in your situation.

Keep in touch.

Gareth

Well Gareth,

Thanks for your guidance, the work around loop seemed to work as I am getting good readings with the Ohm Meter. Just letting the cement and grout dry on the replaced tiles and we will get the thermostat hooked up later this week. Thanks for all your help and I will be sending that fault meter tool back tomorrow. Hopefully this is the last time we need to speak! And to all else reading this, USE THE SAFETY SIREN WHEN TILING!!! Lessons learned, Chris

Excellent!

Thanks Chris.