Electrical – Finding dead electric wire underground

electricalwiring

I have an abandoned fountain next to my house. A while back, the previous owner told me there is a dead wire underground that used to power the pump. The pump was removed and the wire buried.

I'm thinking about restoring the fountain. I dug around the fountain 2 ft deep and don't see anything. I know it could be buried deeper 3-4 ft. My questions are: Is it possible to find a dead wire using some sort of fancy equipment? Do professional electricians have the means to do it?

I saw this on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2NeGA7Q7Mo But I'm not sure if something like this works for dead wires (not live big cables).

Please advice

Best Answer

If I were you, I'd just plan to make a new trench and run new wire. Here's why

  1. It sounds like a previous DIY project, which likely means it wasn't done correctly. Common problems with this are they used NM wire instead of UF, and they didn't bury it deep enough (needs to be at least 12" by code)
  2. The previous wire might not work. If they used NM, there's a good chance it's got some damage by now. Even if not, the ends might be damaged after being buried exposed, and trying to splice in an outdoor setting is a pain. Just avoid the problems and run new wire.
  3. Add conduit. It's cheap, it better protects the wire, and it's neater.
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