What Is an Irrigation Wire Ground Fault?

What a ground fault means

A ground fault occurs when an underground conductor has an unintended electrical path to earth. Moisture, damaged insulation, deteriorated splices, landscaping work, and physical damage can all contribute.

The fault may be partial rather than a clean short, which is one reason these problems can be difficult to diagnose visually.

Common symptoms

• A sprinkler zone stops operating correctly.
• Resistance readings suggest leakage to ground.
• The control wire appears intact at accessible points.
• The fault location is somewhere underground with no visible surface damage.

How A-frame fault locating helps

With the proper transmitter setup and earth-contact frame, a locator can follow the fault current through the soil and progressively narrow the fault area.

Locating before replacement

A full line replacement may sometimes be the right repair. But when the damage can be isolated to a specific location, a contractor may be able to make a localized repair with far less disruption.

RO Locating focuses on identifying the location of the underground problem; repair decisions can then be made with better information.

RO Locating does not replace Sunshine 811. Contact 811 before excavation where required. Locating results depend on site conditions, access, conductor condition, and whether a usable signal can be applied.