6 Min. Read

How to Find a Broken Wire in a Heated Floor


Testing damaged floor heating system

Things break. It’s a fact of life and like anything else, there can be problems with radiant floor heating. A tile setter unknowingly severs a wire with his trowel and continues tiling. A grout knife makes its way through a heating cable. A previous repair from years ago up and fails. A hole is drilled through the floor for a new doorstop, severing the heating wire somewhere between the terminal end cap of the cable and the circuit breaker. 

These are all things that can result in your electric floor heating not working. All is not lost, however, because underfloor heating repair and home wiring is typically a pretty straightforward process. The tricky part is finding the break. Luckily, WarmlyYours has the tools for the job. 

Now, if you're wondering "How do I find a broken electrical wire underground?" the first step is get in touch with us. By contacting a WarmlyYours account representative or a member of our technical support team, you can rent our Troubleshooting Kit (TSK), which consists of a dielectric strength tester (Hipot), a variable AC transformer (Variac), a multimeter (which can be used as a circuit tester or voltage tester), a time delay reflectometer (Shortstop) and of course, some splice kits to repair the break once it has been found. A Thermal Imaging Camera (TIC), which is rented separately, will also be needed to help us “see” through the tile.

Troubleshooting Kit plus Thermal Camera Labeled

The process for electric underfloor heating fault finding is fairly straightforward. Always start with getting the Ohms readings from the floor circuit. If the readings are open or infinite from one core wire to the other core wire, you have a break. If you have Ohms readings between either core wire and the ground sheathing, you have a short circuit. It is possible to have both a break and a short on the same electrical circuit. If the ohms confirm a break, the Hipot will be the tool you will need. If the readings confirm a short (regardless if there is a break or not), you can use the Variac.

The shortstop may come in handy in helping to narrow down an area where the break or short has occurred. This device simply measures the length of wire to where the damage to the wire is, and reports back in length of feet of wire. For example, if you’re testing a project that used TempZone Flex Rolls and the shortstop gives you a reading of 40 feet, we’ll know the damage will be in the first 5 or 6 feet of the heating mat. Knowing this will help to focus our efforts in locating the damage when we work with the Hipot.

But before we get into the processes themselves, here are some tips that apply to both. It helps to have the room as cool and as dark as possible so we can more readily see the heated cable through the tile with the TIC. I usually bring some black garbage bags to put over any windows in the room, if there are no blinds or shades. This will help limit the effects of sunlight on the floor. In fact, all lights should be shut off, especially overhead incandescent lighting as it tends to leave a heat signature of its own.

The Hipot Process

Important: Only a licensed, qualified electrician should carry out with this process.

This process involves sending between 400 to 600 volts through the core wire with the intention of “jumping” the current across to the ground shield of the flooring cable, essentially duplicating the behavior of a sparkplug. Care must be taken with this process because of the potential for electric shock.

Once we’re able to jump the current across these two components of the wire, we repeat the process sending the voltage across every 2 seconds at 2 second bursts. This is tedious work. I usually use a stopwatch or set a timer on my cellphone and try to get into a rhythm—2 seconds on, 2 seconds off, while tapping the wire with the probe in one hand and holding in the reset plunger with the other. I do this for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes of charging the wire, grab the TIC and scan the floor in search of the hot spot created by the Hipot.

The heat signature will usually be a dime-sized orange dot, only a few degrees warmer than the rest of the floor. If there is no signature present, take Ohms readings again. Sometimes this charging of the wire will cause the core wire to fuse with the ground shield, creating a short circuit. If we have core to ground readings at this point with the ohmmeter we can move on to the Variac process (explained below), if not, charge the wire for another ten minutes. Remember,: every 2 seconds, for 2 seconds, for 10 minutes. Repeat as necessary and take Ohms readings after each cycle. You might be tempted to charge the wire constantly in hopes of speeding up the process. Don’t. Operating the Hipot in this manner can seriously damage the equipment. That could be costly and delay your efforts.

The Variac Process

When compared to the Hipot process, the Variac process is a walk in the park. The risk of electric shock is minimized, as we’re now dealing with low voltage. In the kit, there will be an extension wire with a small portion of exposed wire. This cord is plugged into the Variac, and the loose end is connected to the core wire and ground shield that register an Ohms value or short circuit.

Thermal Image Illustration

A short circuit is simply a point in the circuit where the core wire is coming into contact with the ground shield. Since this ground shield has a lower resistance, any voltage it encounters will be directed away from the circuit and safely to the house ground. Electricity seeks the path of least resistance and we’re now going to use this to our advantage with the Variac.

With the Variac and extension cord hooked to the core and ground shield, locate the multimeter and set it to read amperage. Place the clamp around the exposed section of wire on the extension cord. With the dial at zero, turn on the Variac and slowly turn the dial up. Try not to exceed 10% of the circuit’s rated voltage (12 volts for 120 volt heating elements and 24 volts for any 240 volt circuit). The multimeter should start to register an amp draw. Amperage should be in the 1.5 to 2 amps range. Make sure this amperage draw is constant. If the amperage goes to zero, the short circuit has been broken and you’ll have to revisit the Hipot process. Try not to put more voltage and a higher amp draw through this circuit either, as that risks breaking the short circuit. Let the system “cook” at 1.5 to 2 amps for about 10 minutes. Get the TIC ready and start scanning the floor. We should start to be able to see the heated wire through the tile at this point. It will look like an orange line in a serpentine pattern weaving back and forth across the floor. Where the orange line stops is where the core wire and ground shield are and you have the found the short.

Now all that’s left to do is break the tile and start chipping away the pieces. Take a hammer to the tile center and use a dull screwdriver to begin prying the pieces. Go slowly and carefully, avoid using any sharp tools as we don’t want to further damage the heating system we’ve worked so hard to try and fix. Then, after you've exposed the damaged wire, you can use a splice kit to repair it (do not use electrical tape). Once that's done and all of your readings come back clear, you can replace the removed tile. 

Repairing floor heating cable

To speak with a WarmlyYours account representative about renting our troubleshooting kit, use our contact us page and if at any point you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact our technical support team at 1-800-875-5285.



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Comments

Hi. V. nice and informative post. Been doing sales and installations of radiant electric floor heating for 15 years now. And troubleshooting... Two additional steps will help a lot in debugging a bad situation of this kind: 1. Are there any pictures of a layout BEFORE floor was covered? This could be a tremendous help as it could show where the heating wire is in relation to now installed stuff like toilets, door saddles, cabinets which all were not there when the floor heating was installed. 2. 'Delicate detective work', like investigating what could have happen and when. Asking people working there is usually best - especially BEFORE everyone is gone.. E.g. was the floor working for some time and now it does not or it never worked? Is the voltage correct? (240V to 120V mat and it worked for few weeks or few moths means that it is likely beyond repair.) If for instance tile-guy helper cleaned the spaces in between tiles with utility knife before grouting it maybe cut in more than one spot. Are there any decorative inserts (like mosaics) which were put in into the floor using a grinder or other power tools? Etc. Sincerely, Mirek, NJ (908)370-9118

WarmlyYours Responds...

Thank you so much for your comment, Mirek. And you're absolutely right about both items that you mentioned. It's always best to have as much information as possible, so being able to communicate with the installers (if available) is a treasure trove of information. And having a "before" picture that shows the layout of the heating elements before they were covered certainly helps. One of the great things about purchasing a system from WarmlyYours is that we'll have your SmartPlan installation plan on file for the system, so we can pull that up for you as a reference to know where the heating elements are supposed to be installed. Of course, this is only really useful if the system has been properly installed but it does help provide a starting point.

>'One of the great things about purchasing a system from WarmlyYours is that we'll have your SmartPlan installation plan. Yeap, the installation plan is indeed great to have. Especially BEFORE ONE STARTS the installation. But pictures of THE ACTUAL LAYOUT of the cable or a mat on the floor with a measuring tape (or two) right there so when the pictures are zoomed in - is what would count during the 'operation salvage the heated floor' stage. Recently I was helping to find where the Warmly Yours mat was cut. And to start - I was quite surprised to find out that on the almost 200 sq.ft. of basement floor Warmly Yours sold the customer a 120V system (a mat + t-stat) - LOADING THE THERMOSTAT (UDG-4999) to full max. 15A capacity - according to a planning of the WRONG voltage there. (E. panel was 5 ft. from the thermostat and had plenty of room for 2 pole 240V breakers). Sincerely, Mirek

WarmlyYours Responds...

Mirek, thanks for sharing and that sounds like a very curious situation that you encountered. If you're still looking for assistance, please give our 24 hr. technical support team a call at 1-800-875-5285.

Hello I have mat electrical underfloor heating installed. The bathroom installer have a picture. When we for the first time switched on ufh the panel showed temperature but tiles not warming up. The insTaller then checked the resistance and think there is no resistance but transformer is showing the temperature change and not error symbols. I have granite tiles in place.

WarmlyYours Responds...

It sounds like you're encountering a common problem that we see all the time and it has to do with testing using the Ohmmeter. The best solution is to contact us directly either via chat on the site, our info@warmlyyours.com email, or at our 24/7 technical support hotline: 1-800-875-5285, and we'll get you set up with the proper testing procedure. Hope that helps!

Does the HIPOT tester run in AC or DC High Voltage at 600 volts

WarmlyYours Responds...

Thanks for reading and taking the time to ask a question! The HIPOT tester will use AC for both input and output. Hope that helps!

Greetings- We have a damaged Nuheat and the location has been identified. Warming Mat was adhered with thin set; followed by a self-leveling underlayment and glue for Engineered hardwood. Any recommendations on how best/safest process to remove the engineered wood plank- it should only be one. Secondly, repair cost estimate if possible. Thanks!

WarmlyYours Responds...

Thanks for reaching out! Unfortunately, we can't really give you a repair cost estimate since there's a lot of factors we can't account for (such as the labor and materials if you hire someone to remove and then replace the necessary sections of the floor). We do offer a Remote SmartFix troubleshooting service, which you can find out more about here: https://www.warmlyyours.com/services/troubleshooting, where our reps can hop on a video conferencing call with yourself or with the professionals you've hired to help guide the troubleshooting process (even for a heating system from a different manufacturer such as Nuheat) but the first step to figuring out how to safely effect this repair is probably to give us a call at 1-800-875-5285. Hope that helps!

Hi, I have a short in my heating wires and would like to consider the Variac method. How do you connect the core and ground wires to the Variac transformer? A three prong cable with exposed end connecting the black to core and ground to ground and leaving the neutral unattached? Thanks!

WarmlyYours Responds...

Thanks for reading and taking the time to ask a question. The Variac process is probably a good one for your use since you have a short but the course of action is for you to contact us at 1-(800)-875-5285 so we can walk you through the process a bit more.

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