Tracing Burried Romex in Yard

No doubt all true. However... Speaking hypothetically suppose some idiot did follow your advice and shorted the mains and for arguments sake let's say they lived. Then let's say they sued you for giving them this advice to begin with. It's not likely they really have a case but they do have the right to sue I believe (I'm not sure, not an attorney).

So ok, you make your above point and you do probably win the case.

Do you think that the judge or civil adjutant or whoever is just going to say very good carry on? I think that you would most like have a discussion with someone in authority about the wisdom of giving life threatening advice in any forum.

If the person following your advice died I think that while you still might legally prevail that discussion would be a tad more serious. And some prosecutor somewhere might make it their business to hit you with some charge and they might just make it stick.

Not a good idea giving out life threatening advice even if it's obviously a joke. Just too dangerous. ml

So you said something stupid, got called out, and now you're pretending it was a joke all along - which makes you look even sillier than you already did.

On the off chance that this really *was* a joke -- that's even more stupid. Many people who post here know even less about electrical safety than you do, and do *not* have the technical competence to distinguish between good advice, dangerously stupid advice, and dumb jokes.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

obviously a

Agreed.

But what about the other point I made?

Isn't someone giving technically accurate advice just as likely to end up at the end of a lawsuit in the event someone is killed/injured following it?

If not, why not?

To some, yes. Others, who appear to have no clue (perhaps you'll recognize yourself here), I advise to hire a pro.

I have no sympathy for those idiots who, lacking any understanding of electrical safety, offer useless or dangerous advice to those who are in no position to tell it apart from good advice. Perhaps you'll recognize yourself again, as either the former or the latter, probably both.

Those who give safe and correct advice never receive a reproof from me.

Your confusion is understandable, though, being as you are yourself unable to tell the difference between good and bad advice.

Whether it was serious or not isn't really the point - electricity is not a joking matter. What you proposed could be FATAL to someone who thought that was actual serious advice.

I don't really believe you were joking, anyway. I think you haven't a clue, you posted something stupid, and now that you've been called out on it, you're trying to pretend it was all a joke. And if you *were* joking... that's REALLY stupid.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Yeah.... sure.

Get over yourself Doug.

You really aren't that important.

I'm no lawyer but my son is an insurance adjuster and he see courts pay out judgements on some very strange cases and I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibilities that and injured or dead persons insurance company would try and sue you under the subrogation clause of the victims health or life policy. Now wouldn't that be something we could all laugh about, an even bigger laugh would be your legal bill.

Jimbo

recognize

I forgot to ask - where did you get that device that lets you accurately judge the capability of the person asking the question, or the actuality of the situation they are attempting to descibe? Is this some sort of new internet device?

Is it possible that the advice you give could be passed from a friend to a friend via telephone to one who say, couldn't ask the question themselves as they have no computer?

How do you judge their ability?

Oh, what about the people who are just reading the thread, have no ability to perform electrical work, but inspired by you - decide they can handle it?

Face it Doug. Giving advice here - posting ANYTHING here, accurate or not, can lead to the death or injury of others. There is NO WAY to know how the information you provide will be used, or whose hands it will wind u pin.

If you are really concerned about the safety of others, then you will either ALWAYS tell people to use a pro - OR - post nothing at all, therefore causing the person to call a professional.

There is no difference between good, bad or joking advice here.

It's all just information to be used or ignored by those who seek it, whether they are qualified or not to actually use it.

Jimbo,

Can't you just go away?

Thanks Matt

It's obvious to me a least that your not getting much support for your twisted way of thinking. I think a lot of respondence are posting more out of the concern that someone out there might actually think you know what your talking about. Your obviously an intelligent person but that doesn't mean your worth listening.

I think you have done more than I have to help me make my point, so I'll let you play with someone else.

Jimbo

To some extent, it can be inferred from the questions the poster asks. For example, from your questions, I'm able to infer that you're an argumentative horse's ass.

That's exactly the point I've been trying to pound into your skull, Matt. I'm glad it finally got through to you.

Just proves what I said before - you can't tell the difference.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Whatever you say Jimbo.

It's obvious that you are more concerned with getting the last word in then you are about actually discussing the validity of a topic - which is good - because as you said: YOU ARE NO LAWYER.

You ain't no Jack Kennedy, either.

F*ck, you don't even match up to the capabilities of rain man.

I think you are right. So I'll let you go back to playing with yourself.

And for god's sake PLEASE put me in your killfile.

Thank you. Matt

According to Phil Munro :

Chernobyl I think.

Theoretically, it _might_ work. Just look for the trench the explosion dug.

Mind you, you won't be able to, because the explosion in the main blinded you.

According to Matt :

But that's not what he said, now is it?.

I suggest you read it again.

I would seriously doubt that such tool would be any help in tracing (properly) *buried* wire as per the OP. Heck, these tools have enough trouble going through 3/4" of sheetrock.

According to Matt :

Say, you're on the wrong end of a manslaughter charge. Which argument do you think would work better:

a) The advice I gave was harmless, at worst he'd look silly crawling around his yard with a transistor radio glued to his ear.

b) I _knew_ my advice was hazardous, and would quite likely result in property damage, injury or death. Or all three.

Think carefully.

According to Ray :

Some of the "buzzer" suggestions _might_ work, but don't count on it.

Call your local power company. If that line is delivering power to something, they can probably detect it with their equipment. Despite it not being their main feed, they _may_ be willing to search for it. Especially if you need them to find your main feed anyway.

Well then, I stand corrected. I guess it would probably reveal the path of the wire. :-D

Thanks for the heads up.

Oops. I meant, the better answer is: A.

A as in you're an asshole is an even better answer.