Open Hot

For some months one of the breakers has been tripping one the lower lever of out church. The last time it tripped it was reset, the breaker does not trip, but several wall outlets are dead. (I get no indication of a hot with a inductive tester). All service is underground. Is there a way to isolate where the connection is open? Maybe an extension cord test with the breaker off.......? Thanks.........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-domain_reflectometer
Maybe you can rent one for use on power cables. It will find the defect within 0.1 foot.

test

You have to know the wire's path to trace the point where the power stops at the open/broken point. But if you know that, i.e., the sequence of outlets, then the break is either at the last one that has power, or the first one which doesn't. And there is no way to trace that accurately. Or, since this is a basement, they could have a GFCI outlet feeding the downstream outlets and it is tripped or defective.

Found the break between to wall outlets 5' apart. Bypassed by using exterior raceway and boxes. For now power is back on........

break

It would be unusual for a line to just break. Are you sure the problem is not with the connection at one end or the other? Or that the line does not go off on a tangent between the two points and the "break/fault" is there?

Some years ago we had a problem with termites from an adjacent building that was demolished. They filled in the basement area with old timber instead of doing it with the proper land fill. When the food source depleted they moved in. A well known exterminator ( Will just call him Otto ) came and drilled a hole in the floor which led to hitting a power source. We lost power to the water cooler in the hallway which we corrected by other means. They were not liable so they said..... We never arqued or disputed their policy, we just told him to Hit the road.This drilled hole is in the path of the outlets... 6" from the wall. I believe when this happened he destroyed one feed, and damaged another... In time ( I think ) this other line gave up the ghost from power requirements.