Technics of locating underground cable faults inside conduits

A cable fault can be defined as any defect, inconsistency, weakness or non-homogeneity that affects the performance of a cable. All faults in underground cables are different and the success of a cable fault location depends to a great extent on practical aspects and the experience of the operator. To accomplish this, it is necessary to have personnel trained to test the cables successfully and to reduce their malfunctions. In many countries, many underground cables are laid inside PVC pipes or conduits. Pin-pointing cable faults would be much easier when the cables are buried underground directly. However, when the cables are laid inside a conduit, it becomes much more difficult to pin-point the exact fault location. There are certain ways to identify the cable fault location by applying different technics. This paper describes the use of different equipment and technics to locate underground cable faults inside conduits.