Dropped $90 on a Klein tone probe and it found a cut wire in a 1970s ranch house in 4 minutes
I was at a house in Fair Oaks last Tuesday and the homeowner kept saying the back door sensor was dead. I had already checked the panel, the battery, and the magnet gap, so I was about to start pulling staples. Then I remembered the tone probe I bought for $90 at the supply house two months ago, and I clipped it on the loop. The wire was cut clean behind a baseboard where a remodel guy had run a nail through it. Has anyone else had a cheap tool pay for itself on the first call like that?
My tone probe sat in the van for 11 months before it did anything but make me feel fancy. I bought it after watching some YouTube guy rave about his, and my old method was just yelling at the wire and hoping. Then last spring I traced a broken thermostat wire through a wall in a Citrus Heights rental in about 30 seconds flat, and suddenly that $90 felt like the best money I ever spent. The sad part is I still grabbed my meter first that day out of pure habit.