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Regular poster on here now! Like getting the opinions of more experienced electricians, my times not long out. Still find myself when I have to find a fault diving head first in and getting caught up in it, end up thinking the worst and most of the time it’s a simple fix. Please tell me this gets easier with time lol! Try to be logical in finding it then after half an hour head goes lol!
 
Experience helps

Take an instantaneous shower:

There's be a few common faults like burnt isolators and shower terminals and heater can faults so you learn to expect them

Rcd trips are a common callout and you learn the techniques to diagnose the issue fast

Make sure you have a volstick

Hope that helps
 
Other important thing is listen to the customer describe the problem

Was more important in industrial callout where you.needed the machine operator describe the problem in detail to help diagnose quickly

A domestic installation is relatively straightforward so after a while you sort of have a mental image of an installation and a flowchart in your head to diagnose an issue

When you're starting off alright it all seems more confusing
 
The trouble is, customers lie when they’re describing the problem, and not all can understand why “it tripped, but we weren’t using anything!!!”

Saying that, listen to their description but try to filter out the embellishments.

most of the time, faults become apparent straight away…. Ie, you take off a light switch or something and there’s a floating wire and a black mark on the back box
 
On seemingly more complex problems it is good to draw out the circuit. That also helps on say a ring final circuit as you can mark readings on your drawing. Generally speaking it is about splitting the circuit in half then half again when you find which part of it is giving fault readings. Wander lead is a wonder lead it is your friend use it. Never really gets easier just less anxiety as you get used to knowing you will find the fault because you know it is just being logical. However there are some faults you may never get to the bottom of.
 
Fault finding is a skill that is developed over many years and a lot is down to remembering past faults and how you located them, that can help speed up the fault finding process. Asking the customer the right questions can also help narrow down the fault, although sometimes you have to get a bit creative with the questions to get the helpful answers
Over a number of years you will also build up test kit that can aid the fault finding process and learn how to use it in different ways to locate faults, as an example I have 3 cable tracers / locators that operate in slightly different ways and can help locate open or closed faults

Above all the trait that is most needed is perseverance at times taking a step back having a brew and a recap and a think can sometimes be very beneficial to the process of finding the solution, if you have a mate in trade at times a quick call and talk it through can lead you to the fault or put you on the right track
 
Fault-finding is actually such an extensive topic, it's quite hard to write a summary guide in a forum post. If I had to single out half a dozen bullet points:

* Understand how things are supposed to be when they are working. E.g. If you don't know what reading something is supposed to give under normal conditions, you won't know if the reading you are getting now shows a fault or not. If necessary, work this out first, away from the installation, so that you have a basis for comparison before your (possibly odd) findings start to cloud the picture.

* Pay attention to every available source of information, even even if they conflict. Listen to anything anybody tells you, but don't trust any of it initially. Look at the installation from every angle, touch it, smell it, poke it with testers and make good note of the readings even if they don't seem very interesting in their own right.

* Be critical of your own findings. It's no good saying to yourself that there absolutely must be continuity because you tested it five minutes ago, if you happened to have put your test leads on the wrong terminals. Accept that some of your tests and deductions will be wrong, do not hesitate to revise them to the point of complete U-turns if needed.

* As you work, allow multiple theories to exist in parallel, rather than forcing yourself to believe only one possible explanation that you favour. If you are too focused on proving that one theory right, perhaps because it was the right answer last time, you are more likely to miss clues and opportunities to follow more promising leads this time. That said, don't ignore clear evidence that it's the same thing again, leading to...

* Occam's Razor: The simplest valid explanation is often correct. Periodically stop investigating and review what you have discovered so far, juggling the pieces of the puzzle to check whether a simple alignment of a few of them produces a likely solution.

There is no substitute for experience and knowledge, it takes years to get good at this, so don't worry if you find yourself turning down blind alleys at this stage. I have the advantage of getting a lot of practice in a very wide variety of situations. Rarely a day goes by that I am not called to investigate something, and despite doing that week-in, week-out for 30+ years, I'm still learning new techniques and tricks and shortcuts.
 
Don't try to cut corners, as tempting as it is, as it only introduces uncertainty.

As side above talk to people, those with hands on knowledge of the fault not just those ordering the work. The Chinese whispers effect will have you chasing ghosts.
 
When it gets technical you need the training and ability to use test equipment

There's also a balance between that and thought/logic when there's equipment breakdown for example

I worked alongside a fitter on industrial callout, he was the mechanical man and I was the electrical side

I'd be opening the panel door and reaching for the schematic while he was better at the logic side of it and might deduce the issue faster than I'd find it on a schematic
 
Yes it definitely gets easier.
If all else fails, first principles - "what does work or give expected results?". Then you can start eliminating things, and as the famous quote goes - "whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth"
A pocket full of wagos, simplify, divide, and conquer!
 
Yeh, I know…. It was Spock quoting Holmes.

The same as “To be or not to be”…. Was quoted in Klingon.


oh look…. A tangent! ?
 

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