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Electrical Fault Finding
Faults are found with measurement, not by replacing parts in order. An inspector’s list is not an opinion, and the fastest way through it is to correct the items and get them re-inspected.
Electrical Fault Finding in O’Fallon and across St. Charles, St. Louis, Lincoln and Warren counties.
Clint Ehman does the work himself. Seventeen years in the trade, Infinity Electric since June 2022.
5.0 from 94 Google reviews · BBB A+ since 2022
What this work actually involves
The fault is located with a meter and a plan rather than by swapping components until something changes.
First the reading, then the explanation, then the repair scoped to what was actually found. If that turns out smaller than the job you called about, that is what you are charged for.
Work needing a permit gets one and work needing an inspection is left ready for it. There is no handoff between whoever quotes and whoever fixes, because they are the same person.
When people call about this
- Lights flickering on unrelated circuits
- An inspection report before a closing
- Half the house without power
- Warm cover plates
Why people choose Clint for it
The diagnosis and the repair are the same person’s work, which is why the explanation you get is first-hand rather than relayed.
Five point zero from 94 Google reviews, A+ with the BBB since December 2022, and seventeen years in the trade behind it.
Where this is done
Out of O’Fallon across five jurisdictions: St. Charles County, St. Louis County, St. Louis City, and Lincoln and Warren counties. About fifty miles in any direction.
See the full service area, or the rest of our safety & code work.
Inspection lists and closings
An inspection report is a to-do list with a deadline attached. The items get corrected, permitted where the municipality requires it, and re-inspected so the file closes before the closing date.
Requirements differ between St. Charles County and the St. Louis municipalities, which is worth knowing before a date is agreed.
The symptoms that should never wait
Heat at a cover plate, a smell of hot plastic, and a breaker that will not stay set are the three that justify a same-day call. All three describe energy going somewhere it should not.
Flickering across unrelated circuits belongs in the same group, because it points at the service or the neutral rather than at one room.
Fault finding as a method
Reproduce, measure, divide. Each split halves the possibilities, so four splits take a whole house down to one termination, and the answer comes with a reading attached.
It is slower than guessing for twenty minutes and much faster after that, and it ends with knowing what was wrong rather than having replaced something.
What gets left behind when the work is done
A labeled panel, accessible junctions, the old parts if you want to see them, and a straight account of anything found along the way that was not part of the call.
Where something else was found, you get told what it is and whether it needs doing now, later or not at all. That third answer is a real answer and it gets used.
Why the diagnosis comes before the quote
A symptom has several possible causes with very different prices, and the only thing that separates them is a measurement. Quoting the expensive one covers the risk; quoting the cheap one and finding the expensive one mid-job is worse.
So the reading happens first, you are told what it says, and then the work is scoped to it. Where the honest answer is the small repair, that is the answer you get, even when the larger job pays better.
“Clint came out installed me a large 200 amp panel put some new dedicated lines in my basement and garage he did great clean work all inspections passed he was thorough and knowledgeable. I will have him back out again.”
Jason Holtzman · Google review
How the visit goes
- The call
What you are seeing, smelling or hearing, and when it started. Heat and smell move you up the day.
- The measurement
Reproduce the symptom, then divide the circuit until the fault is on one side of the split. Measurement at the panel and at the point of failure.
- The finding
What it was, with the reading. Including when the answer is one loose connection rather than the rewire you were braced for.
- The work
Correction scoped to the finding, permitted and re-inspected where the municipality requires it, and documentation you can hand to an inspector or a buyer.
What the job includes
- Reproducing the symptom before anything is replaced
- Measurement at the panel and at the fault
- A plain-words finding with the number that supports it
- Correction scoped to the finding, nothing bundled
- Permit and re-inspection where a municipality requires it
- Documentation you can hand to an inspector or a buyer
What it does not
- Replacing parts that test sound
- Opinions where a measurement is possible
- Work outside electrical, though we will say who to call
Anything that is not an electrical problem gets identified as such and handed on. Recent jobs are worth a look before you call.
Related safety & code work
Electrical Fault Finding across the metro
Where the house is changes what the work involves. Clint works out of O’Fallon across five jurisdictions, and the same service means different work in each.
St. Louis City
Fishing a wall is harder here and sometimes not possible, so the honest answer about opening one comes before the work rather than during it.
Lincoln County
Lincoln County is rural service: longer drops, well pumps and septic loads that city panels never carry, and outages that make backup power a practical purchase rather than a luxury.
Warren County
Warren County mixes newer builds with older farm properties, and generator work comes up more often there than it does in town.
Every municipality covered is listed on the service areas page.
Questions worth asking first.
There is a burning smell near my panel. What should I do?
Treat that as urgent. Turn off what you safely can and call. Heat and smell at a panel or outlet are the two symptoms that should never wait for a scheduled visit.
Can you handle the items on my inspection report?
Yes. Send the report. The items get corrected, permitted where the municipality requires it, and re-inspected so the file closes before your closing date.
My lights flicker across the whole house. Is that urgent?
Potentially. A whole-house flicker, especially when a large motor starts, can mean a failing service neutral, which can damage equipment. That gets measured at the panel before anything inside is touched.
Do you pull permits?
Where the municipality requires one, yes, and the work is left ready for inspection with the panel labeled and junctions accessible. Requirements genuinely differ across this metro, which is why it is established per address rather than assumed.
How long have you been doing this?
Clint has seventeen years in the trade and has been running his own shop out of O’Fallon since 2022.
Talk to the person who will do the work.
No dispatcher, no salesman. Clint takes the call and Clint does the job. Electrical Fault Finding in O’Fallon and across the metro.
Weekdays 8-5, Fri to 4, Sat 10-3 · or describe it in writing.