That’s it, basically. I know that the fencer has to be grounded - I mean if the fence wire is grounded by grass, mud, rocks, etc. If it matters, it’s a pulsing fencer that claims to only cost a few bucks a month to run.
And electric fence is basically a set of two condutors, one being the ground, and the other being the fence (there are also varieties where both the “hot” and ground wires are part of the fence, but it sounds like you have the former in mind.
If anything along the fence line is grounding out the conductor, not only will it cost more to run, but the charger will wear out much faster. Additionally, “downstream” from the grounded section will have little or no current flowing through it…
So walk your fence line and remove tall plants, branches, dead bigfoots, and other such things that cause the fence to ground.
Finally an electric fence hint that works well…
Get some cheap dollar store type wind chimes and attach them to your fence at regular intervals… Animals will learn to associate the sound with the “Owie bitey fence” and simply avoid the area.
FML
Thanks FML. That’s what I suspected. Yes, mine is run with the ground side of the fencer going to a ground rod, and the fence all hot. My problem is that my hogs push mud, rocks, or branches onto the bottom wire, which is only at around 5" from the ground, and I’ve had some health issues lately and have not been able to maintain the fenceline as well as I should. I’m thinking of grounding the bottom wire now that the hogs are bigger and they respect the fence, but I’m afraid they’ll figure it out quickly and be able to get under the next wire up.
If they are shorting the lower fence to ground, then they already may be able to get through without a shock past the grounding point. My uncle had a test light he could clip to ground and the live fence. It lite if the fence was OK at that point.
I usually just use my fencing pliers and check the intensity of the spark (I have metal posts.)
I lost the fencer to an electrical storm earlier this year and replaced it with the only one the local farm supply had - which was much less powerful. My wife found two of the hogs layng on their stomachs 1/2 way out under the fence happily munching grass with the lower wire laying on their backs. Every second or so, they would twitch slightly. I walked the fence line and discovered that about 6’ of fence was covered in mud. I cleared that off and put the old fencer back on(Zareba sent me a free replacement module under warrantee). Much squeeling ensued. Since then, they respect the fence. I just hope they are big enough now that they can’t get under the second wire, as I am in no shape to maintain the lower wire.