Bathroom circuit with no load breaker off 600ohm resistance
 

I’m trying to troubleshoot what is going on

The ground fault to the bathroom has always been touchy

Went to replace it and now I find with the power disconnected 600ohms resistance between hot and neutral.

This means a .2 amp 24 watt load with nothing on

The bathroom circuit connects to an exterior light, the bathroom outlets, a fluorescent light in the ceiling and that is it.

Any ideas how I find the short?

Don't know, but I'd pull the whole breaker out and measure again.

I had the “breaker “ off and out of the circuit as a ground fault separates them on different wires load/line

I don’t think a ballast would have an “always on” segment

I would suspect the light. Disconnect and see if your problem goes away. Remove the ballast and install LED tubes.

Are you sure there's nothing else on that circuit? Assuming the light switches are off (and wired correctly), the hot should only be connected to the switches, outlets, and breaker in the panel. So it's a GFCI outlet, but a regular breaker? Light-up switches or USB ports on the outlets? Meter working correctly?

It’s been extremely west/damp

I’m thinking the outdoor light outlet combo that is inexplicably on the circuit is to blame but I’m not sure how to break a hardwired thing I never use from the circuit.

I will need a new ac ammeter to determine the true current, right now I can only meter OHMs which might drop with actual AC applied.

Jumping over the switched to the unswitched side of the ground faiult with everything off makes small sparks so definitely some current but from I can tell it’s well under an amp.

Sounds like the bathroom circuit goes to something else.
Maybe there a door bell or 24v furnace transformer hidden in the wall somewhere.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatstone_bridge

There is a furnace thermostat there