Use Caution !!!

[Purelucklocate]

I have read a number of posts on this forum about dowsing or witching underground utilities in your yard and how you can save money by not paying the utilities to do it. This is not true. It is free in all 50 states. In most states you can simply call 811 and depending on the state it will be two to three days and all the utilities on your property will be located.The only exception to this would be privately owned lines. Like a line to a gas grill, Yard Light, Garage, etc..

I have been locating buried utilities for 10 years and i am not saying you cannot witch or dowse buried utilities because you can. With that being said the average homeowner has no idea what is buried on their property. By not calling in for a locate you are asking for trouble. A cut fiber optic cable will cost you between 10 and 20 thousand. A cut gas or electric line could be fatal. It just don't make sense to try this on your own when you can have it done for free.

I will put a challenge out there. Run around your yard and witch or dowse all the utilities on your property and mark where you think they are. Then call 811 and tell the person you are going to do some landscaping. A number of utility locator's will come to your house and mark everything out. I promise you will mis-mark some of them and miss some lines all together.

I have located hundreds of thousands of lines with the best equipment and accurate maps of all the buried utilities and i still miss the occasional line. So i would find it hard to believe a guy with no utility experience can do it with a couple of bent wires.

Thanks and be safe....

 

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[Mike(Mont)]

Good advice. You should have mentioned to use a fiberglas handle for digging tools. If it was the other way around where the dowser had the set of blueprints and the utility locator had to go without, I suspect the results would differ. Especially for concrete, tile, or PVC water/sewer lines.

 

[aarthrj3811]

I still recommend that people use dowsing rods. If you should plant a tree over the lines you are in big trouble. ..Art

 

[hetty]

Art, I have relied on dowsing while a large front loader stood by while discovering where my power line lay under ground. I marked the spot, although I was not cocky as I had poor dowsing that day. The front loader then scraped his bucket gently over the genereral area and uncovered the disturbed trench soil of the exact spot. I was out 3feet. It is silly to rely on dowsing except when dowsing conditions are good and you wish to prove a point. Why go back to the dark ages when we dont have to. Dowser 501 (Max)

 

[boogeyman]

I was doing traffic control for a road construction crew that was pot holing for a phone cable. The locator company couldn't find it and had to call for another guy with a different machine. Still no luck. One of the crews formen ran back up the hill and came back with a couple of L rods bent from a hanger. After about 4 or 5 minutes searching & 20+ minutes argueing with the pot hole crew they found the cable about 2" to the side of where he told them to drill. I now believe dowse first electronics second.

Also, Please be very sure of what you're doing when it comes to digging in the vicinity of power cables. Some of the transformer boxes you see in apartment complexes and such have around 9600 volts on the primary. I saw some utility workers hand digging around a transformer literally get blown out of the hole. The guy that nicked a cable got burned badly and his shirt actually caught fire. So please! If you have any doubts call an expert!

 

[AKiwi]

if your any good...... you will find .
23yrs..... did the lot. But be careful high pressure gas