CALL BEFORE you Dig!

[Gold_Striker]

Just read a post where a guy found a water line. He was just trying to find his ring in a canal.
Here in Colorado you just cal 811 and they will send someone to check the area for you free of charge.

• Gas
• electricity
• communications
• city does the water pipes and sewer locates
• various privately owned utilities sometimes

The items on this list will cause injury or even be fatal. Not to mention cost of repair if something is damage.

Mainly in municipal areas but also sometimes in rural areas the resources are piped in like in the case of gas. Gigantic lines (big enough to melt an excavator in moments if damaged) are there or million volt 3 phase electric distribution lines.

They are supposed to be about 3ft down in the industry but sometimes they are found INCHES from the surface so WATCH OUT!

 

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[CincinnatiKid]

Sound advice.
I once hit a water pipe that should have been below freeze line. Glad it was just water and not gas or electricity.
Peace

 

[hvacker]

I can testify that 3 feet is not always done. I was using a post hole digger and hit power at one foot. Smoke belched out of the ground and at the same time out of the corner of my eye I saw the link drop at the transformer.
Usually if you damage a utility you pay. I double dared them to charge me anything as they were barely buried. They agreed.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I work for phone company and located cables for about 14 years. If you dig and damage utility cables you are financially responsible for the cost of repairs by state law if the affected company wants to recover the damages.

 

[Dave44]

I remodeled a house and we needed to regrade, and move the meter box. So after the lines were marked I decided to dig to see if the line was anywhere near the excavation depth. It was. I found the line about 5 inches down. That could have been bad.

 

[Gold_Striker]

yep we've had landscapers find a million volt 3phase electric power line with their trowel while planting flowers. Guess they figured they didn't need a locate cus they werent digging much.

 

[fistfulladirt]

Have had to locate cut buried telecom cable in the past. I use two pieces of bent wire fashioned from clothes hangers. Works for me, in a pinch.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I did same thing while working for telcom company as way to double check my cable locator.

 

[diverrick]

My Wife's friend just found out how close she came to death when she ran up to a car crash to check on the driver who was uncouncious. CHP showed up and informed her that those power lines were hot! Just dumb luck she had not touched the vehicle. Very lucky woman to say the least.

Another time while building Wind turbines I asked a Dozer driver about where he was ripping, as it looked like he might be getting damned close to the undergorund HV lines. He blew me off.
The very next day he snagged those powered up high tension lines with his ripper blades.... He lived to talk about it. Dozer was destroyed. He pissed a dirty sample and was gone right away.

 

[Jim of PA]

Question are you talking about digging while detecting ?

 

[uglymailman]

While working at a surface coal mine in MO., one of our dozer operators cut a cable for the Minuteman ICBM's. About 15 min.'s later all the bells and whistles went off. By the end there were several Air Force Brass hats and many armed lesser grades.
Our Mine Superintendent told the Bird Col. we would offer any assistance we could and pay for the damages. The Col. said that yes, we would pay for all he was seeing and for every missile that went off line, we would pay for a B52 to be in the air until repairs were made. It took a couple of days. There could have been up to 10 missile affected. So yea, it can get expensive.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

While working at a surface coal mine in MO., one of our dozer operators cut a cable for the Minuteman ICBM's. About 15 min.'s later all the bells and whistles went off. By the end there were several Air Force Brass hats and many armed lesser grades.
Our Mine Superintendent told the Bird Col. we would offer any assistance we could and pay for the damages. The Col. said that yes, we would pay for all he was seeing and for every missile that went off line, we would pay for a B52 to be in the air until repairs were made. It took a couple of days. There could have been up to 10 missile affected. So yea, it can get expensive.

I worked for a fiber optic telephone company, fiber cuts get expensive REAL quick. A small cut would be $40,000 a big cut was in the millions...

 

[Gold_Striker]

yep all anyone must do is dial 811 the utilities commission and they will notify anyone who has facilities in the area to mark everything and leave you a sketch.

If its something important or really dangerous they will pay a guy to watch you dig and make sure you dont hit anything. All free of charge if you call them first. This is to protect their own infrastructure and keep it in good repair. Not to mention keeping everyone alive and well.