In anticipation of the delivery of my new BX25D, I put in to have the utilities marked today. Now I'll know exactly where I can "practice" without leaving the neighborhood in the dark.
811
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85Hokie
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BX-25D ,PTB. Under Armor, '90&'92-B7100HST's, '06 BX1850 FEL
I like a man that plans ahead!!!! Hope you have lots of "woods" in the back to play in - whatever you do - play safe.....er uh....work hard! Be safe!
You will find that machine to be a wonder of amazement !
CaveCreekRay
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L3800 HST, KingKutter box scraper, KingKutter 66" rake, County Pride Subsoiler
Pilot friend of mine had a dad who was also a pilot.
The father had a house down close to the airport in Phoenix and had built a nice shop he wanted to run utilities to. Rather than pay a contractor to do it the right way, he "borrowed" a backhoe from a friend and started digging in the alleyway behind the house. The son arrived to see the bucket ripping up a wire bundle consisting of 3-400 wires. He yelled at his dad who was puzzled how those wires got buried right where he wanted to dig.
After pleading with his dad to stop, the father said, "Well, the damage is done. I only have to go a little further. Shouldn't be a problem."
The son was about 50 feet away as his dad was again digging....
"FFFTTTSHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE..."
The son turns around to see his father bailing off the machine as a HUGE cloud of dust is blown skywards. The father hit a high pressure gas main, the very type that usually leave a black crater in the ground a hundred feet across and everything else within a huge radius scorched and burned.
The bill for the repairs ran almost as much as the construction costs for his workshop.
The father had a house down close to the airport in Phoenix and had built a nice shop he wanted to run utilities to. Rather than pay a contractor to do it the right way, he "borrowed" a backhoe from a friend and started digging in the alleyway behind the house. The son arrived to see the bucket ripping up a wire bundle consisting of 3-400 wires. He yelled at his dad who was puzzled how those wires got buried right where he wanted to dig.
After pleading with his dad to stop, the father said, "Well, the damage is done. I only have to go a little further. Shouldn't be a problem."
The son was about 50 feet away as his dad was again digging....
"FFFTTTSHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE..."
The son turns around to see his father bailing off the machine as a HUGE cloud of dust is blown skywards. The father hit a high pressure gas main, the very type that usually leave a black crater in the ground a hundred feet across and everything else within a huge radius scorched and burned.
The bill for the repairs ran almost as much as the construction costs for his workshop.
ShaunBlake
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B6100D; B219; Piranha bar; Hodge stabilizers; Filled Ag rears; R322T w/48" deck
I think that's my cue to only go places I can take my tractor. While I would make an exception for you, you don't fly through Hartsfield, so I'll just drive, and try to watch for falling debris.
In my area the state-contracted locator services always caveat their markings by saying "plus or minus 5-feet". Keep this in mind and DO NOT take their markings literally.
And too, smaller utilities do not participate in the system (by submitting their route maps to the state). And municipalities are exempt in my area. Especially entities like water districts that use plastic pipe and small gas distribution companies that use plastic pipe without tracer tape or wires (or whose tracers have been lost or interrupted over time).
Look at your area 811 website and ask questions. You'll probably be surprised just how inexact the entire process is. The entire system is not designed to help you or the contractor but rather to limit the liability of the utility at your expense.
Be extremely cautious and do NOT depend on locator services to be either exact or complete.
I locate low-voltage irrigation system valve control wires on our place. And let me tell you soil conditions and burial depth contribute to accuracy. It's usually close but not exact. I've spent a lot of time looking for wires that were "right under my feet" but actually a couple feet to the side.
Please post back your experiences so we may all learn.
And too, smaller utilities do not participate in the system (by submitting their route maps to the state). And municipalities are exempt in my area. Especially entities like water districts that use plastic pipe and small gas distribution companies that use plastic pipe without tracer tape or wires (or whose tracers have been lost or interrupted over time).
Look at your area 811 website and ask questions. You'll probably be surprised just how inexact the entire process is. The entire system is not designed to help you or the contractor but rather to limit the liability of the utility at your expense.
Be extremely cautious and do NOT depend on locator services to be either exact or complete.
I locate low-voltage irrigation system valve control wires on our place. And let me tell you soil conditions and burial depth contribute to accuracy. It's usually close but not exact. I've spent a lot of time looking for wires that were "right under my feet" but actually a couple feet to the side.
Please post back your experiences so we may all learn.
CaveCreekRay
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L3800 HST, KingKutter box scraper, KingKutter 66" rake, County Pride Subsoiler
What Stubbyie said!
In AZ, I called out the locator company prior to major trenching and excavation for well piping and power. The guy shows up and walks my project and then tells me, "We only survey your service line between the transformer and the service panel on the house. We don't do anything else on your lot" And that was just power. ZERO response from the water folks on my property. Only on the edge of the street for service based on meter locations and "as-builts."
So, I hire a professional utility finder to come out and find lines going off to my barn from the service panel. The kid finds the power with a voltage witch and marks the whole line. I start trenching and in five minutes, I have hit a 220 line he missed. (Minimal damage, stopped quickly and just popped the joints loose on the PVC and wrinkled one pipe a little. Re-glued, taped, and re-buried.) The kid cannot find my water main except by witching sticks. I am not feeling confident.
I call another company out who has ground penetrating radar and they survey for the water line and ALSO find it only with witching sticks. And this kid stomps his feet five times before the sticks uncross and he tells me its 5-6 feet underground. HUH???
I dig out along known utilities by hand to ensure I know exactly where they are before excavating with an excavator.
I gingerly dig down right on the spot were the water witches indicated it was. After 5.5 feet, I start dragging the bucket along the right wall of the ditch. On my fifth drag, I see white PVC. The pipe is 5 feet underground, undamaged, within a foot of where they witched using sticks. Wow.
Just for giggles, you might want to bend up a couple of 1/8 steel sticks with 6" and 18" legs. Hold 'em level with the ground between your lightly cupped hands. He left his with me and damned if I cannot hit power or the water with pretty good accuracy. By the way, the Witchers say it requires "movement." AC power on is moving. Water turned on is moving.
Good luck!!!
Ray
In AZ, I called out the locator company prior to major trenching and excavation for well piping and power. The guy shows up and walks my project and then tells me, "We only survey your service line between the transformer and the service panel on the house. We don't do anything else on your lot" And that was just power. ZERO response from the water folks on my property. Only on the edge of the street for service based on meter locations and "as-builts."
So, I hire a professional utility finder to come out and find lines going off to my barn from the service panel. The kid finds the power with a voltage witch and marks the whole line. I start trenching and in five minutes, I have hit a 220 line he missed. (Minimal damage, stopped quickly and just popped the joints loose on the PVC and wrinkled one pipe a little. Re-glued, taped, and re-buried.) The kid cannot find my water main except by witching sticks. I am not feeling confident.
I call another company out who has ground penetrating radar and they survey for the water line and ALSO find it only with witching sticks. And this kid stomps his feet five times before the sticks uncross and he tells me its 5-6 feet underground. HUH???
I dig out along known utilities by hand to ensure I know exactly where they are before excavating with an excavator.
I gingerly dig down right on the spot were the water witches indicated it was. After 5.5 feet, I start dragging the bucket along the right wall of the ditch. On my fifth drag, I see white PVC. The pipe is 5 feet underground, undamaged, within a foot of where they witched using sticks. Wow.
Just for giggles, you might want to bend up a couple of 1/8 steel sticks with 6" and 18" legs. Hold 'em level with the ground between your lightly cupped hands. He left his with me and damned if I cannot hit power or the water with pretty good accuracy. By the way, the Witchers say it requires "movement." AC power on is moving. Water turned on is moving.
Good luck!!!
Ray
Do yourself a favor, now that the lines have been marked. Take a camera, and take pictures of the marks. Blow 'em up big, and thumbtack them next to the fusebox or some similar place, where they won't get lost. You can file them on the computer, but computers have been known to fail... A hard copy will always be there...
Re: 811 sucks!
Whatever you do, don't trust the 811 people with blind faith. I pulled a permit to add a 24' extension onto my shop. sometime after 8pm, the 811 guy walked down my 400' driveway ( he would have had to open the main gate to drive in, and I would have seen or heard him) marked INSIDE the string lines that were in place marking EXACTALLY where the 4 holes were going to be drilled ( auger) to put the 4, 8" x 8" poles. it showed clear, gas, elect telecom, all in different colors. Cool, its all done. 3 days later the first hole center punches the 200 amp service conduit and winds up the wire, as it rips the electrical service panel loose from the inside shop wall.......... yeah I was pissed! This was a mandatory fee in the permit process. two days later a disclaimer comes in the mail stating they only check between the main pole to the house, no where else on the property. why they marked INSIDE the proposed construction zone, which was 300' from the main to the house from the utilities pole, ill never know or get an answer.......... by the way, the utilities companys hire it all out, so they are not responsible in any way shape or form. hire a private locator for $65.00 an hour. he walked my property, marked my well lines, electrical, gas etc about 45 minutes.
Whatever you do, don't trust the 811 people with blind faith. I pulled a permit to add a 24' extension onto my shop. sometime after 8pm, the 811 guy walked down my 400' driveway ( he would have had to open the main gate to drive in, and I would have seen or heard him) marked INSIDE the string lines that were in place marking EXACTALLY where the 4 holes were going to be drilled ( auger) to put the 4, 8" x 8" poles. it showed clear, gas, elect telecom, all in different colors. Cool, its all done. 3 days later the first hole center punches the 200 amp service conduit and winds up the wire, as it rips the electrical service panel loose from the inside shop wall.......... yeah I was pissed! This was a mandatory fee in the permit process. two days later a disclaimer comes in the mail stating they only check between the main pole to the house, no where else on the property. why they marked INSIDE the proposed construction zone, which was 300' from the main to the house from the utilities pole, ill never know or get an answer.......... by the way, the utilities companys hire it all out, so they are not responsible in any way shape or form. hire a private locator for $65.00 an hour. he walked my property, marked my well lines, electrical, gas etc about 45 minutes.
I found water leaks twice in my back yard. I was sceptical too, but i have seen it work on many occasions.
Here is a water witch story- the man and his divining rod. He was an elderly gentleman,was in his 80's when i first met him. He was well respected for his ability to find good wells. It i involved a large cardboard box , size a major appliance comes in. He then remove all his clothes and wander around surveying for water. Aparrently if he approached a water source, his "divining rod" would-well,you can figure out the rest.
The wire locate guys around here have their work cut out for them, wires buried in roads, charts that are out of date and miles of dead/discontinued telephone wires.
I was repairing aforementioned water leak and accidentally hit my power supply to the pumphouse. Boy theres a lot of sparks when an excavator hits it.
Here is a water witch story- the man and his divining rod. He was an elderly gentleman,was in his 80's when i first met him. He was well respected for his ability to find good wells. It i involved a large cardboard box , size a major appliance comes in. He then remove all his clothes and wander around surveying for water. Aparrently if he approached a water source, his "divining rod" would-well,you can figure out the rest.
The wire locate guys around here have their work cut out for them, wires buried in roads, charts that are out of date and miles of dead/discontinued telephone wires.
I was repairing aforementioned water leak and accidentally hit my power supply to the pumphouse. Boy theres a lot of sparks when an excavator hits it.
Re: 811 sucks!
I always ask the guy doing the line locate, for the utilities, if he personally would like to make an extra $50, for a few minutes of work. They generally are reasonable fellows, when they see the $50...
I always ask the guy doing the line locate, for the utilities, if he personally would like to make an extra $50, for a few minutes of work. They generally are reasonable fellows, when they see the $50...
coachgeo
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L225 w/woods Few Mowers & Back Blade, D722 in Motorcycle (Triumph Tiger), LMTV
When your divining rods cross... LOOK UP. Remember they will cross when walking under power, cable and phone lines too.
Thanks for all the tips and advice guys. I had assumed dialing 811 was enough but I see from your experiences I actually need to hire a locator. Now that we have a tractor her list of landscaping projects for me to do has grown exponentially all over the entire acre and a half yard.