Call before you dig...
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Da dirty moderator
1st Gear Member
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 12,584
From: Pittsburgh, PA
Call before you dig...
Holy crap...
There is a good reason for laws in the USA requiring that you call for 'utility locating' before you do any excavation. The pictures below are a result of a farmer using a post hole digger without calling for "locates" and he hit an underground, high-pressure cross country gas pipe. They never found the farmer! The explosion destroyed two homes.
Think before you dig!
There is a good reason for laws in the USA requiring that you call for 'utility locating' before you do any excavation. The pictures below are a result of a farmer using a post hole digger without calling for "locates" and he hit an underground, high-pressure cross country gas pipe. They never found the farmer! The explosion destroyed two homes.
Think before you dig!
Senior Member
1st Gear Member
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 5,655
From: Coastal NC
this for real?
seems to me that a high pressure line like that wouldn't be close enough to the surface for that to happen.
and to be fair a lot of times the utility markers aren't correct, but atleast then you are off the hook legally.
seems to me that a high pressure line like that wouldn't be close enough to the surface for that to happen.
and to be fair a lot of times the utility markers aren't correct, but atleast then you are off the hook legally.
Senior Member
1st Gear Member
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 470
From:
i dont know about the post hole digger. but if you look at the first pic that pipe is pretty deap as compaired to the guys standing there. How would a post hole digger pennitrater a pipe that large/
WOW! Bet that was loud
Admin
1st Gear Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 7,269
Wow. I can't imagine.
During construction in our neighborhood about 10 years ago a guy trenching on a bobcat at our property line trenched up a plastic gas line, maybe 3 or 4" in diameter. Nicked about a 1/4 inch hole in it, and the gas escaping sounded like a continuous shotgun going off - just gas, no flames or anything. Police and Fire cleared the neighborhood until they got it shut off and dissipated. Thankfully no one was smoking nearby as we were inside at the time and left the area with our hands over our ears.
Can't even fathom the situation above. Damn!
During construction in our neighborhood about 10 years ago a guy trenching on a bobcat at our property line trenched up a plastic gas line, maybe 3 or 4" in diameter. Nicked about a 1/4 inch hole in it, and the gas escaping sounded like a continuous shotgun going off - just gas, no flames or anything. Police and Fire cleared the neighborhood until they got it shut off and dissipated. Thankfully no one was smoking nearby as we were inside at the time and left the area with our hands over our ears.
Can't even fathom the situation above. Damn!
wow, I would think that there would have been some knowledge of the fact of the line during any sales of the property. But yes, I would agree that calling ahead of time to verify is well worth it.
Senior Member
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 5,599
From: Indianapolis and Toledo
I have to wonder why he would dig an approximate 6 foot hole out in the middle of an open pasture. The field looks like a hay field or something. I think those lines are about 800 psi, at least the last one we tied into a powerhouse was. And code requires them to be at a 6 foot minimum depth if my memory serves me correctly.
What a way to get blown?
What a way to get blown?