Call before you dig!

[mjarrels]

When I built my garage, house was only about three years old and I knew where my utilites were... guy who dug the foundation still called "miss utilities" and had them marked. Very professional and cut me a break for about $50.00 cause the job didn't take as long as he thought! Eight years later, I still have a big pile of dirt from the foundation dig!

mark

 

[archeryantny]

In that article, the one guy said he thought his wife fell and shook the house. Not for nothing but how big is this guys wife? hahahah

 

[Kfbeal]

In that article, the one guy said he thought his wife fell and shook the house. Not for nothing but how big is this guys wife? hahahah

I wonder if that's his ex-wife now?

We call for all of our new line extensions and have to wait 48 hours and although it's a pain it's situations like this that make me glad we do it. I've seen others where digger trucks hit gas pipelines and it's amazing the damage that's done.

We had a 36" gas pipeline cross our property about 25 years ago. We quit farming it and planted hay there. I still feel a little uneasy when I'm out there working or baling, especially cutting the hay.

I live about 3 hours south/southwest of Brehnam, Texas and about 15 years ago a pipeline blew up there and it shook our home all the way down here.

 

[Ryan03]

Natural gas can migrate from a leaking pipe through soil and into a basement some distance away from the source of the leak. There have been many documented occurances where this has happened. This may explain why the house was leveled, and the carport was untouched, as it was well ventilated. We have a training class once a year at work, last year was on having utilities marked before digging, and a good hour was spent on the dangers of Natural Gas. In many cases, crews have damaged gas lines at the street without realizing it, and the Natural Gas leaches through the soil only to fill the basements of homes, sometimes with disasterous outcomes, as unknowing home owners come home and turn on the lights. The classes we had are for OUPS which stands for Ohio utilities protection service. scary stuff!!!!!!

 

[archeryantny]

I live about 3 hours south/southwest of Brehnam, Texas and about 15 years ago a pipeline blew up there and it shook our home all the way down here.

Man alive that had to be one heck of a blast!!! Whats the terrain like, must be real flat to send a shock wave that distance.

 

[LBrown59]

I can see calling before you dig with a BH or use a post hole auger but what about if all you want to do is till ?
Should you still call even though you won't be going nearly as deep tilling?

 

[schmism]

Just doesn't seem right to me. That big of an explosion would require that gas was leaking and building up for quite a while and then ignited.

Heck of a lot of destruction whatever happened.

you underestimate the size of the pipeline...

my guess is thats near on 96" line. While the story listed it as gasoline pipeline, there are quite a number of products they ship via pipeline a number of them enter as liquid and come out as gas (usually with a 1000x expansion factor)

at flow rates of thousands of gallons per min it doesnt need to leak for very long before you have LOTS of product not were its supposed to be waiting of an ignition source. Many of the products if ignited will also travel back to source of the leak even over the distance of hundreds of yards.

Attending the pipeline training class as part of our Fire dept training does teach you some neat things about the large pipelines that cover the US.

 

[Kfbeal]

We are pretty flat down here, and the blast actually made us think something close by blew up. On a quick google, it was April 7, 1992 so I was pretty close saying 15 years. It seems it actually made the NY Times: Gas Explosion Tears Through Texas Pastures - New York Times

The explosion was of such force and of such a peculiar nature that it rattled buildings 70 miles away in Houston and was heard 140 miles away.

I didn't realize people were killed or injured in that blast.

In Texas, all excavators using mechanical tools to dig must call in and wait 48 hours. The digging depth is 16" or more I believe.

 

[Greenmountain Farmer]

I can see calling before you dig with a BH or use a post hole auger but what about if all you want to do is till ?
Should you still call even though you won't be going nearly as deep tilling?

We cut a major phone line while moldboard plowing the line was only 6" deep, another time we had dig-safe mark same cables so we could replace water line coming into barn, got the spot right but his 3foot depth was about 30" off cut 2 cables first stroke of the hoe.
Tom

 

[J_J]

I really don't think explosion that was caused by digging. It appears that the gas was leaking for some time before the blast, and then something triggered the explosion. . It was probably a defect or damage to the line, and it finally failed. It is an awesome site, and I would not have wanted to be close at all.