Backhoe hits Gas Main

Robert_in_NY · Feb 27, 2002

Dig safe is only good if the people mark the lines properly. We have had numerous occasions where we are told there are no lines where we will be working and low and behold guess what we find. My grandfather was working around fiber optic lines and MCI had their guy come to the job site and he stayed there every minute till the job was done to make sure no one hit the fiber optics, something about it being expensive I think./w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif We have cut thru 500 amp power cables buried below concrete, riped out sewer lines and colapsed the lid on a septic tank after the owner assured us the tank was not there. Most people don't mark their lines too good and these things happen, the gas company has gotten better with their little beeping tool but they still make mistakes. Live and learn.

Bird · Feb 27, 2002

About 25 years ago, I had a swimming pool installed in the back yard. The phone company sent a man out to mark the phone lines (and they even laid a temporary line because they knew the existing line would be dug up). I thought it seemed like peculiar routing for the phone line, but the guy said he was sure. Then the contractor came and marked the electric line. Neither I nor the guy who was going to do the digging thought the kid marked it right, so I called and talked to his supervisor who assured me the electric line was marked right. Sure enough, first bucket load with the backhoe pulled up the electric line, sparks flew, and the operator abandoned his backhoe in a hurry. And then when the phone line was dug up, it knocked out my next door neighbor's phone service because his line also ran through my yard./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif It was quite an experience. The only thing marked right was the natural gas pipe, and perhaps that was only because I didn't call the gas company/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif. I had been there when it was originally installed and knew exactly where it was myself./w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

Robert_in_NY · Feb 27, 2002

Don't you love it when utility companies say "Trust us, we know what we are doing." It is usually followed a few hours later by a "OH CRAP."

RickM · Feb 27, 2002

I don't know if this story made national headlines or not. It happend a few weeks ago. Charles Machine Works (makers of DitchWitch) got into a 22" interstate pipeline running 600 psi near their Perry, Ok plant. I can't fathom how that could happen but it did. It is fortunate there was only one death. I cannot imagine what it would have been like if the gas had ignited. Here is a link to the local story. <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?s=655889>http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?s=655889</A>. Very tragic indeed.

frank_f15 · Feb 27, 2002

ROBERT: JUST CURIOUS ! DID U TAKE THAT PIC WITH A DIGITAL CAMERA OFF YOUR TV.SET?

Robert_in_NY · Feb 27, 2002

STOP YELLING!/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif No, it was posted on a different board by another member who lives outside of the city.

jhburke · Feb 28, 2002

My cable tv co kept having trouble with their above ground line. They decided to bury it. Had all the sewer, water, and telephone lines marked. Had a special unit to come in and bore the line in. Neibhor had trouble with water backing up in his tub. He had a roto rooter company come to root out his line. They could only go so far and it was blocked. He rented a special camera and found a pink tube bisecting his sewer line. By the way the tube the cable was buried in was pink. He called the cable co and they said couldn't be theirs not their responsibility. I told him simply dig down and cut out the section of sewer line also to cut the pink tube on both sides of his sewer line. Repair his sewer line and refill his hole.
Then when cable co come looking for the break in their line show them the section of his sewer line and tell them it couldn't be theirs because they said it wasn't theirs previously.

Egon · Feb 28, 2002

Rick:

There are times after a gas line rupture area has been cleared it is best to ignite the leak. This way a large gas cloud cannot form while the line depressures. It is exspecially important when a gas heavier than air is released.

Egon