Call before you dig

[Dr_Zinj]

There’s an internet line that’s ran areal across my property. It’s sagged down to about 6 ft off the ground. The internet company is useless about fixing it. I’m tempted to just drive a dump truck under it and see if I don’t get faster results.

"I didn't take it down. It was that group of feral hogs that run through there." That excuse also works for anything that's not buried at least a foot down.

 

[Dukeisok]

Dumb question: if you own an excavator or backhoe and you want to be able to dig year round all over your property because you’re always doing something, do you call before you dig every month? Because where I am the markings are only good for thirty days.

I think the call before you dig is about liability. If you know where stuff is and you are 500 ft away, it doesn't matter. In my experience it isn't that useful. They don't mark my underground power, water or coax, only the utilities' main lines. They never mark the fiber, though there are 3 ft high fiberglass posts to mark the general area. All our utilities are in the front 50 ft of the land, the back 10 acres have nothing. I call when I'm digging up front but am constantly doing something in the back and not calling.

 

[tjandrews]

Some state it's law the to call Dig Safe,doing so there no responsibility on landowner if damages result.

It must be that way in New York.

All of our utility lines, power, telephone, Internet/TV are on poles. Too rural for public water or sewer. Even so, a few years back, when the County snowplow driver took out our mailbox post (Driving WAY too fast, threw the snow too hard), the County had to call 811 before they would replace the post and box. This, even though we have been here for 76 years, and know where all the lines are. No doubt they've had others that were as SURE as we are about where things are, only to be surprised when they dig something up.

 

[Mad Mac]

When I was stationed in West Germany
and lived "on the economy" in a German home, I observed a new water line being laid. It was about four feet deep. After filling about two or three feet, they laid a pale blue tape in the trench and finished filling. That way, if at some time in the future an auger or backhoe came up with a pretty blue ribbon, they would know that they are on a water line and to stop digging. Brilliant. Different color tapes are used for each type of utility. Why don't we do that? Especially for water lines of PVC pipe that cannot be located with a metal detector.

 

[tjandrews]

Here in Wisconsin you are supposed to call diggers hotline before doing ANY digging, even in your garden !

So how do all those Wisconsin dairy farmers manage to work their fields?

 

[4570Man]

Dumb question: if you own an excavator or backhoe and you want to be able to dig year round all over your property because you’re always doing something, do you call before you dig every month? Because where I am the markings are only good for thirty days.

That’s what the state law says you’re supposed to do but if you have already called once for that property and got the all clear I’m not going to keep calling.

 

[Mad Mac]

Here is one good reason to call 811. In addition to marking the line, the natural gas pipeline company that crosses our property provides a gate and the posts for an H brace on both sides of the gate if your new fence crosses their pipeline. They need access for mowers to mow the right of way. That new gate is handy as a pocket.

 

[RjCorazza]

I think the call before you dig is about liability. If you know where stuff is and you are 500 ft away, it doesn't matter. In my experience it isn't that useful. They don't mark my underground power, water or coax, only the utilities' main lines. They never mark the fiber, though there are 3 ft high fiberglass posts to mark the general area. All our utilities are in the front 50 ft of the land, the back 10 acres have nothing. I call when I'm digging up front but am constantly doing something in the back and not calling.

I do pretty much the same. I call when I'm near any utilities, but otherwise I don't. After recently getting a large gas line that crosses my property located, I now have all underground lines drawn up precisely in Autocad.
I did have to call "Miss Utility" for my pole barn build even though there was nothing anywhere in the area in case the inspectors asked... Which they didn't.

 

[Garandguy1]

If I submit a locate ticket, the phone company (AT&T) will come out and locate all of their lines. There are at least 2 fiber optic cables running through my property on the highway frontage. All of the fiber cables around here are much larger than what is in your picture. They are at least 2" and are bright orange.

That orange pipe you saw is not the actual cable. That is called interduct. It is hollow and the fiber is run inside. I know of no fiber cable that is not black. 39 years Southern Bell, Bellsouth, AT&T. Retired.

 

[Bentrim]

Don't get lines located, this could be your story.

 

[kenmbz]

We had a new fiber run down the side of our driveway, conduit orange, fiber is black.

When we had them mark for a change to our cable run from box to house, the only line mismarked was for the cable

When they showed up, I showed them the gas line , which I had marked with the aluminum tape about 6" above the gas line. That tape idea is great, easy to find and will come up in a strip if hit.

And also showed them where the cable run actually was located.

Sure enough I was right, they were happy and used the old cable to run the new one.

The underground power marks looked like the guy was drunk and were all over the side and into the driveway. Some of the marks almost to the center of the asphalt.
I hope they are deep enough when we get the driveway repaved!

 

[Gord Baker]

I have 5 fiber conduits running through my front yard, I watched them plow them in years ago. They connect a local switch to one a couple of miles away. So last spring I was going to replace my mail box post, an old uglt, rusty H beam stuck in the ground about 3 feet deep with a 4" tube post powder coated Kubota orange, and since it's been such a long time since the fiber was installed, I didn't remember just how far from the post they were. I called the phone company, they said call 811. Called 811, they said they only locate gas and electric services, call the phone company. Called the phone company back and explained what 811 said, they said the fiber wasn't theirs, call 811. Called 811 again, they came out and located my gas and electric services which are 100 feet from the mail box post. I went out and asked the 811 guy who I need to contact about the fiber, he said he didn't know.
So I pulled the H beam out with the Kubota and relocated the hole a foot farther back from the road, using a post hole digger. I didn't run into any of the fiber conduits, but I know they are there close.
I never have found out who to contact to locate those fiber runs.

There is always a metal conductor included in the bundle for locates. You took a very big chance. You could have just cleaned up and painted the H beam.

 

[BravoXray]

There is always a metal conductor included in the bundle for locates. You took a very big chance. You could have just cleaned up and painted the H beam.

When the county repaved the road last spring, they requested that I relocate the post as they were widening the pavement. So that's what I did. I was going to replace the ugly H-beam post anyway. I did use a hand operated post hole digger, not a powered one, so if I did find the conduits, I wouldn't have damaged them. I still wonder why no one seems to know who to contact to locate the buried fiber.

 

[4570Man]

There is always a metal conductor included in the bundle for locates. You took a very big chance. You could have just cleaned up and painted the H beam.

They ran fiber down my street a few months ago and I didn’t see any metal trace wire going in with it. They left the scraps that they cut off the end of the run laying in the yard and I didn’t see any trace wire with that either.

 

[JLinOK]

If you cut this cable, i am told it is $800,000 per hour till it is back in operation. This is a fiber optic cable the runs between Houston and Atlanta. It is a main east west internet cable. It took about 12 hours to repair.

A contractor my company hired cut it. They called 811 and lumen said there was no cable there. It is luman's fault since they didn't locate it. My guess is that it will lay in that yard for months. That driveway in the distance, it is about two inches deep. Such a valuable cable, such little care.

We would have made a permanent repair no matter how long it took. Given the importance,we would have laid a temporary cable and then would have started the permanent fix and respliced at midn

 

[JLinOK]

If you cut this cable, i am told it is $800,000 per hour till it is back in operation. This is a fiber optic cable the runs between Houston and Atlanta. It is a main east west internet cable. It took about 12 hours to repair.

A contractor my company hired cut it. They called 811 and lumen said there was no cable there. It is luman's fault since they didn't locate it. My guess is that it will lay in that yard for months. That driveway in the distance, it is about two inches deep. Such a valuable cable, such little care.

We would have made a permanent repair no matter how long it took. Given the importance,we would have laid a temporary cable and then would have started the permanent fix and respliced at midnight. View attachment 2984601

When BluePeak moved into town I took their service and they came in with a little shaker and put my cable no more than 6 inches under my yard. I have run into it (not cut it) doing random yard work. My border collies will be into in under a minute if a mole digs near by. Really ruff shod work.

 

[KennyG]

When BluePeak moved into town I took their service and they came in with a little shaker and put my cable no more than 6 inches under my yard. I have run into it (not cut it) doing random yard work. My border collies will be into in under a minute if a mole digs near by. Really ruff shod work.

I think the drops to the house are considered disposable. At least that's the way it is for coax service here like Xfinity. Mine seems to be 2 to 3 inches deep and I've found it several times doing yard work. Apparently never damaged it enough to cause a problem.

 

[JeepHead]

I think the drops to the house are considered disposable. At least that's the way it is for coax service here like Xfinity. Mine seems to be 2 to 3 inches deep and I've found it several times doing yard work. Apparently never damaged it enough to cause a problem.

They're not disposable, just not critical lines. No damage is going to be caused to life or limb is they're cut in to. They don't need to be installed in conduit or protected from accidental damage.

 

[mike5511]

If you cut this cable, i am told it is $800,000 per hour till it is back in operation. This is a fiber optic cable the runs between Houston and Atlanta. It is a main east west internet cable. It took about 12 hours to repair.

A contractor my company hired cut it. They called 811 and lumen said there was no cable there. It is luman's fault since they didn't locate it. My guess is that it will lay in that yard for months. That driveway in the distance, it is about two inches deep. Such a valuable cable, such little care.

We would have made a permanent repair no matter how long it took. Given the importance,we would have laid a temporary cable and then would have started the permanent fix and respliced at midnight. View attachment 2984601

Not only will it lay there until it buried again, it may get replaced a couple of more times before it does get buried again! (Telephone contract work was the family business for many years.We did it all at one time or another.)

 

[Up to the Axles]

Connected at 10 gigabit as I can't be bothered to shell out a few thousand dollars for 100 gigabit gear.

You can't get anything useful for a residence with 10G, either. A friend was a VP at Amazon, and was upset his new apartment LAN was only 2.5Gb/s until I asked him how many mouse-clicks/second that was. He shut up.

We'll need 16K/3D television before you need that capacity. It's like buying some 500HP tractor to plow the driveway in Florida.