Digging near electric..& near dead!

[Kendrick]

we had dig safe come out but noticed they did not catch all the lines running. about 5' in to the grass was a phone junction box, one of those green jobs about the only place it could run was across our land towards the house but it was not marked though our phone line appairently runs along the side of our gravle road! i have to fix the gravle road and thats gona suck for me

 

[Soundguy]

Yep.. Fl 1 call screws up too.

When i put my fence in i had help for the front and right side. Taht was the stuff up by a road and down the side near a neighbor. I had a locate.. locate showed only lines along the ROW in front of out properties.

Rules say you have to hand dig if you are close.. but were were 50-60' minimum, and nearly 300' from the cables ....

Both cable and phone however make diagonal runs across the front 200-300' of my land to the neighbor. We hit them 2 times each with the auger. Neighbor grumbled.. power and electric grumbled.. I told them to talk to the locate service and take it up with them... go figure.

soundguy

 

[hemiguy]

I just had my own "interesting experience" with buried electric today. Home owner's 60 amp feed from house to garage. Obviously not checked when I called DigSafeNY. We hand dug down where the conduit enters the garage and saw it was over 18" deep. But, low and behold, my 4 foot rototiller hits the line barely 20 feet from the garage. The yard is quite level but here it was maybe 6'' from surface. Stalled the tractor with plastic conduit wrapped inside the tiller, popper the 60 amp branch breaker AND the 100 amp main breaker in the house. We weren't sure quite what had happened and so called the power company who came right out and verified their stuff was OK coming into the meter and box. The service entrance was clearly overhead wire anyway.

Luckily the homeowner (very good friend) was relieved that I wasn't hurt or killed and was less concerned with the damage. We sat down and had dinner while discussing next steps. I need more seat time on the backhoe anyway so will be heading out this weekend to dig up the damaged line and dig deeper to get ready for the replacement. Seems like buried electric lines attract one or many of Murphy's laws

 

[mjncad]

Seems like buried electric lines attract one or many of Murphy's laws

I suspect natural gas lines and Murphy are best friends too.

 

[Rebel]

I just had my own "interesting experience" with buried electric today. Home owner's 60 amp feed from house to garage. Obviously not checked when I called DigSafeNY. We hand dug down where the conduit enters the garage and saw it was over 18" deep. But, low and behold, my 4 foot rototiller hits the line barely 20 feet from the garage. The yard is quite level but here it was maybe 6'' from surface. Stalled the tractor with plastic conduit wrapped inside the tiller, popper the 60 amp branch breaker AND the 100 amp main breaker in the house. We weren't sure quite what had happened and so called the power company who came right out and verified their stuff was OK coming into the meter and box. The service entrance was clearly overhead wire anyway.

Luckily the homeowner (very good friend) was relieved that I wasn't hurt or killed and was less concerned with the damage. We sat down and had dinner while discussing next steps. I need more seat time on the backhoe anyway so will be heading out this weekend to dig up the damaged line and dig deeper to get ready for the replacement. Seems like buried electric lines attract one or many of Murphy's laws

How the above typically happens;

Unfortunately the electrical service and gas service is usually installed at the beginning of the job to the minimum depth required buy the NEC and building code. Then towards the completion of the project during final grading a drainage swail is usually cut around around the building in some fashion to provide proper drainage. Depending on the size of the building and the existing contours the drainage swail can get quite deep effectively bringing the electrical and gas service closer to the surface.

As a grading contractor (in a previous life) I've seen it happen more than once

 

[hemiguy]

Yes, I will be (very carefully) hand digging to locate buried conduits from now on. I saw another thread somewhere on this site about making a garden over a buried electrical service entance. My advice would be to move the garden or move the buried electric. In my case, it cuts across a VERY small backyard where the driveway is being expanded for additional parking. So it has to go deeper.

As far as gas lines and Murphys laws... several years ago and just around the corner from me, a six unit condominium building burned down when a gas line was compromised. I later heard that the utility company (yes, thats right) was shrink wrapping an electric service line and somehow caused the gas line in the same trench to light up. Luckily, there were only minor injuries. I suspect rules and procedures were not correctly followed and somebody had to look for new employment.

I do have liability insurance, but have no desire to actually use it. In this case, the damage was less than $500. I consider myself lucky and will not forget my "lesson", whether its for a friend or paying client.

 

[Pete Milley]

I see that a number of you subscribe to Murphy's Law. I believe in O'Brien's Law which states "Murphy is an optomist". I have had numerous oh-ohs in different states. Each time, DigSafe, Call B4u Dig or the utilities had been out prior to "mark" the danger zones. I have not been held responsible in any of these cases, but I must admit, I'm a bit reticent at breaking ground anymore. After all. I'm the first one at the scene. Be safe fellow TBNers.

 

[jsborn]

I just had my own "interesting experience" with buried electric today. Home owner's 60 amp feed from house to garage. Obviously not checked when I called DigSafeNY.

Most utility locate services only locate the lines and pipes owned by their member utilities i.e. Gas Co. Water Co. Power Co.. It is up to the home owner to locate and mark any privately owned lines such as these. As you found out most of the time Privately owned lines from the house to Garage etc are not put in by any code they are just covered and forgotten.
Good luck

 

[schmism]

Huge headache for both the landowner and the utility. Not to mention it could possibly be deadly.

pssssttttttt while you may techincally own the land an easment is part of, that does NOT mean you have rights to build whatever you want ontop of it and expect to not have it buldozed if and when the easment owner needs to service whatever is in the easement.

 

[Soundguy]

Ditto.

We have a power line easement ( overhead lines ) that runs down one side of our property. Can't build withing 50' of the center of the easement.

I actually put up a little tractor lean-to that 'grew' a bit and does encroach a few feet in to the easement. i actually called the p.company and asked them if they want me to go ahead and remove it.. they said not to worry about it and just leave it be without further encroaching.. but that if it ever did need to be (re)moved.. that they didn't want an argument about it. I said thankya and hung up.

soundguy