Finding buried pipe

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/ Finding buried pipe #1  

AHNC

Gold Member
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Jun 12, 2009
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368
Location
Nevada City CA
Tractor
Kubota BX 2660 & BX-23
Many all ready know this but if you need to find buried pipe on your place take two 1/8"x36" brazing rods and put a 90deg bend about 6" from one end. Hold the handles loosely and point the two 30" pieces straight ahead of you and walk slowly across the area in question. As you cross the buried pipe the wands will go to parallel above the pipe. It is absolutley fool proof.

I cannot witch a water well. Don't have the touch, but this works!
 
/ Finding buried pipe #2  
Another method that usually works for me is to get the backhoe and just dig a hole. Its amazing how often I can hit a buried pipe.
 
/ Finding buried pipe #3  
I cannot witch a water well. Don't have the touch, but this works!

A friend that once taught me that said "You have to truly believe in order for it to work." :cool:
 
/ Finding buried pipe #5  
We witch 3 different wells on our property. {before we dug}Just for fun anytime a friend or family member would come by we'd have them witch to see what happened. We didn't tell them where we hit, didn't even point them in the general direction. Every single person hit the same spots :eek: The only person that it did not work perfectly for was a lady. Only one rod would turn, the other just moved a tiny bit, she had pins in the leg on the side the rod wouldn't work{??????}

It does work, even to the point were you can find out how deep the water level starts. I figured our well{water} would start at around 4-6' down they started between those estimates. I have heard of folks using apple tree limbs and having it hit so hard that it'd cut their hands{???}
 
/ Finding buried pipe #6  
Many all ready know this but if you need to find buried pipe on your place take two 1/8"x36" brazing rods and put a 90deg bend about 6" from one end. Hold the handles loosely and point the two 30" pieces straight ahead of you and walk slowly across the area in question. As you cross the buried pipe the wands will go to parallel above the pipe. It is absolutley fool proof.

I cannot witch a water well. Don't have the touch, but this works!

Being an electrician I was on a remodel job in a wharehouse and original prints were not quite accurate and the plumbers were cutting six inch concrete and digging looking for a sewer pipe to no avail. I grabbed some #12 solid insulated copper wire bent it and tried it. I came with in a couple of inches of it through six inches of concrete and about 6 feet down.:confused: It Works
 
/ Finding buried pipe #7  
.... I have heard of folks using apple tree limbs and having it hit so hard that it'd cut their hands{???}

My father could witch wells with apple (or any fruit) tree branches. I watched as the branches would pull hard downwards, and the bark on the branches would be torn off, he was holding them so tight. And he was accurate with locating water too. Doesn;t work for me at all :rolleyes:.
 
/ Finding buried pipe #8  
Being an electrician I was on a remodel job in a wharehouse and original prints were not quite accurate and the plumbers were cutting six inch concrete and digging looking for a sewer pipe to no avail. I grabbed some #12 solid insulated copper wire bent it and tried it. I came with in a couple of inches of it through six inches of concrete and about 6 feet down.:confused: It Works

This worked through the rebar in the concrete???
 
/ Finding buried pipe #9  
Please don't get me started on this subject. It DOESN'T work. There is a $1,000,000 prize waiting for anyone that can prove it works. On the other hand I do believe that people can find utilities without a locator, but they are seeing things on the ground, such as low spots to tip them off. Just because it works sometimes, that doesn't prove that it works. I can pretty much witch a well anywhere in Illinois, thats because you can drill just about anywhere and hit water.

There really is a prize waiting for people that can prove they can witch pipes, or any other kind of paranormal activity. Its never been claimed.
 
/ Finding buried pipe #10  
I was a surveyor on a job site which had been totally demolished. All paving and surface features had been removed. I saw a guy dowsing and asked him what he was doing. He worked for a major oil company and was marking oil lines. I asked him what his success rate was. His response was every time. I've got a good eye for utility undergrounds but in this case the surface was totally disturbed and any referencing structures had been removed.

He did mark the lines correctly.

Zeuspaul
 
/ Finding buried pipe #11  
Please don't get me started on this subject. It DOESN'T work.

Sorry folks, but I do a lot of utility tracing (for work) and have gotta agree. Have seen plumbers try this many times. Occasionally they have hit the right spot, but it was also obvious where to look. Usually it just wastes time.

Buried line tracers aren't very expensive, work great on everything but small PVC and PEX supply. On large pvc I send a fishtape down then use it as the emitter. My favorite plumber has a camera with a radio emitter on the end. Works great as well.

Russell (engineer in BubbaLand)
 
/ Finding buried pipe #12  
This worked through the rebar in the concrete???

I am not lying! I have two plumbers, the job SI, and another electircian that saw it happen. It worked in two different places on the same Job!:) I will admit we did have an idea where they should of been due to the prints, but the two wires went parallel as I crossed the pipe. The pipe was cast iron, don't know if this had anything to do with it or not. On the other hand, just last week my water line from the road to the house broke and I had to replace it - I did call 811 to have all the other utilities marked before I dug a trench. :D
 
/ Finding buried pipe #13  
The secret is that the witcher walks with someone who knows the location, the witcher is a person who can "read" the body language of the other person.

Repeatedly, in scientifically controlled double blind studies, it has been proven, over, and over, and over, that no such ability exists. It is absolute, total hogwash, baloney, nonsense. Just as absurd as remarks that the Haiti earthquake was caused by voodoo ceremonies hundreds of years ago. Superstition and nothing more.

The way you locate the pipe is to have a flex snake with radio transmitter pushed down the opening of the pipe and then track the signal with a receiver.
 
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/ Finding buried pipe #14  
BTW - I might go out in the yard to practice I could use that prize money!!!!!
 
/ Finding buried pipe #15  
The secret is that the witcher walks with someone who knows the location, the witcher is a person who can "read" the body language of the other person.

Repeatedly, in scientifically controlled double blind studies, it has been proven, over, and over, and over, that no such ability exists. It is absolute, total hogwash, baloney, nonsense. Just as absurd as remarks that the Hati earthquake was caused by voodo ceremonies hundreds of years ago. Superstition and nothing more.

The way you locate the pipe is to have a flex snake with radio transmitter pushed down the opening of the pipe and then track the signal with a receiver.

Hey Tom ,How about listing some of blind studies for my curiosity:)
 
/ Finding buried pipe #16  
Gentleman, this probably has nothing to do with this but, we grow alot of watermelons here where I am at and my father-in -law showed me a way to tell if they were ripe. He took a straw from a broom and would place it across the diameter of the watermelon. If the melon was ripe the straw would turn and stop ending up parallel with the length of the melon. A whole lot of people and I have seen this many times.
 
/ Finding buried pipe #17  
Best way is:

One easy phone call to 811 starts the process to get your underground utility lines marked for free. When you call 811 from anywhere in the country, your call will be routed to your local One Call Center. Local One Call Center operators will ask you for the location of your digging job and route your call to affected utility companies. Your utility companies will then send a professional locator to your location to mark your lines within a few days. Once your underground lines have been marked, you will know the approximate location of your utility lines and can dig safely, because knowing what's below protects you and your family.

Always call 811 before starting any digging project!
 
/ Finding buried pipe #18  
Best way is:

One easy phone call to 811 starts the process to get your underground utility lines marked for free. When you call 811 from anywhere in the country, your call will be routed to your local One Call Center. Local One Call Center operators will ask you for the location of your digging job and route your call to affected utility companies. Your utility companies will then send a professional locator to your location to mark your lines within a few days. Once your underground lines have been marked, you will know the approximate location of your utility lines and can dig safely, because knowing what's below protects you and your family.

Always call 811 before starting any digging project!

Called my water company and asked if they would locate water lines. Yes, up to the meter. Past the meter which is most of mine, no.
 
/ Finding buried pipe #19  
My father could "witch" wells. I've seen him do it. He could even tell the driller how deep each vein of water would be from the surface. I've seen him do it many times and people would come from all over the community to get him to do it.

You can say that it doesn't work, but for those of use that have seen it done we believe.

Daddy "witched" a well for a man one time and the driller refused to set down in that spot. He said it wouldn't work. The man told the driller to pack up and go home, he would find someone else to drill his well.

The driller moved across the yard and drilled where my dad had marked. Each time the driller hit a vein of water he would have a look of suprise on his face. That's because we were keeping up with how deep he was and where dad had said that he would hit a vein. Dad was right on every time.

The driller hit all three veins at the depth he was told that he would. When he finished drilling he told us that he would have never believed it if he hadn't seen it himself.

BTW: We don't have huge aquifers where I live like they do in some areas. I realize that there are places that you can set up a drill anywhere and hit water, but not here.

Chris
 
/ Finding buried pipe #20  
Hey Tom ,How about listing some of blind studies for my curiosity:)

Ongley, P. (1948). "New Zealand Diviners". New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology 30: 38?4. via Hines, Terence (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (Second ed.). Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. p. 420. ISBN 9781573929790.

Vogt, Evon Z.; Ray Hyman (1979). Water Witching U.S.A. (2nd ed.). Chicago: Chicago University Press. ISBN 9780226862972. via Hines, Terence (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (Second ed.). Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. p. 420. ISBN 9781573929790.

http://vvi.onstreammedia.com/cgi-bi...ccstart=24766&ccend=3425233&videoID=pbssaf802
 
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