Calling 811

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satcom

Senior Member
Is everyone calling 811 when driving ground rods, or do you think, you really know where the utilities are located?
 

mcclary's electrical

Senior Member
Location
VA
Is everyone calling 811 when driving ground rods, or do you think, you really know where the utilities are located?



99% of the time I call.

Occasionally I feel comfortable if no other house around and I can see what's happening with utilities. They don't mark privately owned utilities anyway. So, if I know where the phone is, the power is over head, and they have a satellite, I drive away. Never in a neighborhood, only in the country
 

satcom

Senior Member
Yep. And I've seen them 'pounded' right through water & gas lines, as well as electrical. Not a pretty sight.
Yes they do, and we had one of our local long time contractors, hit a gas line with a rod and the house was to the ground in minutes, lucky the lady just left with her baby to go shopping.
They all say the same thing, they could see where the lines leave the basement, but we found the lines do not always leave in the assumed direction, so we always get the area marked.
 

eem946

Member
last week a friend called 811 they came out and laid all the utilities but some how they missed one and because they did missed a conduit for strreet lighting which got tore up when trenching, 8:11 is repairing at no cost :)
 

satcom

Senior Member
If you call in the morning let's say, how long before they show up?

That usually depends if you have an emergency, or a scheduled job, emergency requests are same day, and schedules jobs can take a few days, the contractor has to allow for line marking and then schedule the job when everything is clear, many of the problems happen when the contractor does not allow for marking, and starts the job before all the clear notices are received.
 

shockin

Senior Member
On new construction I would definatly call for the temp service which is probably located right next to the transformer. I wouldn't even dig the hole for the temp with-out calling. It's not worth it.

As for the new perminate service you will obviously need to call for you trench so you should still have locates when you install the ground rods. I like to install the ground rods in the service trench. that way you don't have to hand dig between them.
 

Smart $

Esteemed Member
Location
Ohio
If you call in the morning let's say, how long before they show up?
In Ohio, the responsible person/party must call between 10 days to 48 hours before digging... as a matter of law.

If one calls in the morning and you tell OUPS you plan to dig in 48 hours, they are there either same [business] day or the next business day. But unless you know for a fact that every utility representative has been there, you cannot dig until the 48 hours expires... and there is no guarantee the rep' will announce his presence unless necessary for access.
 

mcclary's electrical

Senior Member
Location
VA
If you call in the morning let's say, how long before they show up?

Around here they give you 48 hr hold. At that point, if you still see clear evidence of unmarked utilities, you call and request an emergency locate and they arrive within 3 hrs. I've had to do that twice.
 
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