Do you always "call before you dig"?

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Strummed

Senior Member
Location
NJ
My local utility company says that it's the law to "call before you dig" for them to locate and mark out underground utilities. http://www.pseg.com/home/education_safety/safety/dig.jsp

It's a free service, but the spray paint makes a mess of the property for some time.

So... do you always call and have it marked out? Even if you are driving ground rods in a far away location from the water/gas entrances?
 
roger

roger

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Fl
Occupation
Retired Electrician
Most of the time, although I have let it fall through the cracks at times.

Roger
 
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Strummed

Senior Member
Location
NJ
Most of my jobs have had the water and gas clearly on the other side of the house. In one coming up, the gas is right next to the electrical service. My plan was to go 15' towards the back of the house and drive the ground rods there, but now I am thinking about having the utilities located just in case the gas line goes in the back of the house first. The house was built in 1947 and you never know what changes were made.

It's just that they have a really nice lawn and I don't want to piss them off.
 
kwired

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
I don't think I have ever called for the purpose of driving a ground rod, though I guess under the law I probably should. The finer print only says the location only needs to be accurate within 18 inches and you should be hand digging in that vicinity, yeah right, if it is a critical or hazardous line and it is hard soil the utility operator can just be there to help find the line during excavation if it is going to be that way. And most want to be there anyway in certain cases. I recall crossing a high pressure gas pipe one time where gas company wanted to be there when it was uncovered, they even got in my trench and did necessary hand digging to find it. Same with a fiber optic cable I was crossing one time, that happened to be a major trunk line for a lot of users and likely would have resulted in major losses if it were to be damaged.

I have seen utility marks be more than 18 inches off before. Electric and communications are usually right on, gas, water, sewer sometimes you never know what you will find in relation to the markings. Water is usually not a problem though, around here it is deeper than we typically will be installing electric lines because of risk of freezing the water line.
 
mivey

mivey

Senior Member
Strummed said:
So... do you always call and have it marked out? Even if you are driving ground rods in a far away location from the water/gas entrances?
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No, but only if I am sure there is nothing there. Still is a risk evaluation. If I think something might be close: absolutely, without a doubt.
 
kwired

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Strummed said:
It's just that they have a really nice lawn and I don't want to piss them off.
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If you hit something you may piss them off even more as it may require even more excavation to repair it.

Painted lines go away pretty fast during active growing season. You could paint over them with green if necessary when done. How do you think they have different markings on grass fields just a day or two apart in some sports stadiums?
 
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duckhead

Member
Location
Windsor, SC
A few years ago, I got job to hook up service for a construction trailer (service pole, ground rod, 3' underground feeder to trailer). I did not think it was necessary to call and didn't. The ground was very hard. A telephone man was on site and was digging a trench to same area of trailer. I made a deal with him, I would move out of his way and he would dig my 3' trench with his trencher. While digging my trench, he cut a large telephone cable feeding a shopping center. He called his company and they sent out a cable splicer (no charge to me because telephone man did it). Electrical inspector arrived before I installed ground rod. I rammed rod in the ground to start driving it. Inspector pulled it up and said "let me show you the easy way to drive a ground rod". He rammed it back into the ground and into a gas line a few inches away from where I had rammed it. We ran. I called gas company and a repairman came to fix it. He said "I sure hope you called for a location because if you didn't you'll be sorry". Inspector and gasman knew each other but he did not tell gasman that he did it so when I got a chance I told him. Only by the grace of God, I didn't have to pay. Nowadays unless it is out in the woods, I CALL.
 
chris kennedy

chris kennedy

Senior Member
Location
Miami Fla.
Occupation
60 yr old tool twisting electrician
Call all the time for diggin, also have our own locator for UG feeders and branch cirs. By the time I get around to driving rods I know where everything is.

Did have a auger sub break some sort of antique 2" water line a couple years back, cost $400 for 2 couplings.:blink:
 
jumper

jumper

Senior Member
Location
3 Hr 2 Min from Winged Horses
chris kennedy said:
Call all the time for diggin, also have our own locator for UG feeders and branch cirs. By the time I get around to driving rods I know where everything is.

Did have a auger sub break some sort of antique 2" water line a couple years back, cost $400 for 2 couplings.:blink:
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I know a guy, not to be named :angel:, who punctured his 4" sewer line building his screen porch.:slaphead:

Wifey was irritated to say the least.:lol:
 
GUNNING

GUNNING

Senior Member
Location
Gainesville, Florida
I was a locator for a cable contractor a while back. We cut it even when it was located. Put in 112 miles of underground through back yards and front. I know how the utilities come to the house and when to call. If its on a right of way, call. If its drive a ground rod I back them off away from the service transformer. If the ground is soft its a trench line.
I had a complaint about our marks on someones front lawn. I returned about 3 hours later and spayed them out with green paint. The woman called and thanked the office.

Its all in how much damage you think you might be doing. As a side note we had cut whole neighborhoods phones off because they didn't mark all there lines to the slick hut. We cut 6 inch water mains and force mains because they didn't have tracer wire on the PVC pipe. We cut gas lines because the guys were too stoned to see the yellow paint and or the locator just missed it. We cut electric lines because they were not deep enough. The scariest thing was the gas transmission line crossing. Six laborers hung over on a Saturday,with pick axes and shovels. All the right company representation was there, but would not have survived if something were to go wrong. I went home early.

Sometimes locators miss. Sometimes they note something you didn't know was there. Call if you can. It gets messy and expensive if you don't.
 
RichB

RichB

Senior Member
Location
Tacoma, Wa
Occupation
Electrician/Electrical Inspector
Here in Wa it's triple damages to the owning utility if you hit something and didn't call a locate in--
 
GUNNING

GUNNING

Senior Member
Location
Gainesville, Florida
I had a phone line cut where there were 6 working pairs in an 800 pair cable that we cut. The cable was not on there microfiche (yes this was before computers). It was in the process of being deleted for obvious reasons.

They all went to the state universities college Radio/TV station antenna farm.

:roll:
 
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