Trenching Underground - Damage to Fiber Optic?

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Buck Parrish

Buck Parrish

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NC & IN
(A) Do you all have the customer sign some kind of release agreement before you trench ?

(B) Would this agreement / contract make you not responsible for damage?

(C) What does it cost to repair a residential single family home under ground fiber optic? How long does it take?

(D) Is fiber optic ran directly to the house now?

(E) Or is it still used only on the main lines?

I know about calling 811 first. But I'd like some protection in addition to that. I've not hit one. But we've been doing a lot of trenching lately.
Some times the customer will say "I know theirs's nothing under there. Than 811 finds a gas line.
 
I've had utility locate say there was nothing there where I was trenching on my own property, but I knew there was a buried main phone line in my path, called them out again, shown them the splice boxes, "Oh! That previous guy was filling in, and didn't know! "
 
Fiber optic goes directly to the house now in a lot of places and has a media converter on the side of the house to transition to cooper phone lines that are in most houses.

it’s a PIA to splice. ESPECIALLY when it’s in the ground. Up in the air isn’t quite so bad. Pull it off the snowshoes and bring it in the trailer.

The glass fiber has to be burnt. Basically you cleave the fiber and melt the glass together. After that an OTDR will give the results of the burn.

Does your state have a law that requires facility owners to be a member of 811? I think SC does, I wish NC did...
Anyway... I don’t know many homeowners that own the fiber. The phone co. Should locate it for you. If they don’t it’s on their dime if it’s cut.
 
In our area, fiber to the home is common. The fiber runs all the way to the router - no transition to copper.

Definitely call the service provider!
 
Hv&Lv said:
Fiber optic goes directly to the house now in a lot of places and has a media converter on the side of the house to transition to cooper phone lines that are in most houses.

it’s a PIA to splice. ESPECIALLY when it’s in the ground. Up in the air isn’t quite so bad. Pull it off the snowshoes and bring it in the trailer.

The glass fiber has to be burnt. Basically you cleave the fiber and melt the glass together. After that an OTDR will give the results of the burn.

Does your state have a law that requires facility owners to be a member of 811? I think SC does, I wish NC did...
Anyway... I don’t know many homeowners that own the fiber. The phone co. Should locate it for you. If they don’t it’s on their dime if it’s cut.
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Thanks, . Any info would be appreciated..
I'd just like to know exactly what to expect if I hit a fiber optic. Is that to much to ask...?
 
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Buck Parrish said:
Thanks, . Any info would be appreciated..
I'd just like to know exactly what to expect if I hit a fiber optic. Is that to much to ask...?
Click to expand...
I have never done it, but my expectation, especially for buried fiber not in a duct, would be that somebody would have to replace the entire junction to junction run.
 
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Buck Parrish said:
Thanks, . Any info would be appreciated..
I'd just like to know exactly what to expect if I hit a fiber optic. Is that to much to ask...?
Click to expand...
Here in NJ they have a "Call before you dig" requirement. You call the service, I don't know if there is a cost, and they come out and locate all the utilities. If there's a "oops", because the service makes a mistake, you're not on the legal hook, and you'll have an easier time of it when you talk to your insurance carrier about the pending claim.
 
Buck Parrish said:
Thanks, . Any info would be appreciated..
I'd just like to know exactly what to expect if I hit a fiber optic. Is that to much to ask...?
Click to expand...
Nope...
what to expect.
If you called in your locates and have waited the appropriate time for locates to be done, nothing.
You won’t even know you hit it with a trencher.
If it’s sleeved you may see a bit of HDPE, but that’s about it.

I wait my time and dig.
I have cut several.
Never paid anything as long as I have that ticket number and it’s up to date.
 
And don't work off someone else's locate, one of our foreman learned that the hard way. The plumber was taking the same path, and had a ticket. Our guy followed the same path and hit an unmarked watermain. Even though the locator missed it, we were still on the hook because we didn't have our own locate ticket. Several pissed off restaurant owners when they had to close because of no water!
 
Buck Parrish said:
Dang. Amazing. you must be in Northern ILL. Appreciate the comment
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Actually west-central. Our rural telephone coop formed a subsidiary for their ISP and started a fiber build-out initiative 3-4 years ago. My nephew who lives near our farm (no town at all) had fiber a year before I could get it. I live on the outskirts of a city of about 35,000.
My gigabit connection costs me about $75 per month and because I signed up before they built out to my neighborhood, the price is locked in for as long as I live here.
 
Homeowner reporting here, not an electrician ... upstate South Carolina, ground doesn't ever really freeze.

I had DSL via copper which had major problems over its 12,000 ft run. ATT upgraded me to Fiber to the house last fall. It was buried about an inch deep, went through a drilled hole through mortar and sheetrock into the house, then to a converter from fiber to copper which feeds the same DSL box.

I was edging my tiny lawn this spring and cut it 2 places. 2 days for a tech to come, but that's what it is. He replaced it (maybe 60 feet of cable) at no charge. We'd had other lawn work done in the winter where there was this and other underground "stuff" and had locate done, this cable wasn't marked.

The tech said that if we called 811 and asked them to locate it, they will even though it is in our yard. It is theirs until it gets inside the house. There are 2 steel strands on either side of the fiber which allow the locate. My wife doesn't like the orange paint in the yard ... edging is a 3 or 4 times a year task.

I slid some 1/2" PVC over the fiber cable where it crosses the edge of the yard and was here when the burial guy came ... he worked hard to get the cable and sleeve 6" deep and positioned my sleeves where problems would be likely to occur. Edging goes about 1.5" deep, so I think I'll be ok.

Aside ... I like having over 350 Mbps ... but don't need it. 35 would be overkill.
 
Buck Parrish said:
I thought my general liability covered every thing. That's why I started this thread. So I can be well informed. Thanks.
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Buck Parrish said:
I thought my general liability covered every thing. That's why I started this thread. So I can be well informed. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Most contractor liability policies don't automatically cover excavation work. This is risky stuff and the coverage is expensive.
 
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