Trenching Scare

[midnightscape]

Came home Friday night to my builder trenching for the line to my addition from my meter. It was about 5 p.m., dark, so I left my vehicle on with the lights pointed at him so he could see what he was doing. Was just standing around watching the dirt flying and the occassional sparks when he would hit a rock, when I started smelling something...hmmm...smells like PROPANE! I got his attention, did the throat slash, he said "what?", I did it again and yelled "turn the f***in' thing off" and he stopped it and before he could say anything we could both hear the "ssssssssssssssss". I quickly ran to my propane tank and shut off the line. He thought I was just wanting to talk.
Whoever built the house ran the line in between 2 trees and to the back of the house then came around the front along the foundation instead of the straight line he "thought" they would've taken. Anyway, I started hand digging out the line while he went to town to get more pipe and fittings, had it back together in a couple hours.

Thankfully no fireworks this December!

[Dragon]

I hit a 2" main gas line with an auger in an area that One Call had marked out 3 times and never found. It wasn't on the plat either.

And it was only buried 10" under grade on flat ground.

:roll:

[roger g]

Hey Dragon, who would be held liable for something like that?

roger

[Tom R]

Should be the utility company, - - their lines, their mark-out.

[Rich]

From the sounds of it - the utility company didn't mark it. midnight - did the contractor have a utility locate done?

[Tom R]

Oh, - - yeah, - - I'm referring to Dragon's 'incident'. I don't know about midnightscape's.

[Rich]

Oh.. :) my bad.

[Dragon]

Hey Dragon, who would be held liable for something like that?

roger

One Call.

[midnightscape]

The builder called someone to come out and mark, they only marked the phone and electrical though. I live in a lake area township and the line he hit was a 1/2" copper line from my tank to the house. Don't know if they can find/mark those. The builder says they usually dig suspect ones by hand to find them. He was also shocked to see this line was about 2 feet down, said most he's seen have been 6-12" max.

[Rich]

Yeah most locate companies will not enter private property unless specifically requested.

[beerbelly]

Maybe a little off topic. We were going to have a pig party and started digging a hole at a friends house. I noticed where the power pole was and the transformer while a friend was digging and yelled STOP! He was one stroke away from putting a pick into the house mains. Scary.

[Animal AKA Will]

I was overseeing sitework in Wayland MA back in the late 1980's. We had both a Tenneco Gas & a Shell Oil pipeline within the same easement. Both companies had reps onsite while my crew used an earthsaw to make roadcuts going only 6 inches deep. Mind you I had plans that showed both pipelines location & according to plan they were buried over 24 inches deep with an 8 inch concrete cap.

Lo & behold the earthsaw struck the gasoline pipeline. By some miracle the operator killed the saw & leapt off the machine & ran away as the geiser of gasoline shot about 30 feet into the air & the gasoline did not ignite. The operator ran with his lit cigarette in his mouth & stopped a couple of hundred feet away, before he realized it. He put the butt out quickly.

The lawsuit & countersuits were finally settled in 1994 with my company being absolved of any wrongdoing & the subcontractor getting a new earthsaw out of the deal. The earthsaw was ruined by both killing the motor while cutting & being doused with gasoline for about an hour.