I have a buried powerline that runs the length of my 1/2 mile driveway. I need to replace an inadequate culvert across said driveway, and I certainly don't want to get into a powerline. Yes, I am going to call to get the exact location marked before proceeding. The line was buried long before I bought the place, and I don't know how deeply they are normally placed.
SHOULD be 4 foot.
OK, thank you.
4' from the grade when the line was buried.... lots can change over time.
Yeah, I am trying to be very careful here. I am guessing that digging into one could get real expensive, not to mention dangerous.
Inconvenient at the least.
Could be anywhere from 6 inches to 36 inches. Depends on cover...ie conduit, concrete or combination. Best to check with your POCO to see what their specs are. Even so, I cut a neighbors teleco line with a shovel for a flower bed... Erosion reduced the cover to less than an inch.
C-B … Be aware the utilities markings by 811 have a tolerance... 24 inches on each side of their mark. see here >>> http://www.okie811.org/sites/callokie/uploads/documents/Resources/Call_Okie_Marks_Guide.pdf
I was not aware that there was that much leeway. Figure I should be pretty safe as long as I don't go any deeper than the existing culvert.
Around here they say 3 foot each side of the mark is the tolerance, used to be half that. And even though most locate guys can tell the depth on some utilities they 'can't/won't tell you what they think it is. Most wire utilities I can find to within a couple inches including depth using my oldschool dynatel telco locators they have come in handy lots of times
Another tip: make yourself a 'probe' simple tool to probe the ground... just weld an 18 inch long piece of 1 inch pipe on the end (make a tee)of a 3 foot long by 1/2inch piece of round stock and grind a point on the end you need to push into the ground. Is extremely useful for finding conduits... not so much for direct bury phone, power, etc... when digging you can probe a series of holes a good foot lower than your bucket to 'feel' anything that might be getting close.
In my area of MO primary services are now required to have 30" of cover over the conduit, once it comes out of the meter 24" or less depending on the power company. I dug one up last week the was 4ga Aluminum direct bury that was less than 6" of cover on the primary service. It was installed originally in 1996. Best bet and whats required is to hand dig within the tolerance of the marks. I know it sucks but its easier than cutting a line and getting drilled in the tail by the utility company. Dig to the tolerance of the mark, cut dirt with a shovel back into the ditch and bail out with the machine. Gravity works for you and you get a bucket or two now and then to take a break from the shovel. I have a 4" trench spade I use when locating utilities. It's narrow enough you can cut heavy clay easily with it. I call it my best worst shovel. It sucks for moving much dirt but it's great for locating utilities and digging in hard ground. It can pick it's way through gravel as well. John
When you tell yourself, I will shovel some more after this next bucket, your in trouble. You can never trust the depth of power, even on commercial projects, I get surprised by how shallow it can be some times. Residential is even worse, especially if it was done years ago.
Hand dig or be willing to pay the piper. I'm a fan of digging to the marks and roll the material back into the trench! Don't rely on one call to say you are all clear either. I had to threaten to cut a line to get a gas company to respond to the one call because i had a clear ticket, but I could see the shepards hooks saying there were gas lines.
Another fan of “hand dig”. Found the gas line that was only 6” below grade......i now have a plan of our acreage showing all the underground services with measurements to the longest fence line (5 pins over 400 meters (Yards)). I measured to every semipermanent object hoping it will help when I am old and can’t remember. One of my former coworkers found a High Voltage cabe with a probe (3/8 hex bar) while sounding for a water leak on a big main. He had a pendent made from the melted probe tip as a reminder. We no longer put all high voltage cables in pipe surrounded by concrete. Cam