Big Boys Hobbies

811 call before digging

Steven B

Steven B

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Joined
Aug 27, 2015
Messages
11
Location
Clackamas County Oregon
In the Portland Oregon vicinity there's a campaign for home owners to call 811 before digging. For example a realtor placing a forsale post would request a utility search prior to having a post planted in a hole.

I did a search on this forum for 811 and nothing came up. As a fairly new detectorist I'm trying to survive using common logic. An underground power line or water main could be detected via my coil.

In short, I don't wish to earn a Darwin Award while digging near a sidewalk.

SB
 
Water and electric lines *should* be below the level that you will be digging (6-8 inches). I have noticed that some of the cable TV lines are not buried very deep, but should also be deeper than 8 inches. Of course, things are not always done according to the code. Maybe someone with more knowledge will comment.
Digging a post hole would be deeper, more like 24 inches. Calling 811 for a post hole is definitely reasonable.
 
Anything dangerous would be buried deeper than our coils can reach...or should be.
Calling the city looking for info on buried lines to tell them you want to dig some shallow holes in a lawn to find coins I expect you would be laughed at...if not on the phone behind your back after you hang up.
Exceptions would be areas where people that decide to do their own home improvements that have no common sense.
A few times I came across this as an electrician.
For instance running power from a home to a garage.
You are either supposed to run wires in a pipe and bury that pipe at a specific depth, or if you use special wire designed to be buried with no protection there are rules that state how deep that wire needs to be placed in the ground.
One idiot homeowner got the right wire but only dug a trench 3" deep to bury it.

Also I was digging in a park and came across a pretty thick electrical wire once.
Turns out it was a feed from a control panel area several yards in front of a stage where bands played at concerts throughout the summer months.
Not really deep either...again I believe this was never inspected or corrected.
I actually hit it with my digger but didn't cut into it and there was no power going through it at the time.
Could have been hairy but I was lucky.

If people don't have common sense be sure you do.
 
DIGGER27 said:
Anything dangerous would be buried deeper than our coils can reach...or should be.
Calling the city looking for info on buried lines to tell them you want to dig some shallow holes in a lawn to find coins I expect you would be laughed at...if not on the phone behind your back after you hang up.
Exceptions would be areas where people that decide to do their own home improvements that have no common sense.
A few times I came across this as an electrician.
For instance running power from a home to a garage.
You are either supposed to run wires in a pipe and bury that pipe at a specific depth, or if you use special wire designed to be buried with no protection there are rules that state how deep that wire needs to be placed in the ground.
One idiot homeowner got the right wire but only dug a trench 3" deep to bury it.

Also I was digging in a park and came across a pretty thick electrical wire once not very deep.
Turns out it was a feed from a control panel area several yards in front of a stage where bands played at concerts throughout the summer months.
Not really deep either...again I believe this was never inspected or corrected.
I actually hit it with my digger but didn't cut into it and there was no power going through it at the time.
Could have been hairy but I was lucky.

If people don't have common sense be sure you do.
Click to expand...

Had a similar situation at home permission hunt. Small yard, got a signal that I was able to trace with the MD. followed it from the house to the garage. Had a hunch it was a wire but just to confirm I carefully dug a small plug and sure enough, there was the wire, only about 2-3 inches deep. Asked the home owner and he comfirmed that he put it in a few years back, forgot about it and should of warned me. Just never know once the DIY'rs get involved. Not something the city would have any clue about if called anyway.
 
Steven B said:
In the Portland Oregon vicinity there's a campaign for home owners to call 811 before digging. For example a realtor placing a forsale post would request a utility search prior to having a post planted in a hole.

I did a search on this forum for 811 and nothing came up. As a fairly new detectorist I'm trying to survive using common logic. An underground power line or water main could be detected via my coil.

In short, I don't wish to earn a Darwin Award while digging near a sidewalk.

SB
Click to expand...

It is always good practice to "size" the target from multiple directions (ie. "X") using your detector's all-metal mode. An electric wire or metal pipe will be readily discernible when you "size" it.

Also, 811 will usually only record Utility type wiring or pipes. For example, just outside the development I live in, there is a Kinder Morgan pipeline that carries petroleum distilates from Colton Ca to Phoenix Az. This pipeline is well marked and asks people to call 811 before digging.
 
T-Man said:
Had a similar situation at home permission hunt. Small yard, got a signal that I was able to trace with the MD. followed it from the house to the garage. Had a hunch it was a wire but just to confirm I carefully dug a small plug and sure enough, there was the wire, only about 2-3 inches deep. Asked the home owner and he comfirmed that he put it in a few years back, forgot about it and should of warned me. Just never know once the DIY'rs get involved. Not something the city would have any clue about if called anyway.
Click to expand...

I owned a home on a half acre a while back. There was a hot underground run of power to the garage I eventually discovered. No idea if it was at one time code or not. The house was built in 1946. With detectors being more capable with depth I was curious if anyone had a close call with anything from cable TV to water mains and subterranean power established years before current utility codes.

I'd been told by a farmer in the 1980's that a farmer could lawfully install and add or install an electrical panel and whatever might be needed without going through a permitting process. That was in the 1980's.

Food for though. Possibly junk food. 🔌

SB
:digginahole:
 
Steve B, this subject did come up before. Generated some interesting inputs:

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=178768

Notice that there is no mandate on what depth-of-digging requires you and I to call. Naturally common sense dictates this is for heavy equipment digging trenches, eh ? But *technically* no distinction is made on depth of holes. Nor the method of dig (shovel vs lesche vs heavy equipment, etc....).

So if you tried to follow every single law to the technical umph degree, you might as well give up md'ing. This is just one of many things that *could* be construed to give any of us a "no", if you asked long enough and hard enough, of enough people :roll:
 
Digging in a yard the code for buried electric lines have to be placed in plastic pvc grey colored for identifiable purposes later if construction is needed. anyway your part is to be aware of such stuff. anyone that has put lines in the ground 3 inches deep obviously are stupid and have done this without using common sense. I have put a lantern in my yard. I had to dig about 24 inches down under a sidewalk and under my house concrete foundation to run the conduit to the lantern. I cemented the lantern at the gate entrance to home. You get the idea now. I couldn't believe how much trouble that lantern was to place it at my gate. However when it was done it looked nice. I can tell that anyone who doesn't use common sense maybe will get a shocking end to their detecting hobby. Yes I have dug wires at the beach. I realized that it was going to the lifeguard stations. I was like wow go to know. They put the wires at a very shallow dig. Hmmm, I got to thinking maybe I should ignore the signals going in that direction to the lifeguard station and whee I was digging. I kinda did on the fly triangulation in my mind. Still brings a memory to write about in this forum. Just please be careful out there.
 
Steven B said:
I owned a home on a half acre a while back. There was a hot underground run of power to the garage I eventually discovered. No idea if it was at one time code or not. The house was built in 1946. With detectors being more capable with depth I was curious if anyone had a close call with anything from cable TV to water mains and subterranean power established years before current utility codes.

I'd been told by a farmer in the 1980's that a farmer could lawfully install and add or install an electrical panel and whatever might be needed without going through a permitting process. That was in the 1980's.

Food for though. Possibly junk food. 🔌

SB
:digginahole:
Click to expand...

This is probably true on a county basis , and an electrical/building inspectors desire to flex his authority .
 
Steven B said:
In the Portland Oregon vicinity there's a campaign for home owners to call 811 before digging. For example a realtor placing a forsale post would request a utility search prior to having a post planted in a hole.

I did a search on this forum for 811 and nothing came up. As a fairly new detectorist I'm trying to survive using common logic. An underground power line or water main could be detected via my coil.

In short, I don't wish to earn a Darwin Award while digging near a sidewalk.

SB
Click to expand...

In NJ..I would say there's an underground GAS line
 
Tom_in_CA said:
How does anyone in NJ detect then ? Last I checked, there was no shortage of guys md'ing in NJ. Are they all "playing with fate" ?
Click to expand...

I have hit fields with those signs "call such and such" before digging 9 out of 10 times it an underground gas line...i just move to a diff area :D:D:D
 
Hotel71 said:
I have hit fields with those signs "call such and such" before digging 9 out of 10 times it an underground gas line... i just move to a diff area :D:D:D
Click to expand...

Doesn't the admonition "call before you dig" apply to all areas ? Even those not having specific signage like that ?
 
Tom_in_CA said:
Doesn't the admonition "call before you dig" apply to all areas ? Even those not having specific signage like that ?
Click to expand...
Yes it does. I work in telecom, you would not believe the number of idiots that cut their own telephone, CATV, gas and electric feeds every year. Dig a mailbox post hole at the road and accidently hit a fiber feed. Hope you have good insurance!

Unless one is absolutely certain it's clear, don't put a shovel in the ground until you call Miss Dig...wait...call either way :roll:
 
Where I work we obviously call before we drill a project and have the borings staked ahead of time. But I've called MISS Utility when doing work at my house and only once did they mark the line from the pole to the meter. As I didn't build the house I didn't know exactly where the line ran. I called each time I did work to be safe. Kind of useless if they won't mark it all.
 
amc rulz said:
Yes it does. I work in telecom, you would not believe the number of idiots that cut their own telephone, CATV, gas and electric feeds every year. Dig a mailbox post hole at the road and accidently hit a fiber feed. Hope you have good insurance!

Unless one is absolutely certain it's clear, don't put a shovel in the ground until you call Miss Dig...wait...call either way :roll:
Click to expand...

Ok, I'll bite then: Do you call 811 before retrieving any beeps your detector gives you ? :cool:
 
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