Why you call before you dig

[squeebug]

Just got this in an email. When I first saw the pictures, the one at the bottom was on top. I thought it was just a little pipe till I saw the guys walking next to it!

The pictures below are a result of a guy using a post hole digger with out calling for "locates" and he hit an underground, high-pressure cross country gas pipe.

They never did find the guy.... Took out 2 homes.

[MichelleRoze]

[bugsy98nb]

[skittle buggy]

Dang

[squeebug]

Yeah I bet the guy who was digging is floating around Jupiter...or he could just be in a billion tiny pieces of yuck

[D2Beetle]

[warren]

dang.

[Severecaraddict]

Ladies and gentlemen, I think we've just found a nominee for a Darwin Award!

[TrudysMom]

WOW, how horrible.

[dnyed]

Good Lord!


Where did this happen?

[DannyRandomState]

Dang!

I'm never using a post hole digger again. Those pics are just unbelievable!

Wow!

[AmyJane]

Sorry Brian.

If I've learned one thing about posting stuff like this anywhere it's to look it up on snopes.com 1st

This wasn't caused by anyone digging and no one was killed. It did level 2 homes and injured 5 people but that was because the pipe failed. Looking at those pics I knew there was no way a post hole digger could do that to a pipe that big. Maybe it could but, I dunno.

snopes.com: Call Before You Dig! - Gas Main Explosion

[squeebug]

Originally Posted by CyberGreenBaby

Sorry Brian.

If I've learned one thing about posting stuff like this anywhere it's to look it up on snopes.com 1st

This wasn't caused by anyone digging and no one was killed. It did level 2 homes and injured 5 people but that was because the pipe failed. Looking at those pics I knew there was no way a post hole digger could do that to a pipe that big. Maybe it could but, I dunno.

snopes.com: Call Before You Dig! - Gas Main Explosion

Yeah I figured that was kinda fishy that it woudl be a post hole digger seeing as it's oh what...40 feet underground Posted more for the pics

[DannyRandomState]

Either way I refuse to use a post hole digger now!

If that was the case though that would have been one hell of a post hole digger!

[HarlequinPixie]

either way.. wowza.

[Lmhansen]

Originally Posted by DannyRandomState

Either way I refuse to use a post hole digger now!

Hehe, I used to do that. Dig holes in whatever to put up posts, gates, whatever. Never hit any gas lines, though, and never had to dig that deep.

[AmyJane]

Originally Posted by DannyRandomState

Either way I refuse to use a post hole digger now!

If that was the case though that would have been one hell of a post hole digger!

Yeah but that has nothing to do with those pics, right?

[DannyRandomState]

Well yeah.

[hestersu]

Originally Posted by CyberGreenBaby

Sorry Brian.

If I've learned one thing about posting stuff like this anywhere it's to look it up on snopes.com 1st

This wasn't caused by anyone digging and no one was killed. It did level 2 homes and injured 5 people but that was because the pipe failed. Looking at those pics I knew there was no way a post hole digger could do that to a pipe that big. Maybe it could but, I dunno.

snopes.com: Call Before You Dig! - Gas Main Explosion

Actually, that pipe is probably between 4 and 6 feet underground. Not 40 feet underground. It just has to be below the frost line so it doesn't heave. Virginia may not have freezing weather but the gas line companies traditionally only go that deep. How do I know? Well, I worked for a gas company for 18 years and have been on many inspections out in the field. I have 5 high pressure lines running under my property. Three of them are that size and the other two are slightly smaller. The transmission company routinely inspects them with fly-overs and with a "pig" which is what they call the devices they send into the pipes to inspect them.

Funny story - when we built our barn, we were only aware of 2 of the gas lines and knew where they were. They were on the property deed and survey and we couldn't see any evidence on the ground that there were others. We started building a pipe barn. You can hit those lines with a post hole digger - not the kind that you use manually but rather a power take off digger called an auger that goes on the back of a tractor. We dug all of the holes for the barn with the auger and were finishing the framing for the barn. The transmission company is down the road and they were doing fly-overs that day. The plane went back and forth a few times and a few minutes later, a pickup comes flying out of the transmission plant and barrels down the road and into our place. Two guys jump out and come running up to us. The first thing they say is "You didn't hit our transmission line did you?". My husband responds with "if I did, there wouldn't be anything left but a smoking crater.". Turns out there were 3 additional lines on the property that were not on the survey. They did a line locate and one corner of our barn was 4 inches above one of the lines - at just under 4 feet. They had us cut the footers for our barn off about 10 inches below the surface rather than dig them up. The line we were over is a 3 foot diameter pipe - about what you see in those pictures.

So yes, you can hit them with a post hole digger and those high pressure lines aren't as deep as you think.

Call for a line locate anyways folks. We learned a valuable lesson that day.

[AmyJane]

Originally Posted by hestersu

Actually, that pipe is probably between 4 and 6 feet underground. Not 40 feet underground..



So yes, you can hit them with a post hole digger and those high pressure lines aren't as deep as you think.

Call for a line locate anyways folks. We learned a valuable lesson that day.

I didn't think it was deep. I just thought it looked kind of big to be able to be damaged by a post hole digger ( I was thinking the kind with two handles that you dig fence posts with) but I stand corrected. Actually, I sit on my couch corrected but either way I was corrected

That's a crazy story, Sue. You guys were real lucky you didn't hit one of those lines!