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Author: Subject: hole digging spike plus gas main leads to interesting afternoon
James

posted on 28/9/13 at 08:51 PM Reply With Quote
hole digging spike plus gas main leads to interesting afternoon

Digging out an old tree on corner of plot next to pavement...

Using one of those large metal digging spikes I launched it into the ground and suddenly there was a large gushing noise and the soil blew out of the hole! Followed by a rather strong smell of gas.

Yes, I'd managed to hit the gas main 4" below the surface!

Amazing how saving money with DIY can cost so much!

The guys dug it out pretty quickly with my help but I guess I'm facing a hefty bill.

They've capped the pipe and more guys will be along tmrw or Monday to rejoin the two together.

Still got the tree there, now have no garden wall, no gas (glad its not Winter!) and sure more grief and expense to come!


Gotta love DIY!


James





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JoelP

posted on 28/9/13 at 08:59 PM Reply With Quote
Don't pay a penny James, 4 inch wasn't deep enough in the first place. You should sue them for the shock!





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v8kid

posted on 28/9/13 at 09:09 PM Reply With Quote
Utility companies are used to their equipment being dug up and have stock responses.
1 its too shallow
Reply - not when we put it in it wasn't - prove it also they are responsible for maintaining it and a proportion of your bill is specifically allocated to this
2 its in the wrong place - see above also get a copy of the records is it in the wrong position?
3 its not properly protected or strong enough - really? You mean you don't expect people to dig in gardens? A spike is no different to a fork.
Finally your household insurance will cover you
Cheers!





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Mr Whippy

posted on 28/9/13 at 11:55 PM Reply With Quote
You should have lit a match and used it to burn the tree down
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steve m

posted on 29/9/13 at 06:43 AM Reply With Quote
Ive done it as well, at my old house, digging up the front garden to lay a patio
again the pipe was only about 4" down, Have to say the Gas board were fine, and I never got billed

Steve





Thats was probably spelt wrong, or had some grammer, that the "grammer police have to have a moan at




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Wadders

posted on 29/9/13 at 09:09 AM Reply With Quote
Don't think you will get clobbered too hard with a gas pipe........If you had hit a fibre optic cable, that's a whole different story
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GonzoRacer

posted on 29/9/13 at 02:14 PM Reply With Quote
Good morning, Gentlemen-
I'm a multi-decade veteran of the drilling industry, and I've hit my share of utilities. (Including a few sewer lines. Let's not go there!) It's more important/scary than you think.

I'm in the US, so things may not work quite like this on your side of the big water... But, in the US, every state I know about has a "Locate Service" that you can call and give address info to an operator before you dig/drill/excavate. They in turn call all the local utilities who will mark their lines in your work area. The "free" service only marks the right-of-way along the road, however, they show location and direction of the lines and you can figure out where they go across your garden/yard/parking area.

I'd bet a nickel (sixpence?) that there's a similar service in the UK. It is likely run by the same government entity that runs the utilities (city gov?). It would be worth your time to find out and call them next time before you dig -all of you- please, please and please! There's a really fine line between "soil flying up and a smell of gas" and "The community lost a fine member today when..."

Sermon over. Think about it. Be careful out there.
Regards-
JD Kemp

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Slimy38

posted on 29/9/13 at 02:45 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by GonzoRacer

I'd bet a nickel (sixpence?) that there's a similar service in the UK. It is likely run by the same government entity that runs the utilities (city gov?). It would be worth your time to find out and call them next time before you dig -all of you- please, please and please! There's a really fine line between "soil flying up and a smell of gas" and "The community lost a fine member today when..."



I can virtually guarantee that even if there were, and they gave a map on where they thought they were, they wouldn't know where their own pipes actually were. When we had our extension done, the builders found both the electric and gas lines were nowhere near where they should have been. And he only found our water system because we'd had some plumbing problems and already had someone looking at them.

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GonzoRacer

posted on 29/9/13 at 03:23 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Slimy38I can virtually guarantee that even if there were, and they gave a map on where they thought they were, they wouldn't know where their own pipes actually were. When we had our extension done, the builders found both the electric and gas lines were nowhere near where they should have been. And he only found our water system because we'd had some plumbing problems and already had someone looking at them.


I've dealt with those "mapping services" as well. They usually come out AFTER you've hit something and say wonderful, helpful things like "It was supposed to be over there." There's a saying in the US about "as useless as mammary glands on a male pig" that applies to them.

The service I'm talking about use hand-held Electo Mag or a dedicated locator device that sends a "Ping" along the metal pipe and locates it via that. They mark the location with spray paint or pin flags, color coded (as in blue = water, red = electric, etc) and give you an indication of the direction of the lines. You have to place the call 3 business days before you start work. They don't guarantee anything, but at least they give you a bit of "heads up" before you dig.

These guys: http://www.sunshine811.com/

Perhaps there's not an equivalent service in the UK, perhaps I'll go Googling about and see...

JDK





"And it wasn't even a full moon."

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steve m

posted on 29/9/13 at 03:51 PM Reply With Quote
I don't think any one knows 100% were pipes/electricity etc actually are

As I had a drain blockage on the front of my house, and despite drain rodding it to about 20 metres could not find the problem

so I contacted thames water, and southern water, as one delivers and one takes our waste?

Neither had a f ing clue, and tokd me to speak to the council, and they didn't have a f ing clue either

It was only a conversation with a neighbour who I really talk to, said they had a problem, that led me to the semi blocked pipe, and we cleared it

Steve





Thats was probably spelt wrong, or had some grammer, that the "grammer police have to have a moan at




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stevegough

posted on 29/9/13 at 07:27 PM Reply With Quote
As one or two of the others have said, 4" is rediculously shallowly-buried gas pipe.

Lifted from the .gov pages....


HSE expects mains and services to be laid at the depths specified in these publications unless other effective precautions are taken to minimise the risk of third party damage.

A gas main should normally be laid with a minimum depth of cover of 750 mm in a road or verge and 600 mm in a footpath.
A gas service pipe should normally be laid with a minimum depth of cover of 375 mm in private ground and 450 mm in footpaths and highways.


There is a lot of bumf and other bits there, but that is the 'guideline'.


Dot Gov link





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