Home Page link

Finding Underground Wiring

Home| Search | About
Login Password
Register Now! Lost Password?

Home Repair - - If it ain't broken, don't fix it. Otherwise look here. 

Bookmark this page:  YahooMyWeb Yahoo!  Google Google  Windows Live Favorites Windows Live  del.icio.us del.icio.us  digg digg  Add to Netscape Netscape
Subject Author Date
Finding Underground Wiring Al Schmidt 11-14-2006
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
Posted by Al Schmidt on November 14, 2006, 8:52 am


How do I find underground wires (110V, water sprinkler valves,...)? I'm
moving into a house with many underground wires which I would like to
locate. Some are live a.c. others low voltage or signaling. Is there
something I can buy/rent to do this?

Thanks



Posted by Pete C. on November 14, 2006, 9:47 am


Al Schmidt wrote:
>
> How do I find underground wires (110V, water sprinkler valves,...)? I'm
> moving into a house with many underground wires which I would like to
> locate. Some are live a.c. others low voltage or signaling. Is there
> something I can buy/rent to do this?
>
> Thanks

In most areas you there is a "call before you dig" 800 number that you
are required to call a couple days before you do any digging deeper than
12"-16". This central dispatch service notifies the various utilities in
the area (power, phone, cable, etc.) who will come out to locate and
mark their cables. This service is free and will take care of those
utility feeds.

If you're nice and they aren't in a hurry you might be able to talk one
of the utility folks into locating other feeds for you. If not it's
possible that one of the big equipment rental companies like United
Rentals or Nations Rent may rent the locator equipment.

The locator is really easy to use, there is a signal injector that you
just clamp around the wire (outside the insulation, no stripping or
contact with the wire) that injects a locator signal onto the line. You
then take a detector that looks a bit like a metal detector and wave it
across the ground locating the strongest signal and marking with the
little flags or paint. You just work out from the known starting point
marking as you go.

When you have everything located, take pictures and measurements and
file them away safely for future reference. If you dig in the future
you're still required to call the utility locator folks, but having the
map of the locations already helps a lot when planning projects.

Pete C.

Posted by Tim Fischer on November 14, 2006, 6:36 pm



> Al Schmidt wrote:
>>
>> How do I find underground wires (110V, water sprinkler valves,...)? I'm
>> moving into a house with many underground wires which I would like to
>> locate. Some are live a.c. others low voltage or signaling. Is there
>> something I can buy/rent to do this?
>>
>> Thanks
>
> In most areas you there is a "call before you dig" 800 number that you
> are required to call a couple days before you do any digging deeper than
> 12"-16". This central dispatch service notifies the various utilities in
> the area (power, phone, cable, etc.) who will come out to locate and
> mark their cables. This service is free and will take care of those
> utility feeds.

This is for public utilities, not privately owned ones, which is what the OP
was asking.

Sprinklers, low voltage freeds, and wiring to outbuildings, outlets, or post
lamps would all be private wiring and is not in the public record-- at least
where I'm from.

-Tim



Posted by Pete C. on November 14, 2006, 10:04 pm


Tim Fischer wrote:
>
> > Al Schmidt wrote:
> >>
> >> How do I find underground wires (110V, water sprinkler valves,...)? I'm
> >> moving into a house with many underground wires which I would like to
> >> locate. Some are live a.c. others low voltage or signaling. Is there
> >> something I can buy/rent to do this?
> >>
> >> Thanks
> >
> > In most areas you there is a "call before you dig" 800 number that you
> > are required to call a couple days before you do any digging deeper than
> > 12"-16". This central dispatch service notifies the various utilities in
> > the area (power, phone, cable, etc.) who will come out to locate and
> > mark their cables. This service is free and will take care of those
> > utility feeds.
>
> This is for public utilities, not privately owned ones, which is what the OP
> was asking.
>
> Sprinklers, low voltage freeds, and wiring to outbuildings, outlets, or post
> lamps would all be private wiring and is not in the public record-- at least
> where I'm from.
>
> -Tim

I noted that. Locate all the utility lines first. If one of the utility
guys is nice and not in a hurry you may be able to get him to locate the
others. If not you need to find a rental locator unit. Watching the
utility guy use his locator will teach you how to use the rental one.

Pete C.

Posted by Mark Lloyd on November 14, 2006, 2:23 pm


On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 13:52:08 GMT, "Al Schmidt"

>How do I find underground wires (110V, water sprinkler valves,...)? I'm
>moving into a house with many underground wires which I would like to
>locate. Some are live a.c. others low voltage or signaling. Is there
>something I can buy/rent to do this?
>
>Thanks
>

I did have to find some sprinkler valves recently. I would dig near a
sprinkler head (those aren't so hard to find if the system works) and
look for wires running along the pipes. In this system, I would find
some number of red wires (one for each valve I hadn't gotten to yet)
and one white wire (common, present if any red wires are too).
--
41 days until the winter solstice celebration

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"All your western theologies, the whole mythology of them,
are based on the concept of God as a senile delinquent."
-- Tennessee Williams

Similar ThreadsPosted
Underground Wiring: Type ? July 5, 2007, 8:42 am
Re: Underground wiring - anything special? August 17, 2007, 6:08 pm
Re: Underground wiring - anything special? August 17, 2007, 10:14 pm
How to splice outdoor underground wiring? June 17, 2006, 7:09 pm
Underground gas pipe November 1, 2006, 10:36 pm
underground electric May 5, 2007, 2:16 pm
Underground oil tanks July 27, 2008, 11:26 pm
Underground OIL TANKS - particularly in New Jersey July 20, 2005, 5:27 pm
Insulating Underground Pipes October 21, 2005, 2:03 pm
Underground HVAC duct March 25, 2006, 8:09 pm

Contact Us | Privacy Policy

XML SitemapXML Sitemap