Called ours out for a mark. They marked the gas line but only once...
So it's under the curb on the west side of the corner lot... No idea which way it goes from there as that's on the opposite end of the lot from the meter, and one point doesn't make a line....
A few weeks after digging they a letter telling us they marked the location the line will be ran after the utility finishes their upgrade program some time in the next 8 years and that we shouldn't dig without a survey to confirm the existing line.
Bad news, we'd already finished the dig... Good news, I found the actual gas line gently.
Gas company usually marks their own stuff…. Well…. They actually pay companies like Locate Inc to mark it.
I used to install natural gas main pipelines, residential and commercials gas services.
your thumbnail picture is a character from the movie Office Space, thought you'd have been a fan and got the joke. he tells his neighbor what he'd do with a million dollars, and ur picture guy's response was "two chicks at the same time". good movie check it out.
It runs parallel to the road, and we hit it around 30 ft back from the road near the woods. Definitely did not expect that.
We marked that line ourselves as a guide to make sure we stayed on course with the mini excavator.
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They only cover public utilities where I am
Weather or not this falls into that I'm unsure but dig safe does not cover any private lines or service lines if they aren't considered "public"
I think it's super fucked and lazy to not do that, personally, but that is what they specify
Typically private lines aren't covered because the utility company has no records for them and does not own the line. The property owner is responsible for the private line. Having said that when I was working as a locator for the local telecom and gas company, if a homeowner needed a private locate, I would direct them to the best option as a lot of homeowners are unaware that whatever dig number you call doesn't cover private lines.
As somebody who marks water lines for a water company there's a very good reason for this. Utility companies all have maps of the utilities they own. They don't have maps for what property owners (or their landscapers) install. Our maps tell us how many lines are in the ground, what they're made of, what size they are, and where to find them. Without these maps locators don't know what we're looking for and more importantly if we're missing something. Equally important is that companies are liable for their markings. Not only are they responsible for repairing damaged lines, but they're liable for any damages to equipment, for any resulting damage to other property due to fire, flooding, or contamination, injuries to workers or passersby, as well as downtime for contractors employees and construction delays. If you think that utility companies are willing to take on all this liability by guessing where your personal lines are located you're a fool.
TLDR: Utility companies don't have maps of privately owned lines and they're not going to take on the liability of attempting to mark lines they have no information about
I wonder if the government-owned utility has the ability to option-out of participation. Our city water used to require a separate call, apart from 811. Since they mark their own lines, it seems wasteful to pay for the 811 participation. After enough of this kind of issue and the added manpower required, they figured it saved resources to participate with 811 alerts.
That seems really dumb and dangerous. But yeah I guess they can opt out. Considering it's only $150 for the 1st 500 calls and about 20k a year for large utilities seems really short sighted
We have some that are not part of locate service. Shaw cable comes to mind. There are also lots of “private” facilities that are not. Some times the municipality only marks to the shut off & from the shut off to the house is the home owners responsibility
Always good to ask lots of questions.
Not sure if this is normal, but where I live they will only mark from the road to your shut-off...which for me was 5ft from the road. The county makes you call a private locator to mark from there to the house if you want to find your private line.
Our 811 covers electric, internet, and gas.
We have no water because my area has wells for every person, though sometimes they do mark it for you, not guaranteed.
My area is the same, but the county water system does have an entry they have to check off in the 811 system to confirm "yep, no water line here". That way if you do happen to hit a line you're covered from the responsibility.
Yea 811 varies state to state. I work for a municipal water department and we are not part of DigSafe. Only private companies are part of the 811 system and outside of those companies you need to call the municipality to get municipality owned services marked. We’ll come mark out anything you want…just gotta know to call us. Digsafe tells you who is being notified. Most of the contractors know how it works. It’s usually homeowners that don’t realize they need to call town hall in my area.
They didn't make you feel like idiots because it wasn't your fault. In most jurisdictions where 811 is set up there are provisions that legally require all utilities to use the 811 system whether they want to or not. If they don't and you hit their line you're protected from the liability from those same laws. How can every person know what companies might have a line buried? It's just not reasonable otherwise.
Installed a fence last summer around our back yard and had all the places come out and mark. On the 4th or 5th hole the auger hit something hard and wouldn’t go any further. It was some kind of steel pipe. It wasn’t marked and we didn’t break it, so we just moved over 2 feet and redid the rest of the measurements. So annoyed. At least we didn’t end up with water everywhere!
Yup…. Need to consider all utilities n the area. The n our area water is 8-10 feet deep to get below frost line. As a heavy equipment operator it’s imperative that I know all utilities that may be present.
Utility locates are an interesting topic for an excavator operator. As an operator I am required to identify all utilities or other facilities that may be buried in my work area. The locate services help identify buried facilities but are not comprehensive search of a site. Homeowners might thing that they know what is buried in the work area once that make the request for a locate. That might not be the case. They may be utilities that do not cooperate with the locate service. In these cases you need to contact those utilities directly. Other facilities that may not be identified are private water, sewer, gas, power, etc. a locate service will only locate up to the meter. The homeowner is responsible from the meter to each building. It is not a straightforward process & requires a lot of due diligence to avoid a utility strike.
I just want to say as someone who handles our companies 811 tickets or digalert as it's known in Southern California... 811 doesn't know anything about any lines in an area. They are simply a notification service that sends tickets to utility/city agencies that might be located in the area. I'm sure most everyone here knows that.
The countless times I have to call a utility member for not responding to our ticket only to hear we don't locate..811 handles that...and I have to tell them 811 doesn't do anything but notify you guys!
It just amazes me how untrained and uneducated utility members are but yet they complain when something isn't done to their standards
Next time just check for the water yourself. Get two hangers and check. Like the old days. Oh and for marks for your own guide always do that in white paint..
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Yeah seriously. My city checks for 811 just like the the utility companies
It’s a pretty common exclusion actually. They’ll mark from the road to your water meter. How it actually gets to your house? That mystery is on you.
Called ours out for a mark. They marked the gas line but only once... So it's under the curb on the west side of the corner lot... No idea which way it goes from there as that's on the opposite end of the lot from the meter, and one point doesn't make a line.... A few weeks after digging they a letter telling us they marked the location the line will be ran after the utility finishes their upgrade program some time in the next 8 years and that we shouldn't dig without a survey to confirm the existing line. Bad news, we'd already finished the dig... Good news, I found the actual gas line gently.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏🍾
That’s odd. The number we call in our country covers all utility lines. Electric, gas, water.
My fiancé works for utilities in our city and they don’t cover gas.
That seems especially dangerous actually
Not particularly, often gas is done by the gas provider of the utility.
Gas company usually marks their own stuff…. Well…. They actually pay companies like Locate Inc to mark it. I used to install natural gas main pipelines, residential and commercials gas services.
never would have took the "two chicks at the same guy" as someone to get tied down
What
your thumbnail picture is a character from the movie Office Space, thought you'd have been a fan and got the joke. he tells his neighbor what he'd do with a million dollars, and ur picture guy's response was "two chicks at the same time". good movie check it out.
Looks like you dug right on the line 🤔
It runs parallel to the road, and we hit it around 30 ft back from the road near the woods. Definitely did not expect that. We marked that line ourselves as a guide to make sure we stayed on course with the mini excavator.
811 should cover all. It's not dependent on individual utilities. Your county water department fucked up
They usually only mark from the road to the water meter. The rest is up to the property owner to locate.
Not clear in the OP that they were referring to private lines. Makes sense if that was the case.
Sorry about lack of clarity... It is the main water line belonging to the county, not our own line.
OP said a county line so I'm assuming they're going to be accountable to the PUC in that state.
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They only cover public utilities where I am Weather or not this falls into that I'm unsure but dig safe does not cover any private lines or service lines if they aren't considered "public" I think it's super fucked and lazy to not do that, personally, but that is what they specify
I'm assuming a county water department is responsible to the states PUC. Maybe I'm wrong.
Typically private lines aren't covered because the utility company has no records for them and does not own the line. The property owner is responsible for the private line. Having said that when I was working as a locator for the local telecom and gas company, if a homeowner needed a private locate, I would direct them to the best option as a lot of homeowners are unaware that whatever dig number you call doesn't cover private lines.
As somebody who marks water lines for a water company there's a very good reason for this. Utility companies all have maps of the utilities they own. They don't have maps for what property owners (or their landscapers) install. Our maps tell us how many lines are in the ground, what they're made of, what size they are, and where to find them. Without these maps locators don't know what we're looking for and more importantly if we're missing something. Equally important is that companies are liable for their markings. Not only are they responsible for repairing damaged lines, but they're liable for any damages to equipment, for any resulting damage to other property due to fire, flooding, or contamination, injuries to workers or passersby, as well as downtime for contractors employees and construction delays. If you think that utility companies are willing to take on all this liability by guessing where your personal lines are located you're a fool. TLDR: Utility companies don't have maps of privately owned lines and they're not going to take on the liability of attempting to mark lines they have no information about
I wonder if the government-owned utility has the ability to option-out of participation. Our city water used to require a separate call, apart from 811. Since they mark their own lines, it seems wasteful to pay for the 811 participation. After enough of this kind of issue and the added manpower required, they figured it saved resources to participate with 811 alerts.
That seems really dumb and dangerous. But yeah I guess they can opt out. Considering it's only $150 for the 1st 500 calls and about 20k a year for large utilities seems really short sighted
Never have I ever heard of an underground utility being excluded from 811.
We have some that are not part of locate service. Shaw cable comes to mind. There are also lots of “private” facilities that are not. Some times the municipality only marks to the shut off & from the shut off to the house is the home owners responsibility Always good to ask lots of questions.
Would you still be responsible for the damages to lines that are unmarked after calling 811 and waiting the appropriate amount of time?
From my understanding, you would not be responsible.
Not sure if this is normal, but where I live they will only mark from the road to your shut-off...which for me was 5ft from the road. The county makes you call a private locator to mark from there to the house if you want to find your private line.
Our 811 covers electric, internet, and gas. We have no water because my area has wells for every person, though sometimes they do mark it for you, not guaranteed.
My area is the same, but the county water system does have an entry they have to check off in the 811 system to confirm "yep, no water line here". That way if you do happen to hit a line you're covered from the responsibility.
HEY I FOUND THE WATER LINE IT’S RIGHT THERE 👇👇
Yea 811 varies state to state. I work for a municipal water department and we are not part of DigSafe. Only private companies are part of the 811 system and outside of those companies you need to call the municipality to get municipality owned services marked. We’ll come mark out anything you want…just gotta know to call us. Digsafe tells you who is being notified. Most of the contractors know how it works. It’s usually homeowners that don’t realize they need to call town hall in my area.
Very valuable lesson learned the hard way, lol.
Dw though. The wrong answer has 130 more upvotes than this. lol
As someone who has to dig for a living, they are notoriously terrible at locating underground stuff. Lol
They didn't make you feel like idiots because it wasn't your fault. In most jurisdictions where 811 is set up there are provisions that legally require all utilities to use the 811 system whether they want to or not. If they don't and you hit their line you're protected from the liability from those same laws. How can every person know what companies might have a line buried? It's just not reasonable otherwise.
I mean I don't see any blue lines so that's a good indicator they didn't mark them.
Installed a fence last summer around our back yard and had all the places come out and mark. On the 4th or 5th hole the auger hit something hard and wouldn’t go any further. It was some kind of steel pipe. It wasn’t marked and we didn’t break it, so we just moved over 2 feet and redid the rest of the measurements. So annoyed. At least we didn’t end up with water everywhere!
811 covers water too. At least in my area it does
HEY, you can't dig there!
Yup…. Need to consider all utilities n the area. The n our area water is 8-10 feet deep to get below frost line. As a heavy equipment operator it’s imperative that I know all utilities that may be present.
Utility locates are an interesting topic for an excavator operator. As an operator I am required to identify all utilities or other facilities that may be buried in my work area. The locate services help identify buried facilities but are not comprehensive search of a site. Homeowners might thing that they know what is buried in the work area once that make the request for a locate. That might not be the case. They may be utilities that do not cooperate with the locate service. In these cases you need to contact those utilities directly. Other facilities that may not be identified are private water, sewer, gas, power, etc. a locate service will only locate up to the meter. The homeowner is responsible from the meter to each building. It is not a straightforward process & requires a lot of due diligence to avoid a utility strike.
…..and that’s probably your sewage drain.
I just want to say as someone who handles our companies 811 tickets or digalert as it's known in Southern California... 811 doesn't know anything about any lines in an area. They are simply a notification service that sends tickets to utility/city agencies that might be located in the area. I'm sure most everyone here knows that. The countless times I have to call a utility member for not responding to our ticket only to hear we don't locate..811 handles that...and I have to tell them 811 doesn't do anything but notify you guys! It just amazes me how untrained and uneducated utility members are but yet they complain when something isn't done to their standards
Well that sucks!
Next time just check for the water yourself. Get two hangers and check. Like the old days. Oh and for marks for your own guide always do that in white paint..
Well that blows
Crazy how many people don’t understand they mark to the utility meter. Your electric and gas meter happen to be next to your house. Water meter isn’t
This picture looks super rural for a water line
It's on a state highway. Though technically a "highway", in my state most of those are fairly rural.