Some scary stuff here....

[74inchshovel]

This should give anyone who does stump grinding on this forum a little something to think about. My day was finally ending, at 7pm when the neighbor next to where I was grinding came over and asked me to grind his stump too. Small cedar, maybe 18" on the big side, a 5 minute grind tops, easy money, right? Talked to him, he did not phone in a locate for utilities, he assured me that there was nothing back there. Ok, then what's that gas meter doing there? mmm, didn't think of that he says. I had my locator with me, hooked up and sure enough the gas line went right underneath the stump, I mean dead center. I hit the depth function, and it read 5"- no way, I have seen shallow, but this was a record. Got the shovel out and yep, 5" it was. This raises a whole lot of questions about " call before you dig" would like to know how many of you do it on stumps? Had I not taken the time to locate and went ahead and ground, best case would have been a fireball, block evacuated, and my 15 minutes of fame on the evening news. Worst case....

 

[TimberMcPherson]

On one job a few weeks ago I hit a gas line and water line in 2 stumps a few feet from each other. Neither were mapped or was anyone aware that had owned the house for over 20 years that they were there. Same old, same old

 

[imagineero]

Had I not taken the time to locate and went ahead and ground, best case would have been a fireball, block evacuated, and my 15 minutes of fame on the evening news. Worst case...

when I had a grinder I did dial before you dig on every job. It's kind of pointless though because they only show utilities to the site boundary unless a main line passes through the property. They do show all utilities though - gas, water, sewerage, electricity, phone, optical fiber etc. We don't have a locator and most guys don't either.

Having said that, while grinding though gas is a hazard I'd almost rather grind through gas than mains water. The damage caused by water can be incredible! I've seen a lot of gas pipe damage, and never heard of one catching on fire/exploding. Saw a huge gas tank at a petrol station which had ruptured just last week. They were venting it out to the atmosphere via a 15' pipe, so much gas coming out of that thing the sky was blurry! They had sniffers all round but never stopped the traffic. Saw a horizontal drilling rig go through a huge main gasline. Same story, so much gas coming out of that thing you couldn't see through the vapors. Right on a main highway and gas company had sniffers there and let the traffic keep passing by. Can't shut off a pipe that size.

 

[flushcut]

This should give anyone who does stump grinding on this forum a little something to think about. My day was finally ending, at 7pm when the neighbor next to where I was grinding came over and asked me to grind his stump too. Small cedar, maybe 18" on the big side, a 5 minute grind tops, easy money, right? Talked to him, he did not phone in a locate for utilities, he assured me that there was nothing back there. Ok, then what's that gas meter doing there? mmm, didn't think of that he says. I had my locator with me, hooked up and sure enough the gas line went right underneath the stump, I mean dead center. I hit the depth function, and it read 5"- no way, I have seen shallow, but this was a record. Got the shovel out and yep, 5" it was. This raises a whole lot of questions about " call before you dig" would like to know how many of you do it on stumps? Had I not taken the time to locate and went ahead and ground, best case would have been a fireball, block evacuated, and my 15 minutes of fame on the evening news. Worst case....View attachment 348451 View attachment 348452 View attachment 348453

What is the make, model, and where to get this locator that you have used?

 

[Magnum783]

I worked as a welder when I was in the military we were trained on how to weld gas lines back together that had been punctured without ever shutting the gas flow off. It is actually safer to weld the line back with gas flowing through as the pressure will supposedly push the flame back out not suck it in as it would with gas shut off. Now I can not personally vouch for the correctness of any of this but that is the procedure I saw followed many times when lines were hit not the bases I worked on. Lines are abandoned all over military installation and it is amazing how many are still needed for other buildings people forget about till they hit them.

 

[74inchshovel]

Flush cut- Its a McLaughlin Verifier, http://www.mclaughlinunderground.com/products/verifier-g2/, have had it almost 20 years. For something electronic, its been bullet proof. I would not hesitate to buy a good used one on E-Bay, as long as buyer has a 14 day return policy.

Magnum- that's crazy! How could that not light up the gas line? Would love to see it being done.

Imagineero- Good thing our water here is 4' plus, but yeah I think I would rather hit gas than water. The locates are somewhat pointless, no locating after the meter which leaves a ton of secondary stuff to find. Hence the locator. In addition, no locates for water or sewer here. State law says all locates must be clearly marked in white paint. Which means if you go to bid some stumps, and don't get the job right away, you have to go back again just to white mark. And go again to grind. 3 trips...
Sorry for the bad pics.

 

[BC WetCoast]

Around here locates are useless for most stumps except for street trees as they only show main lines and no service lines, even water to the P/L. So the best you can do is guess the direction from the meter. All the new gas service lines are plastic and don't necessarily have tracer wires.

What I have done a couple of times is hit irrigation pipes right under the stump. They were laid in some illogical manner.

 

[old_soul]

The worst is when you have trees to remove between the street curb and the sidewalk and you know the gas line is right under the stump but have to grind it anyways. Saw a job last year,(not ours) big sycamore 48 inches + and right along the back of the curb. Took the tree out but gas line was flagged right under the stump so they were afraid to grind. Owner was putting in a parking lot. He said fine, we'll just have them dig it out

After an hour of 2 trackhoes prying on the stump and roots. They look down in the hole. Stump had grown around the 6" steel gas line. About 2 feet deep. That is what they were pulling and prying against

 

[BC WetCoast]

The worst is when you have trees to remove between the street curb and the sidewalk and you know the gas line is right under the stump but have to grind it anyways. Saw a job last year,(not ours) big sycamore 48 inches + and right along the back of the curb. Took the tree out but gas line was flagged right under the stump so they were afraid to grind. Owner was putting in a parking lot. He said fine, we'll just have them dig it out

After an hour of 2 trackhoes prying on the stump and roots. They look down in the hole. Stump had grown around the 6" steel gas line. About 2 feet deep. That is what they were pulling and prying against

Around here they would have had to hand excavate to expose the gas line (with a gas inspector present) or use a hydrovac truck.

 

[sgreanbeans]

I never trust the locators. I was installing trees, had my 36" auger drilling holes. Had the property located. Was 30ft away from the gas line, so the locates said. Was in my machine, door off, smoke in mouth and I get nailed with gas. Guys said they never seen someone move so fast. Got out, flipped smoke away and killed machine before it ran off. Fire trucks, public works, gas company, cops. Whole nine. The comment was made "This is going to cost you" I polity pointed to the locates, showed them my paper work and told them I had pics. The comment was changed to "this is going to cost them" Locator dude looked like Barts bus driver and just guessed, not realizing that they had used that yellow plastic line. They had it run to a junction that feed another meter.

Also seen a kid get electrocuted while finishing a driveway for one of my brother's spec homes. Power company left a hot one out of the box, it some how got buried and when the kid was using a trowel to make the driveway pretty, he hit it and it shot him 10ft into the side of their truck. He almost lived, but will never be the same. I was a couple doors down and just happened to look up and seen the flash and the kid go flying. Power company got out of paying the medical bills, dichs.