any tricks to find underground lines ?

Here we call it Blue stake. It is a free service for locating utilities before you dig.

Here if you dig and hit something with out Blue Stake your liable for the repair and any damages.

Look up locating services in the phone book

A metal detector would be the last thing I would try.

In Massachuesetts its called "dig Safe." It is illegal to dig without calling them first.

Al

In other areas like MD the utility companies have a service to at least provide info on what's where in a given area.

Norm

There is in most US states a service that comes in to locate and mark buried utility lines. Not calling them first is a violation of the law here in Massachusetts. Also go look for plans for the place. They often will leave a plan with buried lines indicated on it. They also may have filed the plan with the local building inspectors office. Failing all of that, I'd suggest hiring a local contractor who has the specialized gear to trace and locate buried lines. It's not all that hard, if you have the right tools and the soil is not too conductive.

--Dale

Not a metal detector. The usual way is to apply a radio frequency signal to one end of the line you are looking for and then search for it with a directional antenna, often in the form of a square coil in the lid of the box containing the RF generator/Receiver. By moving away from the line of the pipe and angling the antenna 45 deg to vertical, you can also tell how deep the buried pipe is. Plastic gas lines now always have a wire buried with them (spiraled around the pipe) with one end exposed by the gas meter. Copper water lines are easy if they appear up through the floor somewhere. Buried power cables can also have the RF imposed on them if you can stand the RF generator close to the cable above ground - even below ground if you know where part of it is.

If you're real good...you can take two pieces of #6 copper and find everything...good luck!

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 00:23:31 -0400, T Harper put forth the notion that...

I thought it was a couple of willow branches.

No, willow branches are for finding water. I use a couple of coat hangers for finding buried lines. Cut a couple of coat hangers so that you have a straight piece about 10 " long and bend a sharp 90 degree so that you have another straight piece about 6". Hold one in each hand, with your hands about 12" apart, with the 10" part straight forward, and so that each can move easily one way or the other. Don't hold them tight. Now begin walking forward slowly along the path that you are going to dig your trench. As you move forward, and you cross a place where there is a buried line running across where you are going to dig, the coat hangers will cross. Go back and forth over this area a couple of times to determine where the crossing is the strongest and then stick a screwdriver into the ground there, or bright orange spray paint, or whatever, and then continue on until you have reached the end of your dig. When you use your trencher, and reach a point that is marked, stop the trencher about a foot either side of the mark and then continue on with the trench. Then go back with a shovel and break out the section that was left intact until you find what was indicated. If there is nothing there, it is possible that what was indicated was deeper into the earth than what you are digging.

Boy, could I tell you stories about this...

It would be best to try this method out first on a known underground, where you know that there is something buried in the ground, and then cross it and see if this method works for you. Some people can't make it work. Others feel a very strong pull in the hangers. I am of the latter. I can find empty plastic conduits, water lines, tree roots, metal conduit, and even lines buried in a concrete floor.

I can verify that this works. Many years ago, I was working for an irrigation company and we hired a backhoe to do a little trenching in the same proximity of some Minute-Man Missle cables. Cutting into one of those brings out the Air Force followed by a stiff fine. I used the #6 copper wire method and located the missle cable. But not being totally void of common sense, we called the local phone co-op that was under contract to locate the missle cables in cases like this. They located the cables right where the #6 wire method said they were.

| I can verify that this works. Many years ago, I was working for | an irrigation company and we hired a backhoe to do a little | trenching in the same proximity of some Minute-Man Missle cables. | Cutting into one of those brings out the Air Force followed by a | stiff fine. I used the #6 copper wire method and located the | missle cable. But not being totally void of common sense, we | called the local phone co-op that was under contract to locate the | missle cables in cases like this. They located the cables right | where the #6 wire method said they were.

How about some pictures to get an accurate idea of how this is done.

Bunk.

Tell 'em to this guy. http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:P8r3oev1dJcJ: