From time to time we at Utility Survey Corp. have a job that requires creative underground utility locating solutions and problem solving. Often, Utility Survey and the client have to work as a team to accomplish the needed goal.
Recently a client approached our company with a problem of two missing electric manholes. This particular site had multiple utilities crossing through the survey area with multiple manholes. Finding the correct two manholes was the critical objective of this particular survey.The only information given was the starting point at a transformer and a third manhole over a thousand feet away.
Our traceable snake was only three hundred feet long. The wires inside the conduits had been cut and pulled out prior to our arrival. Electricians had noted the approximate distances to the splice locations which typically occur at manholes. Inserting the traceable snake in to the third manhole gave US a sense of direction and being able to control the induced radio frequency through a utility locator transmitter helped eliminate the possibility of tracing out adjacent underground utilities.
The splice location distances helped narrow down the area to scan with Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and metal detectors. At this point one of the missing manholes was discovered and opened.
Electricians assembled a four hundred foot trace wire conduit using one and a half inch pvc electrical conduit and ten gauge wire. This was then inserted in to the manhole and traced to a sudden stopping point. The traceable snake was then inserted through a conduit exiting the transformer. The two traces terminated in the same vicinity. A concrete sidewalk had been constructed on top of the second missing manhole cover.
This particular situation demonstrates how important it is to approach situations from different directions, do not make assumptions, and follow through on all the given information. Problems can be solved with the proper approach. Call US for your underground utility location needs.
For a more in depth article outlining the biggest mistakes contractors make in these situations, download our report "The 5 Assumptions That Kill Projects, Profits and People".
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