Excavating near gas supply.

[Doggit]

I think you can be a little bit more gung ho than digging by hand. I'd be confidant enough to use a medium breaker, but just take it carefully - it's obviously still a metal pipe, otherwise you know where the chanell was that'd been dug to replace it.

 

[amfisted]

At last I've managed to work out how to post a picture.

In my opinion the pipe is too close to the gully to use a breaker safely, but thanks for the reassurance anyhow.

I'll just chip away with my trusty hammer and chisel over a matter of a few days and eventually it'll be done.

 

[AGAS]

I'll just chip away with my trusty hammer and chisel over a matter of a few days and eventually it'll be done.

why not use a trowl and brush as it may only take a couple of weeks , go on …… you'll get there

FFS get a mini breaker ( drill type )on it , just work logically

 

[dilalio]

That concrete looks to have been patched so your gas line could well be yellow plastic - it also gives you a good indication of where it runs. Chip away at those seams with a breaker and you'll have it exposed in no time - piece of pi$$

 

[ianmcd]

you wont damage anything, the black pipe that you see at the bottom is a sleeve bend and it is 375mm below that where the gas pipe is, and then it will exit the sleeve bend, the pipe will be yellow plastic, you will not damage it breaking out the concrete, hit it with a big lump hammer and it will probably break out anyway.

 

[bernardgreen]

the black pipe that you see at the bottom is a sleeve bend and it is 375mm below that where the gas pipe is,

That assumes that the sleeve bend has not been modified ( cut shorter )

 

[ianmcd]

That assumes that the sleeve bend has not been modified ( cut shorter )

the sleeve can only be installed by the gas transporter and if it has been modified and the OP strikes the service pipe then it wont cost him a penny as transporter is liable, and you wont find this on google but the operative installing that bend would lose their job if they altered it

 

[bernardgreen]

if it has been modified and the OP strikes the service pipe then it wont cost him a penny as transporter is liable,

Possibly true but the OP still has a gas leak to cope with until the emergency crew arrive.

And are all gas supply pipes intalled at least 375mm below ground surface level ?

EDIT No they are not. Faced with two foot drainage culverts the gas transport crews went over the culverts. They did NOT admit liability when the pipes ( two of them under a driveway ) were damaged by contractors installing electric cables along the driveway. The contractor was charged for the callout and repair costs.
That was the driveway to my previous house so first hand and hence not via google.

 

[ianmcd]

you have a better imagination than Agile, and you seem to be the most unlucky person in the country, that bend is set at 375mm and is not allowed to be altered, simple as that , no argument, it must not be altered in any way, if the service pipe on another part of the service is not to the minimum depth of cover and has been installed by the transporter(not all are) then the transporter is liable for any damage

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Did my parent's driveway, and found the gas service existing the garage, immediately under the slab, before dropping deeper into the ground. It was by pure luck we didn't put the jackhammer through it!

 

[bernardgreen]

you have a better imagination than Agile,

No imagination involved.

These were taken when the council were re-newing the drainage culvert a few years after the gas pipes were damaged. They show where the gas pipes run. In the area around the manhole they are very close to the surface. They were installed in 1980, maybe things were different then.

 

[amfisted]

I reckon the above gas pipe arrangement dates to the mid 80s. The garage was converted to a bedroom in 1986 by the previous owners, so presumably they moved the meter from inside the garage to its current location at the same time.

ROFL at the "trowel and brush" suggestion. The reluctance of this DIYer to attack a concrete area containing something as dangerous as a gas pipe with anything less than gusto is founded on the sound basis of years of advice from gas fitters, on forums like this one, that caution should be exercised when working in the vicinity of gas. Hence my reluctance to batter away with anything more dangerous than a bolster chisel.

Better take a week chipping away like a big wuss than end up sitting on top of a mushroom cloud.

However...edit...another thing you guys have taught me is that Time is Money.

 

[ianmcd]

just smash the concrete with a large hammer, it will break off, forget what Camberwickgreen says he is a total wast of time

 

[dilalio]

@amfisted ... with that monica, perhaps you should go at it with a trowel and a brush (TimeTeam style)

Just do it FFS... I'd have it exposed and cleaned out in about an hour or so.

Get a £50 Titan from screwfix and go at it... you'll be done in no time.

 

[AGAS]

Bernard you talk some shyte sometimes