How to find location of services for Water, Gas and Electric

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Lancashire
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United Kingdom
hello

Id like to find out the location for mains supplies for water, gas, electric and underground drainage on my property.

I dont really want to rely on line of sight to guess where the pipes are. Is there records kept that you can get hold of or buy online to find the exact locations?

Or is it just a case of make an educated guess?

Im having an extension built, doing my driveway, and thinking about replacing my lead water supply pipe so i need to know exact positions really.
Some of all of them go under the concrete garage slab.

Thanks
 
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The utility companies all have a services location enquiry / dial before you dig service. In some cases they will come and mark up the site for you if they're not fairly certain of their own records.

Drains, however, you're probably on your own but lift the manholes and they should run in straight-ish lines between manholes.

As well as the pipes serving your own property you need to be aware of the possibility of mains services eg high pressure gas / water / pumped sewage etc. Some of these may be described in your deeds if there is a wayleave (which there should be).
 
thanks for info

so my local water company North West Water should be able to help me regarding the water pipe.
Electric is United Utilities or who ever they are called now.
Who would i call for Gas? My supplier?
 
Pick axe. Smack it in the ground, if you get a shock it's leccy, blow up gas, get wet water. Simple.

Or. There will be a water stopcock in the road & you know where the pipe comes up so 9 times out of 10 the route will be clear. Manholes & downpipes show you drains. But you will probably need to do some digging to get exact locations.
 
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Not sure how accurate utility information is. New house up the street had the road up three times looking for the electricity to connect to. Finally found it when they put a shovel through the cable and shut half the road down.
 
similar thing happened to a neighbor. went straight through electric supply pipe in their garage slab which was only 100mm from the surface!. Utility company said it should have been lower and fixed it for free.
 
Not sure how accurate utility information is. New house up the street had the road up three times looking for the electricity to connect to. Finally found it when they put a shovel through the cable and shut half the road down.

That's alright if they put their shovel through it.

It's expensive if you put your shovel through it.
 
Drains should run in a straight line between chambers, and fixed points, i.e. a gulley or stack to chamber. Do not expect any other service to run in a straight line or be a minimum depth....

If you cant get an accurate location from the Utility companies, then a 'C.A.T.' (Cable Avoiding Tool' can be hired that should help pinpoint location of any electrical cables.

Owain's last post is spot on..... Very wise words. :D
 
Don`t even expect that for drains - if they`re within a foot or 2 of the boundary - our last place , they crossed into next door and then back again :LOL:. And on a M8`s farm the water supply came out the back of the house , 6 feet into the field next to the plot and then to the road . 1 week later and a few Water board vans and a digger :eek: They found it where I thought it might be :LOL: Didn`t cost M8 any £ - just added to the overall operating costs of the privatised company ;)
 

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