The Mains Supply Cable - has been uncovered

[DetlefSchmitz]

I once did that (requested cable location information) for my telephone cable. (OK - not electricity supply.) I got back a very fuzzy drawing showing something going down the middle of the road outside with no indication that anything entered my property, and have ever since been disillusioned. I had to dig with caution, and never found the telephone cable.

 

[333rocky333]

When you see old tv films, in the call boxes there was on old sign with a number to phone before you dig, i think the service still exists, though Im not sure what they actually do.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I'm with Detlef - they may know which pavement the cable runs under, but the drops to each house?

 

[Lectrician]

I have had plans for service moves which have been very accurate, showing services to the properties.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

And we have also had our late and lamented DNO employee saying that basically they just threw away all the records prior to some date or other.

If they had accurate plans they would not need detectors and cans of spray paint.

 

[JohnW2]

I have had plans for service moves which have been very accurate, showing services to the properties.

Were they fairly new properties?

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

I'm with Detlef - they may know which pavement the cable runs under, but the drops to each house?

Whenever I've talked to people involved in digging holes in roads (and pavements) they have told me that the available 'plans' of underground utilities were all but useless, and that they were forever 'expecting (and often finding) the unexpected'!

A few years ago, despite spending many hours here, with all sorts of technological assistance, Anglian Water gave up trying to determine the route that my water supply takes, but they 'thought' that it may go under a neighbour's house (which was built decades after mine)! They said that the only person who would have known the exact route of the pipe would be "Fred, ...." (or whoever) "... but he died nearly 20 years ago"

Kind Regards, John

 

[stillp]

My BIL spent about 30 years digging holes in roads, at first to fix gas leaks, later installing/renewing water services. His standard procedures included ticking a box on a form to confirm that he'd checked the plans for adjacent pipes/cables, but he almost never found the plans to have any relationship with reality.

 

[bernardgreen]

but he almost never found the plans to have any relationship with reality.

There is a situation here with the water company's map of pipes and valve locations.

The blue locations are from the official maps issued to contractors, the red locations are the true locations of the covers in the roads.

 

[Lectrician]

Were they fairly new properties?

Kind Regards, John

No, 60s bungalows. Two were being doubled in size, both with service relocations. Had to expose existing cable (PILC) and trench to new meter position.

 

[Adam_151]

It can be very hit and miss, I find, I have had the DNO chap pull out his laptop with a map on it when confronted with a fault, the map indicated an overhead service, when it was cleary underground, now it might have been overhead originally but likely to have been moved underground in the 80s...

I think if there is doubt, they are required to attend site to locate cables for folk who need to dig in the ground and I think it is FOC? I know of one site where a HV cable was exposed by ground workers, site maintenance rang the DNO who attended, found that it was suspected to be a dead section left in after a diversion, and they had it spiked later on that afternoon, it was indeed dead, but was quite impressed with the speed of response, considering that the cable had not been damaged by the groundworkers and digging had been suspended

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I can well understand there being a sense of urgency when HV cables have been exposed, (and for all they know, damaged).