Something tells me the guy didn't survive this one... http://www.ehowa.com/features/callbeforeyoudig.shtml (http://www.ehowa.com/features/callbeforeyoudig.shtml)
From EHOWA:
Ernie - I work for a local Telephone/ISP and got these pics. You may or may not know about the law requiring you call for utility locating before you do any excavation. The pictures below are a result of a guy using a post hole digger with out calling for "locates" and he hit an underground cross county gas pipe. This happens all the time, just not to this extent. This is what a high pressure gas main is capable of. I remember one guy was just driving in a fence post and hit a telephone line. "It was only a fence post." Dumbass, call first! Anyway, this gives a new meaning to Call Before You Dig. Happy New Year and keep up the good work. Nick
(http://images.ehowa.com/callbeforeyoudig/callbeforeyoudig1.jpg) (http://images.ehowa.com/callbeforeyoudig/callbeforeyoudig5.jpg)
(http://images.ehowa.com/callbeforeyoudig/callbeforeyoudig2.jpg) (http://images.ehowa.com/callbeforeyoudig/callbeforeyoudig6.jpg)
(http://images.ehowa.com/callbeforeyoudig/callbeforeyoudig3.jpg) (http://images.ehowa.com/callbeforeyoudig/callbeforeyoudig7.jpg)
(http://images.ehowa.com/callbeforeyoudig/callbeforeyoudig4.jpg) (http://images.ehowa.com/callbeforeyoudig/callbeforeyoudig8.jpg)
Jesus, put NSFW in the title...... it called me not 2 seconds after I clicked on the link and asked WTF I was looking at.
Quote from: Court-Jester on December 30, 2008, 12:28:47 PM
Jesus, put NSFW in the title...... it called me not 2 seconds after I clicked on the link and asked WTF I was looking at.
didja show 'em? that's what i usually do.
(oh wait, i
am the it deparment)
;D
Quote from: Court-Jester on December 30, 2008, 12:28:47 PM
Jesus, put NSFW in the title...... it called me not 2 seconds after I clicked on the link and asked WTF I was looking at.
Sorry it must be the EHOWA site that's on the IT blacklist. There's absolutely nothing NSFW about the pics. I'll redo the posting.
Quote from: alfisti on December 30, 2008, 12:33:45 PM
Sorry it must be the EHOWA site that's on the IT blacklist. There's absolutely nothing NSFW about the pics. I'll redo the posting.
Its the ads and the "Want free PORN!" links.
Sumonabeach!
Fixed.
he blowed up good
I can't see the pics...site must be blocked here at work.
But it seems strange that a post hole digger would be enough to rupture a cross country gas main. ??? Those are typically big steel pipes, and are fairly deep (at least by post hole digger standards). I've drilled borings by the one that runs from the San Francisco area to Reno. I refused to drill within about 200 feet of it...just in case the locate signs were off a bit.
I have dug up an illegal, unmarked 1/2" gas line...and drilled into a 12" high pressure water main where the locate was about 4 feet off. Oops...neither was too fun. [laugh] Gas and electricity are the scariest to drill/dig around. Fiber Optic is really scary too...but just because hitting one may put your company out of business! [laugh]
Quote from: Triple J on December 30, 2008, 01:16:39 PM
I can't see the pics...site must be blocked here at work.
But it seems strange that a post hole digger would be enough to rupture a cross country gas main. ??? Those are typically big steel pipes, and are fairly deep (at least by post hole digger standards). I've drilled borings by the one that runs from the San Francisco area to Reno. I refused to drill within about 200 feet of it...just in case the locate signs were off a bit.
I have dug up an illegal, unmarked 1/2" gas line...and drilled into a 12" high pressure water main where the locate was about 4 feet off. Oops...neither was too fun. [laugh] Gas and electricity are the scariest to drill/dig around. Fiber Optic is really scary too...but just because hitting one may put your company out of business! [laugh]
I just put the original link back in. The pics showed in the thread on my computer until I closed the tab that the site was in.
Holy Cow!! :o
He musta got vaporized. No way in hell he coulda survived that mushroom cloud of an explosion.
Well, at least it didn't hurt :o
Yeah, that isn't a mistake you really make twice.
I work for a electrical util company so I have a pretty good, sometimes more than I really want to know, understanding of why you call before you dig. And I also know that the locates aren't always right, and we do not guartee depth. So always actualy physicaly locate and be careful digging.
OK...I can see the pics from home now. Wow! :o
20 years of digging with a backhoe and or excavator and I am lucky and only grabbed one gas line.
It is scary. It is so easy for the company to mis mark the gas.
You don't even feel them either.
Unless he was using a hydraulic post hole digger, there's no way that's what caused it...
Quote from: NAKID on December 30, 2008, 06:47:02 PM
Unless he was using a hydraulic post hole digger, there's no way that's what caused it...
I was assuming it must have been a power auger attachment to a bobcat or something to bust a main that big. That being said, the remains of it would be somewhere. (not pictured) Could a man operated power auger bust that?
Plastic pipes in my area. I am assuimg that might be the case for this as well.
Quote from: GotDuc on December 30, 2008, 07:29:02 PM
Plastic pipes in my area. I am assuimg that might be the case for this as well.
It looks like a steel pipe. Too large to be plastic (or HDPE which is what modern natural gas lines are made from).
This was a gas, as in petroleum main...not a natural gas line. At least that is my understanding.
I agree...had to be a powered post hole digger of some sort. No way a handheld one ruptured that large of a pipe...plus it's too deep judging from the pics.
No one was killed.
No one was using a posthole digger.
It was caused by corrosion.
http://www.wset.com/news/stories/1208/576137_video.html?ref=newsstory (http://www.wset.com/news/stories/1208/576137_video.html?ref=newsstory)
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/2884553 (http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/2884553)
http://www.newsadvance.com/lna/news/local/article/a_view_from_above_appomattox_pipeline_explosion/8689/ (http://www.newsadvance.com/lna/news/local/article/a_view_from_above_appomattox_pipeline_explosion/8689/)
Quote from: Rameses on December 30, 2008, 08:17:23 PM
No one was killed.
No one was using a posthole digger.
It was caused by corrosion.
Awwww, why'd ya have to ruin it with the facts???
Quote from: rgramjet on December 30, 2008, 08:42:38 PM
Awwww, why'd ya have to ruin it with the facts???
You kids'd had enough fun.
;)
Quote from: rgramjet on December 30, 2008, 08:42:38 PM
Awwww, why'd ya have to ruin it with the facts???
"Facts are useless. They can be used to prove anything." - H. Simpson
Quote from: Rameses on December 30, 2008, 08:17:23 PM
No one was killed.
No one was using a posthole digger.
It was caused by corrosion.
http://www.wset.com/news/stories/1208/576137_video.html?ref=newsstory (http://www.wset.com/news/stories/1208/576137_video.html?ref=newsstory)
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/2884553 (http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/2884553)
http://www.newsadvance.com/lna/news/local/article/a_view_from_above_appomattox_pipeline_explosion/8689/ (http://www.newsadvance.com/lna/news/local/article/a_view_from_above_appomattox_pipeline_explosion/8689/)
Thanks for the real scoop on this. [thumbsup]
Mike Shanahan did it