Working over high pressure gas line

37 chief · Sep 15, 2010

Every year I disc a easment owned by a private owner. On one side of this easment is a high pressure gas line. It is clearly marked by signs about every 50 ft. I have asked the owner if there is a problem discing over the top of this line. I have no idea how deep it is.The answer they gave is no problem. With the gas line explosing here in California last week I am a little concearned about discing over the top this line. What experience have any one here, working around gas lines? Stan

ddl · Sep 15, 2010

call your local dig safe and they can tell you how deep it is. usually in the front of your white pages. they make a pretty big hole when you hit them

Mike (WA) · Sep 15, 2010

Lots of gas lines around here, because there's an underground storage location. Have seen many lines being put in, never less than 4 feet deep.

G.Fields · Sep 15, 2010

The one, and hopefully the last gas line I busted was right at 4ft deep, but I can tell you after that experience i always call miss utility. Definitly not cool.

kyhayman · Sep 15, 2010

Depth installed isnt so much the issue as is depth after erosion. Without a doubt I'd call your local 'before you dig', BUD here. Also worthwhile to call the gas company and see what they say. I've got one line that, where it crosses a gulley, it comes to the top of the ground every 10 years or so, on the flats, its down 4 feet, thats what they put it in at but that spot eroded out and no one wants to fix it right. Me, I just stay far far away from that spot.

thurlow · Sep 15, 2010

Worked 3 different farms for better than 40 years that gas lines crossed (Texas Gas); in each situation, there were 3 different lines in the same right-of-way. I totally ignored them.......ran breaking plow, disk, chisel, etc. Have dealt with a lot of utility and power line companies; they were absolutely the best.

Howard H. · Sep 15, 2010

Better safe than sorry.

We nicked the top of a line one fall with the moldboard and it leaked out several thousand $'s worth of gas before we realized it.

It was out in the middle of nowhere - but the installers apparently hit a rock ledge and just went "over it" instead of keeping the line a decent depth.

It was only about 7 inches deep where we cut it.

It cost me quite a bit, but nothing compared to if it had ignited & burned up the hired hand & tractor.

Howard

Howard H. · Sep 15, 2010

or come to think of it, I could also tell you the story of when I hit one with a set of posthole diggers while trying to set a corner post, also out in the middle of nowhere...

That one was more painful than costly...

Howard

Anonymous-0 · Sep 15, 2010

Years ago in Indiana one of those things blew in the middle of a field about 9:00 at night. You could see the glow 50 miles away. I know as I was on my way home from an out of town project. It scared me didn't know if it was nuclear, extra terristrial, or armmegedon until I got quick report on radio news. Officials thought later a ditcher might have dented the gas line several weeks earlier and the friction of the gas going over the dent caused the explosion. One farm house destroyed but no one home or injured. I would not farm over one if it was me.

JOHNNY from MI · Sep 15, 2010

Dig safe will not tell you the depth...only location. Call the pipeline owner (number on pipeline sign) talk with the company about working over the line. I've worked pipeline repairs on high pressure lines for several years, they can hurt you, so call and stay safe!

rustyfarmall · Sep 15, 2010

(quoted from post at 13:56:42 09/15/10) Dig safe will not tell you the depth...only location. Call the pipeline owner (number on pipeline sign) talk with the company about working over the line. I've worked pipeline repairs on high pressure lines for several years, they can hurt you, so call and stay safe!

Exactly. That pipe probably was buried deep enough to be safe when it was first layed, but over the years due to wind and other soil erosion, that pipe may be only a few inches deep now.

big orange · Sep 15, 2010

Got one that crosses my farm for 1.25 miles, 750# pressure, when it was put in there was 5' of cover over the pipe. I walked every inch and measured. Grow crops over the top, pipes been in for 19 years, this year is the 1st year in about 7-8 that you can follow the pipe across the farm.Still scares me.

Jimmy King · Sep 15, 2010

If that was Lone Star Gas, when my Uncle retired in 1976 he was the Vice Pres of Transmissions. All ground vehickles, and pipe lines were under him.

thurlow · Sep 15, 2010

Nope......Texas Gas Transmission; they were VERY conscientious about maintaining their line and monitoring its depth. I didn't have to worry about it.
Untitled URL Link

agpilot · Sep 15, 2010

Hi Howard H.: I did something similar but on a much smaller scale. I was using my skid steer to smooth out a yard so sod could be layed. I cut into the gas line that connected the house to the larger line in the road. The cut line was less then 3 inches down. So when calling the gas company and asking some desk person how deep the line is... and how deep the field crew buried the line were two different stories. I tended to not trust either the desk person or a field crew after that on the few yards that I did over a known gas line. I walked the line first using a spade to probe for a line myself. I'd be temped to probe a larger line in a field also. Taking it easy with a spade is a lot safer then hitting it with a machine.. good luck.. ag

Mark - IN. · Sep 15, 2010

Stan,

I've posted this link several times. If you scroll down a little to the picture, that's a mighty big hole. Killed the apprentice and his tractor, and shook homes miles away, including mine. How deep are pipelines buried? I dunno, but I wouldn't guess at it. I would call the owners.

Not long ago, I saw a documentry from somwhere out west where someone didn't tear the pipeline up, but damaged the pipe that didn't surface for years until it fractured. The guys a hundred or so miles away noticed that they lost all pressure in that huge petrolium pipe, and that was because the town that it broke in was being flooded with burning petrolium from two different directions...the orginal direction the pumps were pushing from, and then the other side of the line as it drained back downhill to the fracture. That town burned down to the ground. Was some real good explosion and fire film footage. Didn't end good for the town's folk though.

Call the number on the markers.

Mark
Thats a mighty big hole from a mighty big explosion

Anonymous-0 · Sep 15, 2010

I would have the gas company come out. Even if you dig by hand, you aren't supposed to hit the line with the shovel. It's supposed to be uncovered using your hands or something that couldn't possibly nick the line. I think they're usually at least 3 ft. deep but it never hurts to be sure. Dave

kendak · Sep 15, 2010

down here in the Ms. delta where rice is grown farmers will "0" grade a field & will remove or add dirt on top of a pipeline to get the field flat... you might have 6" or 6ft. of cover...best to call & have it checked...take care

Adirondack case guy · Sep 15, 2010

A contractor hit a gas line in E. Greenbush, just out side of Albany NY today. Emergency Managment Services evacuated the area, residential and light comercial. Nat. Grid Had a bit of a problem finding shut off, but all is well tonight. No explosions or loss of life, but I bet a construction crew is in deeeep poo.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 15, 2010

I am a gasman and have been for 31 years. Always when in doubt call your gas supplier and ask for a locate as pipeline markers are not necessarily installed on top of the line. Tell the company what you intend to do in the area and see if they will pothole the location and spike the line to obtain a depth for you, my company never tells a customer or property owner an approximate depth as there is no way to know without probing or spikeing the line, depths change due to a number of factors over time. Incidents like what just happened in California makes it tough in my line of work as people seem to call more frequently when they smell something out of the ordinary, and they should call !! We always take every call seriously and rely on the publics awareness to their surroundings, my company performs leak surveys on a regular schedule over our lines and repair all leaks when found but even with all the equipment and technology that we have we still depend on our customers and the public to be our eyes, ears, and noses to situations that might be occuring. Natural gas is a very safe energy source, will be interested to know what caused the explosion in California.

john d · Sep 15, 2010

Was that the one near New Castle? I think you could see the glow from that one at least 60 miles! I live about 20 miles nortwest of Indy, and we could see the glow from that one over here well up into the sky.
About 35 years ago, a tractor operator hooked a chisel plow into a gas pipeline northwest of Lebanon, In. Big explosion and fire. He was lucky to escape un-hurt.

RayP(MI) · Sep 15, 2010

This agas storage area. They pump gas into old exhausted wells, for later retrival when demand increases, (winter). They closed out a bunch of old wells awhile back. Pulled the lines by putting a collar over line and pulling it down the length of the section of line with a bulldozer and a chain. Once they had loosened the line, they pulled sections out with the bulldozer. Donno how deep they were, but couldn't have been that deep. They were lines carrying 1s much as 750PSI. A neighbor hit some burried lines while drilling holes for a small pole barn. Couldn't been very deep. Scares me to know we were farming right over the lines.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 15, 2010

I am a emergency responder in a different county about 30 miles from the Pacific Gas and Electric fire in San Bruno. A couple of mounths ago I atteneded the PG&E pipeline safety seminar. They have an excellent safety record, and to say they take safety extreamly seriously would be an understatement. They showed us pictures of some of the "dig in" disasters they have had. The gas company has no control over how much soil people remove on top of the pipeline. It made me a believer, unless the gas company told be it was safe I wouldn't use any tillage in the right away.

The NTSB is investigating now. They say they can't find any records of any odor complaints to PGE, the Air Pollution Control District or the Fire Dept. They are sayig the results will be avaliable in 14-18 months. They have an early suspect. About 2 years ago there was work done on a sewer pipe that is located diagonal and just under the gas line. They did a trenchless replacement of the sewer line. Apparently this involves pulling a hardened steel beaker-expander throught the old sewer (in this case 4 inches) breaking and expanding the old pipe to 10-12 inches and pulling a new 8 inch pipe through the old one. (Perhaps some plumber can give a better/more correct version of this). This must have but an enormous pressure on the gas line.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 16, 2010

That was the one. I saw the glow at sr18 on I69 at Marion. Called my wife on NE side of Indpls she could see it from our front yard.

Working over high pressure gas line

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