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Re: [TowerTalk] Close call with death

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Close call with death
From: Ed K0KL <edk0kl@centurytel.net>
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2011 07:11:21 -0600
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
On 1/16/2011 6:31 AM, Pete Smith wrote:

I had the opportunity to build our retirement home. There was an 
existing building, supplied by overhead
electrical service. I added feeders to the house and the future barn at 
the time the well was connected
to the house. This is all virgin forest so no concerns about buried 
cable, except for the phone, another
story. By combing electrical service into one feed, I am able to a. 
avoid additional monthly service
charges and take advantage of the bulk lower cost of more power. The 
cost of the 1/0 cable was
met within 2 years.

  The crew digging the 5 foot trench first put the copper water pipe in, 
added  a foot of earth then the 1/0
cable, the 2 feet of earth and then a red plastic marker strip with the 
words "BURIED ELECTRIC" or some such.
This private cabling would of course not be marked by "dig we must" but 
sure would jump out and any
machine operator. Highly unlikely for now but just because it seemed 
like a good idea ....

It is available at most electrical parts suppliers.

Now when the house foundation was put in, the septic system installer 
dug through the phone lines, clearly
flagged by "dig we must"! So much for that. I am told local telco almost 
had the operator arrested for
numerous problems such as this.

ed K0KL


> Too true.  a brief story.
>
> A few years ago we needed to put in a new well, and the backhoe operator
> digging the trench for the pipe and power to the well "found" the 220
> feed to our garage about a foot down.  "No problem", he said, "The
> backhoe is grounded so all that happens is it trips the breaker."  He
> might not be quite so blase' if it was 15KV!  Unfortunately, "Miss
> Utility" won't mark privately-owned lines here, and our power, phone,
> TV, etc. are above-ground.
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
>
> The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
> The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at 
> reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
> spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000
>
>
>
> On 1/15/2011 10:17 PM, Randy wrote:
>> FWIW, I once stuck my hand in a hole full of water, due to a broken
>> sprinkler at a condo
>> that I worked at, and found a 220V line for a nearby halogen light, on a
>> pole, about a foot down.
>> Things are not always where common sense would tell us that they ought
>> to be.
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