Almost a "Shocking experience"

[codydog50]

Good Morning All, It has been too hot here to do much detecting, so last night I had a couple of hours to kill ! Went to the local ball field and started pulling out quarters, "cool". I left my probe at home, so I was using my sharpened Lesche tool and was cutting small flaps and using me Pro Pointer to locate the coins. I got a signal at about 3" that showed a quarter, so I started cutting a plug, felt some resistance, thinking "root" I thought about sawing through it, but something wasn't right, no trees! I took the Lesche and popped the flap back, and! Holy #%#$.........
At 2 " a # 6 underground wire. I hit it on both sides! I checked the insulation and I don't think I cut through it. I worked for a parks department for 33 years and I had seen this before, when
anybody could call themselves an electrician and ran wires down to where the easy digging got hard! We bought a very expensive wire locator and I located wires every time my crew was doing any digging! lessons learned #1 bring probe. #2 don't rely on pin pointer, always probe before digging, #3 contrary to what I mentioned in an earlier post, "DO NOT PUT A SAW EDGE ON BOTH SIDES
OF MY DIGGING TOOL". #4 expect the unexpected. So be aware of your surroundings, be careful. Don't start the 4th of July by becoming a fireworks display yourself HH... C-Dog
P.S. I contacted a friend who is a lineman for the city, so it will be checked out and buried deeper!

 

[slingshot]

If I'm not mistaken, Garrett is the only company I know of that puts a written warning in their detector manuals about finding electrical wiring.

 

[codydog50]

Yeah, I have seen it, It should be in every manual maybe on every detector! We all get kind of lazy sometimes and we all get in a hurry! I have been a Hunter Education Instructor for 22 years and preach to the kids about safety rules! I should pay more attention in class!! I wouldn't want to be the POSTER CHILD for this kind of mistake !!! C-Dog

 

[qicpic]

Some shallow wires can be for sprinkler solenoid switches and are usually low voltage

 

[codydog50]

Hello again! I talked to my buddy, He is a lineman for the city, He told me that the wiring for the score board was put in by the Little League sponsors! When the work was being done,the city electrical department went to trench in the line "which is normally 18" down " The people already had the line dug in! so the wiring was hooked up! now they plan on going in and trenching it in
to the correct depth., C-Dog

 

[widebody]

[size=large]good of you not to have lighted up the park with your lesche. A+ for not ignoring it and reporting to the right folks.
taking the extra step may have saved a life or at least someone from being shocked in the future.

HH[/size]

 

[norman maassey]

n/t

 

[Leslie(nova scotia)]

n/t

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Once hunted a deserted picnic grove used by the owners father and got a shocking experience myself as the power was still on for the lighting. Fortunately low voltage for overhead lighting and
for 30 years or so the power was on and the son was not aware of it. Perhaps if I was standing in a puddle after a rainy day or had different footwear might not be writing this post...
We checked the circuit box of the old farmhouse with screw in fuses and advised the owner to contact an electrician...

 

[Goldstrike]

[size=large]Occasionally, even professionals (employed by utility companies and City/State entities) dig up wiring accidentally so safety first guy's all the time and be alert "Live long and prosper" !!!![/size]

 

[JimCVA]

Codydog 50 I don't know what state your in but thank for takeing care of the problem. JimCVA