How to clear a sewer main! Cross Boring! An explosive situation! Spread the word!
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- Опубликовано: 12 апр 2013
- Cross boring takes place in parts of the world with devastating consequences! Take the time to watch this video and please spread the word! It could save your life, your families or a complete strangers. It really doesn't matter as long as the message gets out there!
This is the website on cross boring. Very educational! callbeforeyouclear.com/
I am a sewer safety inspector, I do cross bore investigations and determine if it is save to clear sewer or now, it is nice to see people raising awareness!
Hey Fritz;
How is it going my friend!
I had read about the CBSA as well. Started in 2007. When I saw a fellow plumber laying in the hospital bed; that is when it hit home big time. Started out with a lady talking about her home being completely destroyed.
Nothing to play with that's for sure. One city in California started looking at all the sewers for this problem! They have 18k to be inspected!
I hope most homeowners know about this!
Thanks for commenting brother and enjoy the day! Al
Hey Al!
I'm with Fritz, I have never heard of this before either! I just had to have my sewer line cleared. First time in 19 years. It was tree roots from across the street!! I never thought about this possibility. I do know that my natural gas line runs right along side the sewer line in my yard. Don't know about under the street though.
I will definitely keep this in mind! Thank you for bringing it to our attention!!
Nice work on the props, great demonstration of what can happen!!
Found this for ya Al
The Cross Bore Safety Association is a community of industry professional that have joined together to address all aspects of utility cross bores for protection against loss of life, injury and property damage.
Cross bores are defined as an intersection of an existing underground utility or underground structure by a second utility resulting in direct contact between the transactions of the utilities that compromises the integrity of either utility or underground structure.
Hello Peter;
There is no sewer trap that is going to stop the gas.The pressure is around 60 PSI and will easily blow through any trap.The other problem is the cap is off when the drain is being cleared and the gas is escaping while you are clearing the drain and you don't smell it.Hopefully you will see it bubbling in the water if there is water there. If not it maybe to late to get out of the building.Calling the municipality and getting an inspection is the only way to go.
Tks 4 commenting! Al
I have Never Heard of this Before Al , very Enlightening !!!
Hey JD;
Good sign is dead vegetation. Apparently the intersection of another line in the ground while cross boring is very common! I am glad you got yours repaired before anything serious take place!
Thanks for commenting and enjoy your day! Al
Hey Al !!!
Man that sounds Deadly !!!
We have BUD here , Before You Dig , if You don't there is a Serious Fine !!!
Why Risk Life and Limb !!!
Great Job Al !!!
Hey Ray;
After watching the program on TV; I started doing some research into it. 2 or 3 intersections per mile was alarming. If you go the website and se the devastation of a natural gas explosion; it is a huge eye opener!
Spread the word my friend!
You are more then welcome!
Thanks for the kind words Ray! Have yourself a great weekend! Al
Hello Mrgray;
I am hoping that it will help out with this serious issue. Nothing to play around with here!
Has taken a number of lives already. Biggest thing is to tell as many people as possible. Let them know that they can get a hold of there municipality and check their sewer if it is plugged. They send a camera in and look to see if their is a gas line there. Rather be safe then sorry. 2 to 3 every mile is a staggering number!
Thanks for commenting and have a great week! Al
Hello sparkyks;
Terrible tragedy. I appreciate your information and have checked out the story. Hopefully these types of accidents will become less in the future. Major precautions have to come into play when working around natural gas lines. Check, check and then recheck!
Thanks for commenting and enjoy your week! Al
I don't understand why the responsibility doesn't fall on the gas company. As plumbers we have our work inspected and take responsibility for it. So should the gas company. We have this problem in the Seattle area too. I think it will be an ongoing issue, as the company that wants to wait for inspection will loose the call to the company that thinks it's not a big deal, which is true most of the time.
Hello Dennis;
I totally agree. As far as I am concerned there should be a video inspection taken place when the cross boring is taking place. It would only makes sense.
Can't put a price on a life!
Thanks for commenting and have a great day! Al
Never heard of this before, but in my area there is lots of these boring machines working all over the place buring electric, water, gas, cable, and who knows what else....Thank's for the heads up video, should help keep alot of people safer from this big hazard/danger.
Thanks dude
Hey man;
It is very common and there have been a number of deaths that have occurred in the past. One just the other day in the U.S. To help prevent this from happening; I hope everyone who sees this video spreads the word about it.
Thanks for commenting and have a great week! Al
Great info, but When the pipe does brakes the sewer trap should stop the gas from enterain the house?
Hello GalaXy808;
You are more then welcome!
Spread the word when you get a chance! It would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for watching and commenting and have yourself a great week! Al
Good tip Al... had a gas leak here in the street..Indication was dead grass in my yard near the street . They did the method you described to lay the new pipe, well it did get diverted in the middle of the yard by rock an dug up more of my yard to find it . They do plant new grass in the spring been watered now every day. Any way I do not think N.G is the best source of heat . Read up on Nikola Tesla. Cheers TU .
good info but where i work there are no cross bores. city code enforcers AKA inspectors agreed on a code with the natural gas aka black hills stating that no cross bore shall be done in city limited or were no other utilities are present " at so and so feet"
Hello Colt;
You are fortunate that you have no cross bores where you live. Cross boring has taken place thousands of times in many areas. People have been seriously injured from explosions when clearing sewers.
What caught my attention was a news report on it where a plumber was attempting to clear a sewer with an electric sewer machine and he cut into the natural gas line and ended up with severe burns on the majority of his body.
So hopefully this video will let people know that this does take place and prevent someone from being injured or killed.
Chances of it happening may not be great, but no sense in spinning the wheel on it.
Thanks for commenting and have a great week! Al
We recently had a bad accident. It was not from clearing drain but a local cable contractor boring. There is more info all over this site. It leveled the entire building, only one person was killed.
go to kmbc dot com and search J.J.'s restaurant since links are not allowed by youtube
Al that was timely. My friend has a clogged sewer pipe. The plumber didn't call anyone. But I'm going to be drilling in the yard, so I called, "Call Before You Dig." Didn't know of cross boring. I shared this info on Facebook. Is there anyway to find out where my friend's sewer line runs - the path of the sewer pipe, how deep and how wide it is? The city doesn't have the information in its records. Also, have you ever used copper sulfate to kill roots in sewer pipes?
Hello brotherjoeradosti;
I have never used copper sulfate, but it is very toxic. I heard it will kill every thing that it comes in contact with. If you have a dug well, I would definitely stay away from it. I am not a chemical fan myself. Sorry I can't help you out further on that topic.
Thanks for sharing the cross boring topic. It is a very important subject! If you have natural gas; I would definitely be calling someone to run a camera down the sewer main to make sure that they did not run the line through the sewer main. This could save your life and your families as well!
A camera can be sent down the line and show roughly what direction the line takes. As far as giving detailed directions; I am not sure of an EXACT way to get the location. If the operator of the camera has been using it for a long time; he should be able to give better details then a person who has just got into the business.
Thanks for commenting and have a great week! Al
TheOldkid888 Thanks Al.
Hello brotherjoeradosti;
You are more then welcome! Al
I had the problem in my house.... lucky for me the gas company used a drain camera found the danger....before many years ....I used a snake two or three times...luckily never broke the pipe ..take care u tubers...
Hello Jose,
WOW!
Glad everything worked out for you!
They say it is more common than we know. Be a BAD day if you punctured the gas line!
Glad everything worked out for you!
Thanks for commenting and enjoy our weekend! Al
SDR is pvc, it's just thinner. Why do you have some schedule 40 cpvc? You doing waste lines in 40cpvc? Good for you, I just use regular 40 but hey, why not.
Hello skoronesa,
I use both depending on the job. Anything as far as an apartment goes; it always gets cpvc for heat resistance properties. Code.
Thanks for commenting and enjoy your week! Al
The good for you wasn't sarcasm. Cpvc is better than pvc. But I am surprised to hear your code requires it for waste lines. If there is an issue with heat somebody probably did something wrong.
I did find a piece of pe someone used to connect a galvanized vent to the copper going through the roof. The weight of the galv. pulled the pe into a thin string as the heat in the attic melted it. It's a pretty neat picture.
And by the way, I know I don't say this enough but keep up the good work. I enjoy your videos, very informative.
Directional drilling is the process of drilling utility lines from one area to another without trenching. Crossbore is not that. Crossbore is where in the process of drilling, another utility line is hit. Dangerous in sewers because they can go undetected until the sewer backs up and a plumber goes to clear it and strikes the gas line that can than leak and cause a deadly explosion.
Hello Victor,
Thanks for that!
I read a few stories about people being injured and severely burned from a gas explosion.
Modern technology has benefits and draw backs for sure.
Thanks for commenting and enjoy your day! Al
Thanks, I don't like getting in the newspaper!
Hello binnsh;
You don't want to get in the paper this way for sure.
Thanks for commenting and have a great day! Al
I do not how you can make a hole and cross sewer pipe to inserted a gas or water line Must code requiere d at least 12" between gas line water lines or sewer lines it's a code violation
Hello Certified Quality Air & Plumbing Inc,
It would definitely be a code violation, but it does happen. When they are cross boring they really don't know to the inch as to where the drill is located. They are hoping it goes to plan, but sometimes it obviously doesn't.
Read an article about a plumber who was trying to clear a sewer line. Didn't have any luck with the sewer tape so decided he would get his sewer machine. Sent it out and cut into the gas line and created a spark from the head and ended up in the hospital with third degree burns. Wasn't a good situation to say the least.
It has happened in a number of places to date. They are not really certain of the number of times it has happened.
Here is an article on it if you are interested in reading.
ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/06/01/state-investigating-whisteblower-report-of-potentially-explosive-pipeline-errors/
It's an eye opener!
Thanks for commenting and enjoy your week! Al
I work for a company that tracks down and repairs natural gas crossbores. Crossbores happen in a small percentage of gas installations, but it does happen more often then you would think. The primary issue lies in the fact that sewer is one utility that can not be energized and located like you would with power, fiber or natural gas lines. When the drilling takes place, they mark where they think the sewers are and then they "hole hog" the line in. Sometimes, the pipes are not where they thought they were and then the crew drills through a sewer pipe.
These can be extremely dangerous, so before running any sort of cutting blade in a pipe in an attempt to clear a blockage, please contact your local gas provider and ask them to come locate any nearby natural gas to make sure you are safe.
Hello akanaaz,
Thanks very much for that information!
Greatly appreciated.
I am surprised that we don't hear more about this topic. I know that there have been a few explosions that I have read about and saw one on the news.
I am glad that they are not a common occurrence.
Education is key in helping to prevent this from happening!
Thanks for commenting and I greatly appreciate your input.
Have a great weekend! Al
Plumbing shall have a sewer video inpection before do anything else
plumbing good practices
Hello Certified Quality Air & Plumbing Inc,
True enough. It would be great if everyone followed those words with practice, but unfortunately they don't.
Thanks for commenting and enjoy your week! Al
Cant really diagnose sewer blockages when the line is filled with water. Best thing to do is call the gas company if you suspect a crossbore and they will have the person line lateral launched to check for a crossbore on the opposite side of the blockage. Another thing you can do is if you have a camera go down and you suspect your hitting the blockage, locate the gas line and if the has line is on or near the location of blockage, poss it may be a crossbore.
I work for a company that does this type of inspections in the southwest.
There is misinformation in your video. You are calling “cross bore” as the technology. The actual name of the technology is called horizontal boring. Cross bore is the damaging situation when the conduits intersect.
Hello Doug,
Thanks for the input. Much appreciated.
I am hoping the video will help anyone who may have a plugged sewer if they did do horizontal boring recently in their area. Although cross bore happening is not overly popular in relationship to haw much drilling is done; anything out to the public could save a life.
Thanks for commenting and enjoy your day! Al