plastic locater

[plumberjr]

heres one for you guys---yesterday i had to locate a 2' gas line ---i just bought a ridgid sr-20--excellent locater!!!
heres my question-- the customer said it was all steel and it was at the outlet riser of the meter--the gas line runs about 600 feet to the building,feeding it in several spots--this is a high pressure feed off a transmission line--i used the inductive clamp around the steel and set freq to 33 mhz. i followed it about 200 feet and then i absolutely dropped all signal-- so i figured it was probably a dresser that transitioned to plastic-- i dug it up and found all plastic, so i was now 200 feet from the transmitter and clamp-- i followed it back 30 feet towards the riser and dug again--still plastic--i dug 2 more holes and both were plastic--also there was no tracer wire anywhere--trust me --at the riser i dug a basement looking--i was told by the rep and the manual that plastic does not carry signal--and i have tried befor with the old locater and pretty much looked like an idiot.. why did i pick it up?????????????????????????????????????????

[Service Guy]

There was some sort of trace conductor in the pipe.

[PLUMBER RICK]

they make a metalic caution tape that labeled with caution gas pipe buried below?

no tracer wire? no tracer tape:confused:

could you have been tracing another utility line that the gas pipe was grounded to? like water or electrical;)

rick.

[plumberjr]

there were no other utilities--electric is aerial--water and sewer is about 150 yards away--it was a steel riser with a dresser 90 that transitioned to plastic--regular orange plastic gas line--no tracer tape or wire---im no dummy to locating--have done it for several years--just upgraded to sr-20---any other thoughts????:confused::confused::confused:

[stokefire7]

where's the electric ?

[plumberjr]

Electric is aerial---in the air---on a telephone pole--

[Masterplumb]

There is probably no tracer wire in the part where you lost signal.

[plumberjr]

IT WAS ONE SOLID PIECE OF PLASTIC---IT IS STANDARD GAS PIPE--IT DOES not HAVE TRACER WIRE IN IT--THE GAS COMPANY WAS THERE TODAY AND HE WAS ALSO MYSTIFIED

[plumberjr]

HONESTLY-- IHAVE NEVER HEARD OF POLYETHYLENE PIPE WITH A TRACER METAL OR WIRE MOLDED IN IT--IS THAT COMMON TO YOU GUYS?????-:confused:

[SlimTim]

Could the supply for this gas meter have been running under this poly pipe for some distance and then turn? Maybe your signal was going through the meter and up the supply.

[JCsPlumbing]

Could the supply for this gas meter have been running under this poly pipe for some distance and then turn? Maybe your signal was going through the meter and up the supply.

Leave it to the QuizMan! Good answer. :clapping:

J.C.

[plumberjr]

Thought of that -but no-


steel feed line meter building

-----------------------------#####------------------------------

see why i dont get it?

[plumberjr]

I should have taken a pic----this entire line runs from east to west east being service side and west being the building---half of the line is steel,half plastic------steel up to meter----plastic from meter to building-- no other lines around---i'm reading my manual for sr-20 now

[SlimTim]

You mentioned no utilities but I didn't see any report on telephone or cable. I think that sr20 will pick up dang near any frequency.

I understand you have some pretty big River Birch trees in Ohio.

[plumberjr]

Telephone,cable and electric are aerial---on poles. Only utilitys in ground are gas--water-sewer-------water and sewer are nowhere close

[SlimTim]

Where can I get me one of them plastic locaters? I really could of used one last month!

[plumberjr]

What is weird is it just stopped--total loss of signal within 1 foot--maybe i was over top of an indian burial ground??????????????

[SlimTim]

What frequency were you trying to read. What transmitter were you using?

[SlimTim]

Do they have an irrigation system or a dog fence?

[plumberjr]

St 305 5 watt transmitter--- and 33 mhz

[plumberjr]

No irr or dog fence---large commercial garbage truck company

[plumberjr]

Makes no sense---thought of calling ridgid and asking about it

[SlimTim]

Well, I'm just curious. Did you try to recreate the whole scenario? I mean, did you disconnect your locater and then try to do it all again with the same results? Did it lose signal at the same place? Did you try it at 8 mhz?
Have you tried it on other plastic yet?
It would be fun to glue an adapter on a 20' length of pvc or poly and screw a black nipple in it and see what your locater does with that.

[plumberjr]

I did recreate and try again wiyh exact same results---really strange---------i will test the plastic to steel test tomorrow and post it here

[plumberjr]

And i tried all 3 freqs--same