Good Underground Utility Detector?

[YellowHammer]

I live on a farm that has had many owners install electrical and plumbing infrastructure for wells, outbuilding power, water lines, and all that for serval outbuildings and zero map of where they are.  We have been doing lots of ground work and land improvement and I have hit my second underground electrical feed in as many months.  This one goes to an old well pump, and was buried maybe 6 inches underground by I assume and old man and a weak shovel on a hot summer day.  I thought I was at least 10 feet away from where I thought the wire was.  Nope.  These are not county lines for which they will and have happily located by dialing 811, but hand dug Farmer Brown utilities.  

Is there some good underground utility detector that is near professional grade and will help me locate this maze of underground infrastructure, both active and inactive? 

I have a budget for a $1,000 or so, I guess. I have a hobby metal detector and it is about worthless for anything more than a few inches below ground.  I'd like something that will detect electrical lines and possibly water lines at least a couple feet deep, both energized and not energized.  

Thanks! 

[Crusarius]

Ever hear of dowsing? My wife has the ability and has been able to follow all of our pipes and electric lines underground. The only problem is when she finds something it could be pipe, electric line, or a water source.

The best locating tool I have found is the excavator bucket  Just like the metal detecting sawblades

[chevytaHOE5674]

My backhoe is good at finding every hidden line running thru all my farms. Haha

[Southside]

Agree on the excavator as the absolute best option available. If that doesn't work try a subsoiler, you can usually locate one buried utility line per shank in a single pass. 

[thecfarm]

I did a google on Dig Safe in Maine.  
Even I am supposed to call them when I am digging on my own land.
Cost? 
Seem to be free to all utilities companies.

[Erik A]

Detecting not energized lines is a tall order with your budget.  The only thing that would be close is gpr (ground penetrating radar) but not to purchase, maybe have someone come and run your property? 

A decent locator ( not gpr)  is in the range of 4 to 5K and would miss the non powered lines. 

If the water is steel you can send a signal down it and locate it. Plastic needs a tracer wire 

Check with your rental yard, some are carrying locators now. Renting would be the way to go!

You are right, a metal detector will not work

If you move closer to me, ill stop by and check your yard for you   :laugh:

[doc henderson]

If you have lived there 20+ years, it is time to upgrade anyway.  When you have installed everything on your property then there is a 50% less chance of hitting stuff!  

[Larry]

When I worked for the telephone company 25 years ago the repairman used a cable locater made by Dynatel.  I'm sure they were over $1,000 way back than.  Just did a quick google and see them in the 6 grand range.

Some of the installers were equipped with a locator made by Progressive Electronics called the 508 system.  They were cheap but could do simple cable locating.  I have one and it is on the amateur level but will work.  Progressive Electronics is now called Tempo and sells the same locator.  TEMPO 508S  No idea if it will work as well as my old one.

For many years I trained the craftsman to locate cables along with many other skills.  Locating a cable out in the middle of a cornfield is completely different than locating a cable in a area with many other buried utilities and requires advanced skill.

I can also "witch" cables, water lines, gas lines, along with water.  I use two "L" shaped wires.  Many people can do it, especially if somebody shows them.  Accuracy is not near as good as the electronic devices and I'm not always sure of what I've actually witched until dug up.

[doc henderson]

bury the new stuff deep!

[Crusarius]

I did a google on Dig Safe in Maine.  
Even I am supposed to call them when I am digging on my own land.
Cost?
Seem to be free to all utilities companies.

Not sure about Maine, but when I called 811 in NY they said they only mark the mains and nothing else. Said the owner is responsible for the rest.

[Mooseherder]

There's a guy locally that has a device that looks like a push lawnmower locating water and utility lines.  Must be someone you can hire for a few hours close by or a rental item?

[Crusarius]

Larry, that witching thing you speak of is actually called dowsing. My wife does it and we have found it to be quite a bit more accurate than any digital device on the market.

[YellowHammer]

Between the excavator and the skid steer, I'm finding every line in the property.   :D :D

However, I'd like to find them before I cut them in two.  The 811 only finds the county lines and not that accurately, either.  

To make matters worse, there was an old saloon, a speakeasy, on our property, and just this weekend I cut into the old waterline, electrical cable, another couple waterlines and even a septic tank I had no idea was there.  

I'd seen some new technology where a transmitter can be placed over an existing line and a high frequency waveform will be inductively transmitted down the cable, wire or pipe and a detector will pick it up.  It won't work for the unknown lines but maybe tracing down the known ones.  I don't know if they really work, though.  

[Nebraska]

I'm blessed to have utility linemen who own cattle.  They have access to locators. You do solve problems  for them in the middle of the night  they  are pretty receptive to helping you.  I would put up a sign in your retail establishment  about needing a hand with that and I bet eventually someone  will show up or know someone... So what if they get a deal on some really nice walnut boards.

[Ljohnsaw]

How about one of those invisible fence things for dogs? You use the line as the antenna. Then, just put the collar on and roam your property. It will give you a little zap when you get close! ⚡

[Ianab]

How about one of those invisible fence things for dogs? You use the line as the antenna. Then, just put the collar on and roam your property. It will give you a little zap when you get close! ⚡

That works, but then it's a known and energised line, like a low frequency radio aerial. Same as a powered up mains power cable, and that can be detected relatively easily. 
Locally they have "call before you dig" phone number. Call that, and if needed they send out a guy with the map and detection gear, at no cost. If they check and mark the known utilities, and you don't dig there, then you are off the hook if you hit an unknown or wrongly mapped one. Just dig at random, and might be on the hook for the gas pipe or fibre optic line you hit. I figure the utilises pay the cost as it's cheaper than emergency call-out for gas leaks etc, and then trying to get blood out of a stone from the digger. 

[YellowHammer]

I have all the county utilities marked, and every time they install a new line whether it be power, internet, cable etc, I have pictures.  The issue is that the previous farmers and landowners wanted everything plumbed to everything, redundantly, so with multiple wells, sheds and buildings, they are plumbed and powered in parallel in basically a network or web of underground services.  They used shovels, ditch witches, backhoes whatever and everything is at different depths and the shallow stuff is just under the surface.  They even have each well servicing each of the same buildings with redundant power and water.   Then when we started building all our stuff, we went under all that and increased the complexity of the web, except all my stuff has tracer tape on top of it.  Even the county guy who came out a few years ago was confused and just said "it's a mess."  

So for example yesterday, I'm just finishing up covering an unknown septic line in one of our roadside pastures that I didn't  know about but "heard it was around from one of the old timer neighbors" (we called the county and they didn't have a record of one) and up comes a piece of Romex wire. I figure no problem, it can't be anything I care about and keep digging.  I'm in a pasture that used to apparently be a saloon parking lot, that then was turned into a mobile home park, has since long ago disappeared and gone back to pasture.  Then when I go to leave for the day, and open the security gate, the power is dead and one of the breakers is tripped.  So apparently that wire to the undiscovered building buried in the ground somehow had a leg of power from my circuit breaker running near it.  Why?  I have absolutely no idea.  So now, first thing this morning, I have to go out and figure what else is dead and start either a brand new run of Romex underground to my gate and risk hitting more unknown stuff, or find and repair whatever I tore up and figure it out later.  Either way, it's a pain.

New Market is one of the oldest towns in North Alabama and has a lot of history, and it would appear that I found the old Speakeasy in the area, called Tangled Oaks, that all the neighbors told me about was "somewhere on my property" but even the county had no record of.  Pretty cool.  

Here is an old cast iron triple header pipe I dug up, some of the old foundation I didn't know was there, and what I thought was the lid of a septic tank but was in fact the concrete slab of the back porch I think.  Notice the pipe sticking up in the sky.  No record of any of this at the county.  


 

 

[SawyerTed]

I have a neighbor with a place like that.  

Anytime they make a new flower bed, till up an existing one or try to run power or water he digs something up or cuts it.  

It is a real headache, one after another.

Here the call before you dig guys do mark residential property. The only problem is they are often inaccurate.   

They came and marked my property prior to our photovoltaic solar installation.  What was marked was way off.  If I hadn't convinced the installers I knew where stuff was, they would have hit water lines, downspout drains and the main power coming into the house.  

[Tom King]

Your ground looks different than ours, but one surefire way I've found here is to scrape off a smooth cut of the surface with the loader bucket.  Where any trench was dug shows up where the subsoil got mixed with the topsoil.  Also, there is a different texture where the trench is.

[beenthere]

Our county doesn't keep or have records of where my underground wires and gas lines are laid in. 

[Resonator]

Sounds like opening a can of worms (or an archaeological dig)... 

My experience the diggers hotline will only mark from the powerline to the meter (what they own), everything beyond is the landowners responsibility. A contractor putting in new line would then have to use their own detector that would clip onto the wire above ground, and send a signal to the wand. Anything that isn't going to be kept in use, they considered abandoned and dig through. Unused water wells they fill with bags of bentonite clay and cap the casing off.
On the big construction jobs where there are multiple wires, pipes, etc. that they want to leave intact, they will bring in a hydrovac truck to "pothole" a specific area by spraying water and vacuuming the dirt away. 

[doc henderson]

it is often the utilities that do that, but not always accurate.

[mike dee]

Sounds like opening a can of worms (or an archaeological dig)...

My experience the diggers hotline will only mark from the powerline to the meter (what they own), everything beyond is the landowners responsibility. A contractor putting in new line would then have to use their own detector that would clip onto the wire above ground, and send a signal to the wand. Anything that isn't going to be kept in use, they considered abandoned and dig through. Unused water wells they fill with bags of bentonite clay and cap the casing off.
On the big construction jobs where there are multiple wires, pipes, etc. that they want to leave intact, they will bring in a hydrovac truck to "pothole" a specific area by spraying water and vacuuming the dirt away.

I've placed orders with the utility for their free "call before you dig" marking program. I was moving trees with a spade the last time I made a request. If you are lucky enough to catch the person doing the marking and ask nicely they will usually locate "approximately" any buried power and telephone lines on your property...within reason of course. They located my buried power line between my pole and the house for me which was above and beyond the call of duty. They won't normally do private buried lines, only what's on the easement. 

[Mooseherder]

The unit the guy I know uses is called a Bloodhound.  Must be someone local for you to call.

https://www2.bhug.com

[YellowHammer]

I may call one of those companies and have them do a full survey, but I bet that would wouldn't be cheap.

So if budget wasn't an issue, what would be the optimal unit to use for finding energized electrical wires like I just hit and repaired, as well as water well lines, dug a max of 2 feet?  I was YouTubing and saw where for plastic water lines a guy would push a metal plumber snake down the line and that would allow him to detect it.  I also learned I need one that will detect the aluminum tracking tape I've been putting in the ditches, my hobby detector won't see it in the ground.   

Maybe I can EBay a "Pro" model.