Calamity Kris Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 We were working away on our computers yesterday, the interwebs suddenly went away. ATT sent a technician out to check on the problem. It turns out, a construction crew digging for a new house down the road, severed the trunk line for the subdivision. Cut off Interwebs and land lines for all the houses here. Well, we're back up now. We did hear the construction company was going to get a HEFTY bill for that......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waxahachie Kid #17017 L Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 My son works for the phone company, and yes...if anyone fails to get a locater out there to find the line, before they dig, then the expense to fix it, is borne by those that cut it. It can be very expensive...depending on the size, depth, and age of the line. If they get it located, and hit it, then the expense is borne by the locating company, so they have an incentive to give accurate locations. Bottom line...call the location company before you dig. It can save you money, and time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michigan Slim Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Oh they will! I needed to have a ditch at work regraded. I told the company that it was part of the old Erie canal and that sizeable utilities were in the vicinity. They called NO ONE! As they scraped away with a dozer, a gas line and a six inch thick bundle of fiber optic lines appeared behind the dozer. NIPSCO and Verizon were on site in MINUTES. They weren't even called. Not sure what it cost them but they never worked for us again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michigan Slim Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 4 minutes ago, Waxahachie Kid #17017 L said: My son works for the phone company, and yes...if anyone fails to get a locater out there to find the line, before they dig, then the expense to fix it, is borne by those that cut it. It can be very expensive...depending on the size, depth, and age of the line. If they get it located, and hit it, then the expense is borne by the locating company, so they have an incentive to give accurate locations. Bottom line...call the location company before you dig. It can save you money, and time. 811 boys and girls. The life you save might be your own! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Long before I ever heard of 811, a fellow that lived down the road about two miles, decided that a tree needed to come down in his yard. Down it came with it the electric overhead lines, and phone lines. Last I heard the insurance claim was around $500,000.00. It seems that it was a main line to town. Fried our microwave. I understand utilites werepopping like popcorn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 When we lived in Clearlake Oaks we lost internet and cable for 3 days because rabbits had chewed through the lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calamity Kris Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 Just for grins and giggles, I drove by the site to see how bad it was. It was an 8" trunk line buried four feet down. When I saw it, he had pulled it up to about 8 inches above ground level before it severed. I can't imagine he didn't know something was wrong with all the resistance he had to be pulling when he hooked it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 When I was stationed at NAS Fallon NV, the AT&T trans-continental fiber optic backbone running through my backyard. Shortly after we moved in, a technician paid us a visit. Gave us a couple of really nice pocket knives and hats. We had been there a year when the neighbors decided to put in a new water well. The driller didn't call 811 because he thought he was far enough away from the markers. AT&T felt differently and shut the driller down for a few days until he went through the proper channels. BTW if the 811 guys say there are no utilities in the dig area and you hit one they pay. If they mark a utility and you hit it, you pay. It is your responsibility to carefully hand dig and locate the underground utilities they mark without damaging them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yul Lose Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 In 1982 I did a lot of business with the BIA in Arizona. One job I bid on and got called for a cable to be buried between an operations building and and administration building about 200 feet apart. When we did the walk through before the bid I recommended that the cable be buried in conduit because the number of gopher mounds on the lawn between the two buildings was amazing but to save money they wanted the cable buried sans conduit. Well we buried the cable and all of the equipment worked for about a week and then we got a call that the system was down. The gophers had made mincemeat out of the cable. They paid us to come back out and retrench and install conduit and install new cable. I sold a new dispatching center to a police department in southern Arizona and recommended that we install lightning protection equipment on the tower and redo a lot of the tower grounding because there wasn’t much. They opted not to do the grounding or lightning protection and not long after the system was installed and in service a severe thunder and lightning storm came through and according to a cop on patrol the tower took a direct hit because he saw it. By the time the system was rebuilt they could have bought brand new equipment because I had technicians out there or in our shop working on their stuff for weeks and nearly every circuit board had to be replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 42 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said: When we lived in Clearlake Oaks we lost internet and cable for 3 days because rabbits had chewed through the lines. That's happened to me twice in the last 10 years, except it was squirrels! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Dad and I hit the phone line to the house with tractor mounted post hole digger. We were replacing several old posts in a fence along the driveway using a tractor mounted auger. The auger spooled up several hundred feet of 2 conductor wire buried about 3 feet down before the auger could be stopped. The old posts were a lot smaller than the new and were probably dug by hand. The phone company came out and the guys on the truck thought it was pretty funny. Took them a day to replace the line to the house. I on the other hand, spent 2 days getting the wire off the auger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 3 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said: When we lived in Clearlake Oaks we lost internet and cable for 3 days because rabbits had chewed through the lines. When did you live in the Oaks, Joe..? I've had a few adventures out of that place! Remind me to tell ya about the Fireman's Ball... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 39 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said: When did you live in the Oaks, Joe..? I've had a few adventures out of that place! Remind me to tell ya about the Fireman's Ball... We were there from the Fall of 2008 to early 2012. Then back to Sonoma County. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskey Business Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 1 hour ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said: When did you live in the Oaks, Joe..? I've had a few adventures out of that place! Remind me to tell ya about the Fireman's Ball... Fireman's ball adventure? Do tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 2 hours ago, Whiskey Business said: Fireman's ball adventure? Do tell. ........ don't encourage him, ..... I'm still rolling on the floor after his last (mis)adventure. .......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Father Kit Cool Gun Garth Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Three Foot Johnson Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Some years ago, there was a telephone junction box out in front of my house. You know the ones - about 8" square and a couple feet tall. I decided to fence my yard and found the box was about 3' inside the property line. After mowing around the thing for a few years, and calling the phone company whenever I thought about it, I just dug a hole, put the thing underground with a plastic bucket over it, and buried it. Eventually, people started having problems with their telephones. One day a telephone truck came slowly driving down the road, looking, turned around and drove back looking again. Finally he stopped, knocked on my door, and said he was looking for a junction box that was supposed to be "right there". I told him the story, and later in the day a couple suits showed up to tell me I'd have to pay a zillion dollars to fix the damage. I told them I had called numerous times, and researched the county records for a right of way. A couple more days, a crew showed up to fix it, and another suit came to my door apologizing about the encroachment, telling me I was right that they had no right of way to place it there in the the first place all those years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgavin Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 When I was with IBM in San Francisco, a ship came under the Golden Gate Bridge dragging an anchor... cut all the communication cables between San Francisco and Marin County, and points North. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskey Business Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 A good bit of siding was removed from my parents house and left in the yard. This happened while they were out. My dad nailed the siding back. I'm sure there was cussing going on. The next day happened again, only worse. Come to find out, the work was for a house on the next street! The contractor had to send a crew to repair the damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 21 hours ago, Whiskey Business said: Fireman's ball adventure? Do tell. 18 hours ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said: ........ don't encourage him, ..... I'm still rolling on the floor after his last (mis)adventure. .......... Awrighty, youse two... I promises I'll get to it just as soon as I catches up on a couple of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeaconKC Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Just now, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said: Awrighty, youse two... I promises I'll get to it just as soon as I catches up on a couple of things. And he makes sure the Statue of Limitations has expired... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Three Foot Johnson Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 31 minutes ago, DeaconKC said: And he makes sure the Statue of Limitations has expired... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103 Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Yul speaks truly. Lightning protection is more than worth it! (My ham radio station took a hit three years ago. Expensive lesson!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smuteye John SASS#24774 Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 11 hours ago, DeaconKC said: And he makes sure the Statue of Limitations has expired... Naturally! He also needs of figure out aliases for any co-conspirators that may not appreciate being outted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixgun Sheridan Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 On 1/30/2021 at 4:03 PM, Waxahachie Kid #17017 L said: My son works for the phone company, and yes...if anyone fails to get a locater out there to find the line, before they dig, then the expense to fix it, is borne by those that cut it. It can be very expensive...depending on the size, depth, and age of the line. If they get it located, and hit it, then the expense is borne by the locating company, so they have an incentive to give accurate locations. Bottom line...call the location company before you dig. It can save you money, and time. If it was a fiber optic line those are VERY difficult and expensive to fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waxahachie Kid #17017 L Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Not long ago, my son had to work nights, for a while, because some idiots were tearing down fiber optic cable, thinking it was copper cable. It takes special training, and equipment, to splice fiber-optic cable. You do not want to cut a fiber-optic cable, unless you are rich. When I worked in Dallas (I work for the electric utility), some of these same idiot's cousins broke into a sub-station, to steal copper wire. They found some, and tried to cut them, bare handed, with side-cutter pliers. We found them the next morning, with their arms, and feet, burned off. Even suited up, in protective gear, I could still feel the static electricity, and had the hair stand up on the back of my neck, when I entered a substation. Between 138,000, and 345,000 volts coming in, and between 7,200, and 14,400 volts, going out. Instant death, unless you know what you are doing. "You shall not steal". Exodus 20:15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypress Sun Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 4 minutes ago, Waxahachie Kid #17017 L said: Not long ago, my son had to work nights, for a while, because some idiots were tearing down fiber optic cable, thinking it was copper cable. It takes special training, and equipment, to splice fiber-optic cable. You do not want to cut a fiber-optic cable, unless you are rich. When I worked in Dallas (I work for the electric utility), some of these same idiot's cousins broke into a sub-station, to steal copper wire. They found some, and tried to cut them, bare handed, with side-cutter pliers. We found them the next morning, with their arms, and feet, burned off. Even suited up, in protective gear, I could still feel the static electricity, and had the hair stand up on the back of my neck, when I entered a substation. Between 138,000, and 345,000 volts coming in, and between 7,200, and 14,400 volts, going out. Instant death, unless you know what you are doing. "You shall not steal". Exodus 20:15 I've seen a picture of something like that. Not pretty at all. Instant death and part cremation all in one shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 16 hours ago, DeaconKC said: And he makes sure the Statue of Limitations has expired... And there is a new sheriff in office locally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Duncan Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 19 hours ago, Sixgun Sheridan said: If it was a fiber optic line those are VERY difficult and expensive to fix. A lot more revenue traffic on fiber (usually) then copper cable. Revenue lost can often exceed the cost of repairs. Telcos have insurance that will reimburse the Telco if the Turnip (cable cutter) doesn't have enough blood (money). IMHO it is actually more difficult to repair a large copper cable then it is to repair a fiber optic cable (been there, done that). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grass Range Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 We graze a couple hundred head of cattle on our range once a year to keep the grass/fire danger down. The first type of cable we used on the sporting clays range had a taste they liked so they ate a bunch of the cable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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