Common Underground Utility Location Services

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Common Underground Utility Location Services

• EXARO Technologies Corporation

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• During a construction project which involves
  digging and excavating, it is critical to have
  your utilities located before you dig. This will
  help you save time budget, and also the cost of
  dealing with a damaged utility. Looking broadly,
  a damaged utility might pose hazards for the
  environment too. Therefore, underground utility
  location services are required. This article
  discusses different methods available to locate
  utilities.
• Broadly speaking, the areas of focus within this
  article are electromagnetic utility locating,
  ground-penetrating radar, acoustic utility
  locator, hydro excavation, and even dowsing.

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Electromagnetic Utility Locating

• It is the most commonly used method to locate
  private utilities. In electromagnetic underground
  utility location service, the locators generate
  an electromagnetic radio frequency. When applied
  to the ground, the waves detect the underground
  utilities containing conductive material on a
  receiver.
• This method is very popular for its accuracy to
  detect a wide range of utilities including gas,
  electricity, water, storm, telephone, irrigation,
  cable, propane, and sewer lines. Electromagnetic
  utility locator cannot, however, detect or locate
  concrete, plastics, asbestos, terra-cotta, or
  non-ductile pipes.
• Gas lines are generally locatable because of the
  material used in their manufacturing. Medium or
  high-density polyethylene pipe, or plastic,
  allows the locator to detect because commonly a
  tracer wire runs alongside or on top of the
  pipeline, making it easy to locate. With the help
  of a tracer wire box or other system, a current
  can be induced making it possible to locate the
  tracer wire.
• This technology works great in depth of 10-15
  feet, whereas normally natural gas distribution
  lines are installed within 4 feet underground.
  Transmission lines are installed deeper than the
  gas lines, but it rather unusual for any utility
  line to be buried beyond a depth of 10 feet.

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Ground Penetrating Radar

• GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) is a technology
  used for underground utility location services.
  This technology is also based on high-frequency
  pulses. A GPR emits radio waves into the ground,
  which are deflected back by the facilities
  subsurface. The deflected radio waves travel back
  to the operator, and display the objects on the
  equipment.
• GPR is popular for locating buried utilities like
  cables, pipes, manholes, tanks, and other buried
  objects that cannot be located with other more
  common methods, such as electromagnetic locating.
  
• There are certain limitations to this method of
  underground utility location service. The biggest
  challenge is that in order to operate a GPR
  sufficient experience, training and expertise are
  required, so that the results can be interpreted
  accurately. Other than this some soils such as
  saline, shale, or clay have high conductivity,
  which limits the GPR from penetrating the soil.
  Moreover, High-frequency GPR antennas offer a
  limited penetration. Other factors which affect
  GPRs effectiveness include soil density,
  environment accessibility, and crowding of
  surrounding utilities.

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Hydro or Vacuum Excavation (potholing)

• While other utility locators require digging,
  vacuum excavation, also known as potholing, is
  non-destructive way to safely locate and expose
  underground utilities. It is comparatively fast
  as well. In this underground utility location
  service, high-pressure air is used to break up
  the soil, which is then sucked into a tank. This
  method is perfect for excavating in difficult
  soil conditions. Vacuum excavation also goes by
  names hydro-digging, hydro-trenching, or soft
  digging.

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Dowsing

• Although dowsing is not recognized as an
  efficient locator service for larger utilities,
  but it considered as one the most reliable ways
  to locate underground utilities and water by many
  experienced locators. With one drawback of
  inability to indicate the depth of a utility
  underground, dowsing rods can indicate accurately
  if you are standing on top of an active pipeline.
  Dowsing can be made from coat hangers, and many
  experienced locators find it a reliable way to
  locate pipelines. Many skeptics claim this method
  is based on intuition, and there is no science
  working behind this method. Whatever the beliefs
  various groups of people hold, the fact remains
  that dowsing has been used as a reliable method
  to detect underground water since the Middle Ages.

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EXARO Technologies Corporation

• Underground Utility Location Services Bay Area by
  Exaro Technology CO comply with the environment
  protocols while performing the task efficiently.
  Our experienced teams utilize the most advanced
  technology to ensure superior quality subsurface
  utility identification. To know more about our
  services, get in touch with one of our
  representatives today or visit our website.

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