Sewer and Water questions.

[excav8r]

Hey guys.

I just scored a sweet job with a big firm in our area doing sewer and water work. Everything about this job is perfect. It is year round and has full benefits and really great pay except that all of my experience is working with small companies doing land clearing, ditching and general excavation type work.

The new job starts tomorrow and I will be running a brand spanking new John Deere 450d along side the trench setting pipe and throwing in stone. Its all sounds fairly simple but i've just never done it before and don't want to look bad lol so I was wondering if the were and tips tricks or just good advice on what and what not to do. and what I should basically expect.

I have done some water services into a subdivision before but was running a 330 and was just digging.

Thanks for any help or advise you can give me i'm pretty nervous for tomorrow but also really excited to be on such a huge job site.

Steve

 

[buckfever]

I've done this a few times. It is pretty much just like you said, take gravel out of the gravel box and put it on the pipe. Put a foot of dirt on top and have the labor run out the cation tape then finish back filling. Just make sure you keep your eyes on the man in the ditch. Don't want any job site incedents.

 

[digger242j]

Take care that you're getting stone on both sides of the pipe at the same time. Even if the guy in the trench is holding it in place, too much on one side can displace it.

 

[SeaMac]

I'll second what buckfever says, keep your eyes on the men in the trench. Where I come from the Pipelayer is in control of the excavator, do what he says and keep him happy and you should do fine. If you're digging for sewer you have to be good at carrying a grade (sh_t has to flow downhill) and you'll be lifting and setting structures so be mindful of your load chart and objects around you when lifting. Pay attention, work only as fast as your skill and experience allows and ALWAYS be careful. Good luck...

 

[SeaMac]

Yes, take care when spreading the rock bedding, you definitely do NOT want the pipe to shift at all especially doing sewer work and there usually cannot be any pipe deflection in waterline either. It takes a very skilled operator to dump then evenly spread rock to the pipe haunches.

Take care that you're getting stone on both sides of the pipe at the same time. Even if the guy in the trench is holding it in place, too much on one side can displace it.

 

[buckfever]

I'll thierd watch how you bed the pipe. After the first time they make you get out and dig the pipe out to put it back in place you will remember forever.

 

[SeaMac]

Oh yeah, especially if it was a BIG bucket-O-rock, been there done that, won't do it again. I like to keep my shovels diesel powered and Electro-hydraulic controlled. Having an Operator in the trench shovelling his own mistake does earn you the respect of the Pipelayer, Tailman and Hillman though...however there are easier ways to earn respect, make pipe crew work less does it every time.

I'll thierd watch how you bed the pipe. After the first time they make you get out and dig the pipe out to put it back in place you will remember forever.

 

[Colorado Digger]

my 2cents. mind the people around you. try not to get flustered, if you do-be double careful. accidents happen when people are not thinking straight. mind the bedding box, keeping it just far away enough so it does not get you in trouble. keep the hoe flat and level, that makes life way easier for pipe work and all around ease of operation. have a good attitude and be stoked about your job.

good luck,CD

 

[SeaMac]

Let me add this tid bit of info, do NOT use your bucket to tamp the backfill unless you have at least three 6" - 8" lifts above the pipe crown. You run the risk of putting a belly in the pipe and in sewer work that it is a big NO NO. Let the pipe crew use their plate compactor to do compaction otherwise you'll just have to dig up that section of pipe and pull the belly out. I've seen too many over zealous "new-to-pipe" Operators wanting to help with compaction only to end up working backwards for their efforts.

 

[excav8r]

Thanks for the great advise so far guys.

feeling pretty good about this just got a small case of the first day at school jitters.

its not like I bluffed my way into this job I was up front with my experience level in this kind of work I just did not want to make any obvious rookie mistakes lol

 

[AlloaExcavating]

Who are you working for? I'm from Ontario as well

 

[I AM IRONMAN]

Sounds like a big job, along with all the other advice, keep in mind overall compaction. If you will have pavement over the top of your pipe, it will sink if you do not compact correctly, no one wants problems like that two or three years from now. Many Cities and Towns will check compaction to make sure it is right.
If you have to go very deep, you have to have Trench Boxes for you people in the trench. Can you tell us a little bit more about the job? How deep, rocky or sandy? Rural or in Town?
It sounds like quite a job with a brand new 450D Excavator to run! (100,000 lb machine) That ain't no Tinker Toy!
Good Luck and get it right the first time!

 

[Acivil]

If you do any deep trenching for sewer (15'+) be sure your machine is sitting level, or by the time you get to the proper depth your trench will be off line, and the box only makes it worse. I also try and remind my operators never to lift over people unless it is absolutely impossible not to. And in the case that you must, try and think about the path of the bucket in the event of a boom/stick failure and keep people out of there. When digging a tie in/structure pit/anything other than normal trenching I generally feel like it always takes a bucket or two more than what it looks like to achieve proper clearance for backfill/box ect. It saves a lot of time if you get it dug properly the first time.

 

[excav8r]

The company is colautti construction and it is a very big job. I counted around 16 shovels on site and I think the smallest is a deere 350. there are probably 5 or 6 450's and 1 650 and i think the rest are 350's. There is also 4 or 5 dozers and a bunch of rock trucks and loaders.

We are building a subdivision on a mountain of rock. The blasting guys have been there for over a year and the sewer and water crews have come in in the last month or so.

Lots going on but so far I have been on the backfill for a pipe crew, done some excavating of blasted material, ran a rock truck for a day which I always wanted to try and worked on the crusher crew pulling away from one of the crushers and loading trucks.

Nice to work for a big outfit for a change and not always have someone breathing down my neck like for smaller companies. I talk to my foreman in the morning he tells me what machine to grab and what i am doing and i'm left to do it for the day.