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My stress is off the chain..... I hit a fiber optic!!!

boaterri

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Joined
Oct 8, 2008
Messages
229
Location
Florida, USA
Occupation
Retired Television Engineer
The power company is installing a new high voltage line from one end of our island to the other. In many cases it is on the same side of the road as the newly installed cable and phone fiber optic cable. There is no "Dig Safe" or 811 here on Abaco. Had a chat with the splicing technician working on the fiber down the road from my house having noticed 2 new splice boxes on either side of a newly installed pole on the road to town. He said they have hit the fiber multiple times south of the major population center, and that one I saw was the first on the north feed. No flagging, no painted lines. Just crank up the 36" auger and drill away!
 

4x4ford

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Joined
Jul 20, 2007
Messages
237
Location
Las Vegas Nevada
Occupation
aunts on the strip Currently drive a 1951 chevy pa
They just installed fiber in our neighborhood it’s all directional bored for the main lines but the line running to our house is maybe 6 inches deep
 

JD955SC

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2011
Messages
1,349
Location
The South
LMS Line Construction is out of business. They did build phone lines along the highway, both underground & hung from power poles. They had a SOP;
Phone company personnel are there to see, it got buried at specified depth.
Phone company people not there, 3" is plenty.
Town road crews would damage these newly installed phone lines going inches deep, & the phone company seemed to take it in stride.
It was always confusing to me why the phone company hired this company for every install for a 25 year period.

because the people doing the contracting don’t have any idea of the results they just keep hiring the same idiots.
 

KSSS

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2005
Messages
4,319
Location
Idaho
Occupation
excavation
Or there are no specs on how deep the line needs to be or no one is checking on the work being done.
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,432
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
Sacrificial anodes, to technology changing faster than wire or fiber can be changed up to the Next form!!
 

boaterri

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Joined
Oct 8, 2008
Messages
229
Location
Florida, USA
Occupation
Retired Television Engineer
They did it again! 277 (?) strand fiber wound up on the auger. North end of the Island lost internet/cable all day. The fiber splicer has a lifetime job with these guys putting in the poles. Yes, I did suggest to him that they should mark the path but it is not up to him. Anyways, it is guaranteed to keep him busy.
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
Or there are no specs on how deep the line needs to be or no one is checking on the work being done.
I know there were written specs. There were phone company employees assigned to supervise the installation. I never knew if the supervisor was paid a bit to not notice.
There was the first fiber optic installed at the time I remember it as 1990? The very small towns were a proving ground for fiber. Each little town average 6 miles apart had a central office where the switch gear was. Early in fiber days, they connected all the little towns. My father & I ran conduit inside the buildings to protect the fiber. At the time they claimed a repair cost $6000, about the price of a car.
 

Bumpsteer

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Joined
Sep 2, 2009
Messages
1,333
Location
Front seat on the Struggle Bus
Occupation
Mechanical designer
Frontier had fiber bored across our property 3 years ago.
Found a vault laying close to the field entrance and its location marked...
Caught the Frontier crew doing the vaults the next day.
I played dumb, sometimes it works better.
Told them the location, asked if it would hold up to a Stieger running over it.
They moved it to the far side of our rr crossing....lmao.

Ed
 

suladas

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2016
Messages
1,731
Location
Canada
Suppose to start trenching for electrical tomorrow one call done today of course I don't trust them for chit so I go to check it out. The city put in a new feeder wire for the house but didn't stub it in past the fiber so stub isn't even on the private side, they dug within about 8" of the fiber locate, never exposed it though, grass is still perfect there. Of course because the city did it, all there is to mark their stuff is a frigging stake in the ground. Yet if the private side is put in first if it's not marked with a 2x10 right down to bottom of trench they won't touch it. So tired of the double standard. If you do your side first and it's not absolutely perfect they refuse. When they do their side first it's a mess every single time and they will never fix anything whether it's electrical or sewer and water. Sucks for the customer but i'm not touching it. I have a feeling they will say they will pay whatever extra to get it done, but even then i'm not doing it unless someone else takes liability for the fiber, even hand exposing it you can damage it, never mind that the entire spool needs to be hand exposed probably entire day of hand digging, or decent amount with hydrovac.
 

CM1995

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Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
13,250
Location
Alabama
Occupation
Running what I brung and taking what I win
Yet if the private side is put in first if it's not marked with a 2x10 right down to bottom of trench they won't touch it. So tired of the double standard. If you do your side first and it's not absolutely perfect they refuse. When they do their side first it's a mess every single time and they will never fix anything ...

The largest water "board" in our area which is basically a corporation with the powers of a government agency provides the majority of the domestic and industrial water to our metro area.

This water board is full of corruption, waste and graft that has been allowed to go on for years. On the private side of a water service first of all the install contractor has to be on their "approved" list in addition to the customer is required to buy the materials through the board - see corruption above.

The private side has to pour 1/3 kickers behind fire hydrants against solid ground with an inspection. The boards crews install a hydrant, throw a couple of quickcrete bags behind it, crack the hydrant to wet the bags and then backfills. I have personally witnessed this.

X2 - so tired of the gov't double standard.
 

Acoals

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2019
Messages
1,274
Location
Wisconsin
Occupation
Jack of all trades/Master of none
The largest water "board" in our area which is basically a corporation with the powers of a government agency provides the majority of the domestic and industrial water to our metro area.

This water board is full of corruption, waste and graft that has been allowed to go on for years. On the private side of a water service first of all the install contractor has to be on their "approved" list in addition to the customer is required to buy the materials through the board - see corruption above.

The private side has to pour 1/3 kickers behind fire hydrants against solid ground with an inspection. The boards crews install a hydrant, throw a couple of quickcrete bags behind it, crack the hydrant to wet the bags and then backfills. I have personally witnessed this.

X2 - so tired of the gov't double standard.

All that's needed is a couple more pages of regs, a few more inspectors, and maybe another agency to be created to fix the problem ...
 

hvy 1ton

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2006
Messages
1,943
Location
Lawrence, KS
They did it again! 277 (?) strand fiber wound up on the auger. North end of the Island lost internet/cable all day. The fiber splicer has a lifetime job with these guys putting in the poles. Yes, I did suggest to him that they should mark the path but it is not up to him. Anyways, it is guaranteed to keep him busy.

If these guys keep auguring holes, the fiber company isn't charging enough for downtime and repairs.

The county road I live off of had a 5 mile road widening project 4 years ago. Between the floods and tornadoes that spring, the power line contractor got way behind. The new fiber line was plowed in with a dozer and they finished on schedule. Power line contractor had a hydro ex truck do almost half the holes.
 

suladas

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2016
Messages
1,731
Location
Canada
Customer sent me drawing from utility and asked "what's the problem they said it was stubbed in 1m off the neighboring property line" (NOT the city side). These are the times I hate working for self builds. Absolutely not a clue what they are doing. This picture to anyone with a single ounce of knowledge in underground utilities knows there's a big problem here. Fiber, gas, and neighbors electrical are all within 1m of their stub in and it has to cross the fiber. Either everything has to be hydrovacced or hand exposed, trench is 5' deep so that's a lot of hand digging!
thumbnail_IMG_1863.jpg
 

suladas

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2016
Messages
1,731
Location
Canada
The largest water "board" in our area which is basically a corporation with the powers of a government agency provides the majority of the domestic and industrial water to our metro area.

This water board is full of corruption, waste and graft that has been allowed to go on for years. On the private side of a water service first of all the install contractor has to be on their "approved" list in addition to the customer is required to buy the materials through the board - see corruption above.

The private side has to pour 1/3 kickers behind fire hydrants against solid ground with an inspection. The boards crews install a hydrant, throw a couple of quickcrete bags behind it, crack the hydrant to wet the bags and then backfills. I have personally witnessed this.

X2 - so tired of the gov't double standard.

Yea I just don't get it. I've never connected to a new water/sewer that was done properly, i'd rather connect to the 60+ year old stuff honestly because it's way less hassle. They also never leave a water coupler on the line, of all the one's i've done they did once, someone is stealing a bunch of them or something because multiple times they've confirmed to me in writing everyone they do is suppose to have a coupler.

I had one where I forgot to join the sanitary and storm at property line, they dug their trench and told the owner they weren't touching it until the 2 lines were connected to one, I had to go there to put a frigging $5 y on it because they wouldn't take the 30 seconds to do it.

The worst screw up when I did my side first, they messed up the 3m west of east property line deal, they had the connection dead center of a massive tree in the boulevard, I emailed builder saying I think this is wrong get them to check, says nope do it. Utility tells builder after service in wrong spot can't connect to it. I go to site measure it with builder confirm it's perfect and call utility together utility blames me and says I should have caught THEIR mistake but they will make it work this time. I wish the builder wasn't there because I wanted to lose it so badly on him. Even when it's 100% confirmed they screwed up they still won't admit it.
 

Willie B

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Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
Yea I just don't get it. I've never connected to a new water/sewer that was done properly, i'd rather connect to the 60+ year old stuff honestly because it's way less hassle. They also never leave a water coupler on the line, of all the one's i've done they did once, someone is stealing a bunch of them or something because multiple times they've confirmed to me in writing everyone they do is suppose to have a coupler.

I had one where I forgot to join the sanitary and storm at property line, they dug their trench and told the owner they weren't touching it until the 2 lines were connected to one, I had to go there to put a frigging $5 y on it because they wouldn't take the 30 seconds to do it.

The worst screw up when I did my side first, they messed up the 3m west of east property line deal, they had the connection dead center of a massive tree in the boulevard, I emailed builder saying I think this is wrong get them to check, says nope do it. Utility tells builder after service in wrong spot can't connect to it. I go to site measure it with builder confirm it's perfect and call utility together utility blames me and says I should have caught THEIR mistake but they will make it work this time. I wish the builder wasn't there because I wanted to lose it so badly on him. Even when it's 100% confirmed they screwed up they still won't admit it.
I'll give my theory:
When the Federal government fails to force feed a community its "benevolent prescription", local voters vote NO several cycles, they sweeten the Federal contribution a bit, then they tamper with the bacteria tests.
Our system was cited in one hydrologist's book as "among the five most pure in the country". Over the 50 years preceding the Federal attack, we never had a bad bacteria test. Suddenly, monthly tests were ALL contaminated.
When the Feds turned up the pressure, my father was system operator. Eventually, he questioned why the elementary school sent tests to the same lab, NONE of theirs came back contaminated? Immediately, the school's tests were also contaminated.
At my suggestion, he sent a sample of distilled water. Sure enough, it was contaminated.

Mid 1990s the voters here (200 homes) surrendered to threats & fines. The Feds won.
The contract went to the contractor chosen by the Federal bureaucrat. It was outright fraud!. They proceeded to dig up a century old village drainage system & ignore it. Materials were consistently sub specifications. They destroyed trees that did not need to be destroyed.
When they began in my area, first thing I saw was a 30 ton excavator reaching 30 feet in the air to rip a 12" branch off my prized maple. This branch was so high, no way they could argue it was in the way.

Later, I discussed with the engineer, paid handsomely to watch out for the interests of the residents. He wanted a place to stockpile boulders too big for the tailgate of their trucks. I gave permission to place them beside the road until a time they'd take the tailgate of a tandem truck & haul them away.
I got home that evening to see they had squeezed a loader bucket between trees & dumped them on my upper lot. Several tandem loads of boulders had been permanently dumped on my land. They knocked bark off 9 Maples in doing so.
Residents were enraged! The local self appointed supervisor advocated exclusively for the contractor.
The Vermont engineer hired by the local residents to watch out for us advocated exclusively for the contractor.
Thousands of trees were destroyed. I'll never agree they had to be. Lawns were dug up & hauled away, soil replaced by sand with a tiny component of manure. Individual drop lines were spliced with cheap Chinese fittings ALL rusted away in 10 years.
Main line pressure is high here, 250 LBS at my house. They used Chinese saddles rated at 100 PSI. The specification of 3/8" stainless tie bolts were substituted with 1/4" steel. They continue to rust away causing an expensive longitudinal crack in the plastic main line.
 

CM1995

Administrator
Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
13,250
Location
Alabama
Occupation
Running what I brung and taking what I win
I had one where I forgot to join the sanitary and storm at property line, they dug their trench and told the owner they weren't touching it until the 2 lines were connected to one, I had to go there to put a frigging $5 y on it because they wouldn't take the 30 seconds to do it.

The storm and sanitary sewer are joined together at the property line?
 

suladas

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2016
Messages
1,731
Location
Canada
The storm and sanitary sewer are joined together at the property line?

Yes if there is not a separate storm line which is the case in many older areas. It's used for the sump discharge in the winter as they tend to freeze up if discharged outside.
 

CM1995

Administrator
Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
13,250
Location
Alabama
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Running what I brung and taking what I win
Yes if there is not a separate storm line which is the case in many older areas. It's used for the sump discharge in the winter as they tend to freeze up if discharged outside.

Interesting how our climates dictate different ways of doing things. Here you would be blacklisted and possibly fined by the State Plumbing board for connecting a storm drain to a sanitary sewer line.

We get so much rain here that most muni's and private sewer systems biggest issue is stormwater/rain water infiltration in their systems.

We don't have to worry about frost..:D
 

suladas

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Joined
Jun 30, 2016
Messages
1,731
Location
Canada
Interesting how our climates dictate different ways of doing things. Here you would be blacklisted and possibly fined by the State Plumbing board for connecting a storm drain to a sanitary sewer line.

We get so much rain here that most muni's and private sewer systems biggest issue is stormwater/rain water infiltration in their systems.

We don't have to worry about frost..:D

Trying to have a sump discharge outside in -40 doesn't go too well so they came up with that. There is a valve inside house to switch for summer outside discharge and they threaten fines if it's not switched but it's about impossible to enforce.

Yea that would be nice not to deal with, too many times they like to sink utilities stupid deep for some reason. I wouldn't be too broken up if I didn't have to deal with services 12' deep or worse.
 
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