This is a true, albeit lengthy, story re: dangers of unknown piping.

background:

ground preparation for the 'new' NYC Correctional Center (a/k/a Tombs) being constructed across the street from the old one and the court building on Center Street, NYC


circa:

1989


tale:

right where the underground connecting pedestrian tunnel was planned there remained ONE, repeat ONE, unidentified 6" metallic 'wrought iron' pipe which needed to be relocated

water supply, drainage, sewer, gas, electric, telephone, pneumatic, (and a few misc. others such as telecommunications, alarm, etc) had ALL been identified and marked

this ONE remaining 6" 'iron' pipe remained ???? and not on ANY print or plan to be found

it was finally decided by the white hat genious in charge to drill a hole in it

the pipe turned out be an old 60,000 Volt feeder to/from New Jersey which had been abandoned on the NYC end but was STILL CONNECTED on the Jersey end


thank GOD the laborer who drilled had grounded the drill with a welder's cable clamped to it JUST IN CASE


he lost 3 fingers but maintained the use of both hands



NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

Almost an oops? I think losing 3 fingers would be at least an oops. I find it hard to believe they couldn't detect live conductors without drilling a hole in the pipe.

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638



Edited 1 times.

how big is that gate valve? 36 " at least ?

sea valves on the destroyers were 36 inch valves.
2 men 2 shifts to make up the flange on each side.
drift pin as big as your arm and 2 1/4 or 2 3/8 slugging wrenchs
[www.amazon.com]

looks to be 12 bolt pattern ~ 150# rated

10-14" flange as per [www.texasflange.com]



(yep, retired too long, had to look it up)

(gave away all my 'books' when i left the trade)

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

If there is an exposed 6" pipe and they did not know what it is, electrical, water supply, gas or beer, active, decommissioned, or abandoned...they had no equipment to test to see if it's electric wiring inside? That's hard to believe.

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638



Edited 2 times.

Not so hard. It was a "grounded" metal pipe so there would not be any way to "sense" an electrcial current inside it nor test for any "fluid" inside.

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==============================================

"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638



Edited 1 times.

The "grounding" would have been accomplished by its connections to the system at either end, not necessarily by its burial in the earth.

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638



Edited 1 times.

Sum, a quick Google is showing me that the non-contact voltage detector that we use often today was not invented until the 90's, and this story by Bern is dated 1989. I agree with you tho, seems like there should have been a better way to determine what's inside besides drilling a hole in the pipe.