Knowing the Utility Locating Methods

by Maria Williams Online Marketing Specialist

Locating your utility before you start digging is a mistake that you never want to make. But searching for underground utilities can be a very daunting task if you do not know about the proper technology or methods to do it.

Let us dive right in and find out how to locate the utility.

Utility Locating Methods

GPR or Ground Penetrating Radar

Ground Penetrating Radar is one of the cutting edge technology that is used for utility locating. In this method, the microwave signals into the ground. After the emission of the high-frequency pulse, it gets deflected back up and read by the operator. Then the operator can use the deflected signal to locate the utility lines and see the road up of the objects underground like tanks, pipes, or other buried metal objects.

Electromagnetic Location

This is the most popular and commonly used method for located various electric, gas cable, sewer, or water lines. In this method, the equipment generates an electromagnetic wave.

It is the preferred method for locating conductive utility lines. When the EM wave is applied to the ground surface by emission, it reflects up and gets received by the receiving equipment up on the surface. And any disruption caused by the conductive material is then easily calculated from the reflected wave.

But the downside of this method is, it is unable to detect utility lines that are not made up of conductive materials like plastic pipe, terra cotta, etc.

Dowsing

Even though the previous overwhelming popularity of this method has gone down since the last decade, but many utility locators still use it as a reliable solution. In this method, locators use dowsing rods to figure out if there are any pipeline beneath the ground. It is one of the most ancient methods for water detection.

But the downside of this method is, it can only detect whether or not there is any active line underground. You can not measure the depth of the line if there is any.

Potholing

Potholing, also known as the vacuum excavation Sydney is a very fast and reliable way to locate your utility line underground. As the name already suggests, the locator uses extreme air pressure to break the soil that is later vacuumed inside the tank.

If the soil is harder to break with the air pressure, sometimes high pressured water is also used the same way to break up the soil. And that is the reason why many people also call this method the Hydro excavation method.

To conclude

Before starting your construction work, locating the pipe is essential. Unless you want to accidental cut into a gas line or an electric cable which can sometimes result in death for the worker, knowing the utility locating methods before proceeding is highly advised.

Sure Search will help you to save money with the right planning, regardless of your construction project.