Mystery conduit and wire under sidewalk

[kdonnel]

The county is out replacing part of the sidewalk in front of my house since the tree has lifted it to the point it is a tripping hazard.

The crew that removes the old sidewalk and places the forms has just left.

I went out to take a look and there is a pvc pipe acting as a conduit running under the sidewalk. Inside the pipe is some sort of cable. Not coax and not 120v.






Thinking it might be sprinkler system related. The neighborhood did run a sprinkler system during initial construction to water the strip of grass between the sidewalk and street but has not run it in at least a decade.

But that does not explain why it would go under the sidewalk as any sprinkler heads or control valves would remain on the street side of the sidewalk.

Another guess is construction debris that has just been buried for disposal purposes.

Anyone have any ideas or recognize the wire used? It is wrapped in black insulation with a blue stripe. I can't tell by feel how many conductors are inside.

The only utility on that side of my house is my gas meter. The locator wire for the gas line would be buried at the same level as the gas line and is a single conductor of 14 gauge wire that neither looks like or feels like this wire.

 

[PolyTigger]

Blue usually means water line.

 

[tvguy]

I'm impressed that your County replaces sidewalks. Here if there is an issue with a sidewalk in the easement area of your property, they send you a warning letter tell you that you need to replace the sidewalk, at YOUR expense.

 

[tvguy]

Blue usually means water line.

LOL. In a TV station blue means HD wiring.

 

[kdonnel]

I'm impressed that your County replaces sidewalks. Here if there is an issue with a sidewalk in the easement area of your property, they send you a warning letter tell you that you need to replace the sidewalk, at YOUR expense.

They have an online self service request page that makes it easy to report issues. For sidewalk issues there is generally a 2-3 week turn around from report to repair.

 

[sam_gordon]

LOL. In a TV station blue means HD wiring.

Not in all of them.

OP, my guess is low voltage (like for yard lights). Or could be telephone. Or maybe fiber (for cable).

You'd have to do some more investigating to find some writing on the cable.

Cut it and find out who screams they lost something. lol

 

[Belle_Ann]

We’re doing some landscape work at our house and found something similar. Ours is old wiring for an invisible dog fence apparently.

 

[kdonnel]

The concrete has arrived. It will soon be buried again.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My first guess was communications cable. Buried underneath our driveway (after it was poured too) and under parts of the sidewalk is U-Verse cable for our home and our neighbor's home. Google Fiber has cabled buried under the easement by the street though it does not run directly under the sidewalk it does run under tree roots and the easements.

Our sprinkler system water lines are not blue.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm impressed that your County replaces sidewalks. Here if there is an issue with a sidewalk in the easement area of your property, they send you a warning letter tell you that you need to replace the sidewalk, at YOUR expense.

It's the responsibility in my area to keep it clear of ice or snow but actual replacement is on the city. That said our city also requires 2 trees near the street and they are your upkeep and responsibility on replacing. Coincidentally on our eNeighbors site they just put up a warning citing the city's ordinance on trees for people to trim them back (a warning given out every year as the trees grow). Some cities around here will go out and trim the trees though on their streets throughout the neighborhoods. Power lines are a different story as those usually are in conjunction with the utility company working to trim those trees. Most new neighborhoods, including mine, the powerlines are buried underground so it reduces those issues.

 

[Christine]

My husband, who is an electrican, says that this line looks JUST like our inground sprinkler system lines that we have. Same coloring same type.

 

[tvguy]

Most new neighborhoods, including mine, the powerlines are buried underground so it reduces those issues.

But it creates bigger issues.
Underground utilities have been the norm here for a long time. My subdivision was started in 1976 and our electric, phone and cable tv are all buried in the easement on the front of our property. When there is a failure, they have to dig. The electrical line to my neighbors house failed, so they had to dig up my driveway to get to the bad portion. Not at my cost fortunately, and I got a new driveway out of it. My phone line failed and they dug up my lawn to get to it. Then my neighbor's phone line failed and they had to dig up my lawn again. I also live in what was built as an all electric subdivision. In 1991 some neighbors paid to have a natural gas line pulled it and they dug up my lawn in the easement to run the gas line. I did not sign up so the line just passes through my property. That would never fly today with the push to eliminate natural gas in new homes and businesses to reduce greenhouse gases. It is fun though to watch them mark the buried utilities when there is a need for that, the gas company person is always confused that less than half the homes are connected to the gas main.

The subdivision the backs up to my house was built in 1956 and so all those services are above ground on utility poles. The utilities come through every couple of years on the easement on the back of my property to trim the trees. No cost to me. Uglier, but much easier to keep up.

 

[tvguy]

They have an online self service request page that makes it easy to report issues. For sidewalk issues there is generally a 2-3 week turn around from report to repair.

But it is free to you, correct?

 

[kdonnel]

But it is free to you, correct?

Free as in covered by taxes.

 

[tvguy]

Free as in covered by taxes.

Yeah, we pay taxes here too, AND to replace sidewalks on our property.

 

[kdonnel]

Yeah, we pay taxes here too, AND to replace sidewalks on our property.

And I bet there is something your taxes pay for that ours does not.

 

[tvguy]

And I bet there is something your taxes pay for that ours does not.

Well, if I find it, I will let you know. All I know is my mom needed 4 EMT mbulance transports in the last year of her life. 2 from the local fire department, who charged $250 per run above what Medicare paid. This is the fire department that my mom paid taxes to for 63 years.
The private EMT ambulance transports, they accepted the Medicare payment as full payment........and they make a profit.
So not holding my breath on my taxes paying for much I need.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

But it creates bigger issues.
Underground utilities have been the norm here for a long time. My subdivision was started in 1976 and our electric, phone and cable tv are all buried in the easement on the front of our property. When there is a failure, they have to dig. The electrical line to my neighbors house failed, so they had to dig up my driveway to get to the bad portion. Not at my cost fortunately, and I got a new driveway out of it. My phone line failed and they dug up my lawn to get to it. Then my neighbor's phone line failed and they had to dig up my lawn again. I also live in what was built as an all electric subdivision. In 1991 some neighbors paid to have a natural gas line pulled it and they dug up my lawn in the easement to run the gas line. I did not sign up so the line just passes through my property. That would never fly today with the push to eliminate natural gas in new homes and businesses to reduce greenhouse gases. It is fun though to watch them mark the buried utilities when there is a need for that, the gas company person is always confused that less than half the homes are connected to the gas main.

The subdivision the backs up to my house was built in 1956 and so all those services are above ground on utility poles. The utilities come through every couple of years on the easement on the back of my property to trim the trees. No cost to me. Uglier, but much easier to keep up.

It's really not a big issue like you're making it out to be. My mom had her yard dug up for drainage issues and twice over the span of several years. Did she like it? No but it happens. Buried lines are the norm here and have been for a while and it sure beats the heck out of power losses for days on end and people aren't having their yards dug up left and right all the time, sure it happens but not so often. When U-Verse buried under our driveway and sidewalk they used a cutter and feeder-minimal damage to the yard. Google Fiber admittedly pissed a lot of people off the way they did their installations on the easements. However, when we lose power it's due to something at the station typically not a powerline weighed down by ice and snow. Different climates and land topography suit things differently.

I know you're in CA but understand that much of the U.S. doesn't have your state's campaign against natural gas. Anywho I didn't respond to get into a discussion over renewable energy (where my state is actually considered to be a leader in solar and wind and we still have natural gas) just was adding in information about trees and powerline issues

 

[focusondisney]

But it creates bigger issues.
Underground utilities have been the norm here for a long time. My subdivision was started in 1976 and our electric, phone and cable tv are all buried in the easement on the front of our property. When there is a failure, they have to dig. The electrical line to my neighbors house failed, so they had to dig up my driveway to get to the bad portion. Not at my cost fortunately, and I got a new driveway out of it. My phone line failed and they dug up my lawn to get to it. Then my neighbor's phone line failed and they had to dig up my lawn again. I also live in what was built as an all electric subdivision. In 1991 some neighbors paid to have a natural gas line pulled it and they dug up my lawn in the easement to run the gas line. I did not sign up so the line just passes through my property. That would never fly today with the push to eliminate natural gas in new homes and businesses to reduce greenhouse gases. It is fun though to watch them mark the buried utilities when there is a need for that, the gas company person is always confused that less than half the homes are connected to the gas main.

The subdivision the backs up to my house was built in 1956 and so all those services are above ground on utility poles. The utilities come through every couple of years on the easement on the back of my property to trim the trees. No cost to me. Uglier, but much easier to keep up.

Not really. Talk to the hundreds of thousands in the northeast or mid Atlantic areas who lose power in massive ice & snow storms. Some of them don’t get power restored for weeks. Many of those people have lost power more than once. At the same time, hundreds of thousands with buried power lines have never had their yards dug up.

If your yard gets dug up, you're inconvenienced & have a mess for a short time. But you still have your utility service. And the yard gets fixed by the utility. If the power lines go out from a major ice storm, you have to wait however long it takes til they get to you. There is not a thing you can do about it and your whole life is disrupted. Above ground utility lines have a lot more drawbacks than just being ugly.

 

[tvguy]

I know you're in CA but understand that much of the U.S. doesn't have your state's campaign against natural gas. Anywho I didn't respond to get into a discussion over renewable energy (where my state is actually considered to be a leader in solar and wind and we still have natural gas) just was adding in information about trees and powerline issues

My concern with natural gas is over safety, as San Bruno showed.