What's the best way to locate a water line?

Oops. Guess I didn't pay close enough attention to the well part.
I work for a natural gas company and ALOT of what we do here is damage repair. Please don't ever put too much faith in the maps, they are not as accurate as one would like to think. Line (power, water, phone, cable) depths may vary a good bit from one place to another, directions may change.
We always dig a "sight hole" even after the lines have been marked.
Guess if I ever dig a well I will have to run my own tracer wire along the lines and invest in a pipe horn.
Sorry I didn't read better, and good luck.

Yep, this is out in the good ole country side of Northeast Oklahoma. Where natural gas lines and utility departments are a rarety. I could call the 1-800 number and they would probably laugh at me when they find out where we are located.

I have done the witching with rods before as mentioned. Just not 100 percent sure of myself. I have plenty of solid copper wire laying around to make the witching rods.

Heres a tip for the future once you dig your trench for you eletric line coverit a foot or so then lay plastict caution tape in the trench and continue filling.
In the future if you do start to dig over the line you'll find the caution tape before hitting the line and hopefully remember to stop digging

I can tell you how the pros do it when the water line is running under concrete. Shut off the water, cut the water line, run a clean wire into the water line then use a metal detector to follow the wire.

If your wire isn't long enough follow it as far as possible, mark the spot, dig down to the line, cut the line, reinstall the wire and move on down the line. Repeat as necessary.

Or you can dig by hand...

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Only she who attempts the absurd can achieve the impossible

You could use a probe. Locate where the line comes out of the house or the well, and then try to follow it, with the probe. Should be able to figure the path out with the wyhching rods and the probe.

May i also suggest that you either bury a wire with or make a really good map of anything you bury in the ground. SDjulieinSC is right. Things move after they've been buried. Knew of a septic tank that moved 5ft up hill, after it was buried.

I'm sure someone has already said this (I haven't read all the replies) but I have always found the easiest and fastest way to find a water line is to start digging.

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I use copper wire from a 3' piece of Romex, bend in "L"s like several others mentioned. Works for me. You'll find the UF line and the water line, both. It could get messy around the septic lines, though, but you should be able to get a really good idea of where things are.

Jennifer

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-Northern NYS

I always use brazing rods verified with a sharpshooter shovel. Always bury the electric UNDER the water, "someone" is much more likely to have to dig up and repair a waterline break somewhere down the road......It is strongly recommended to sleeve (run inside a metal pipe) the electric where it crosses the water. This is to prevent someone digging up the waterline to repair it and cutting into the electric line with a shovel or backhoe. Someone hitting the pipe with a shovel most likely won't cut the electric (not a good place to be standing in a water filled hole and cut an electric line). If a backhoe catches the pipe, most times the electric will break just outside the metal sleeve and trip a breaker somewhere (voice of experience here....)

P.S. Always mark electric and water with marker tape (also known as tracer tape). Available at most all chain home improvement stores or you can score some free from GRDA or local Electric Coop (if you're not in that part of N.E. Ok) will give you a partial roll and any rural water department will spare a couple hundred feet of waterline marker tape. Should be buried within the first six-twelve inches of topsoil so the person coming along behind you finds it with the first shovel full of dirt.

I guess I should mention, this is not my home that I will be doing the electrical work at. The owner just bought this house from a bank repo, and it has been vacant for 2 years. So the new owner has no ideal where anything is. He just wants all the electric lines to run underneath the ground. The line I am replacing runs from the meter pole overhead and runs between a forked tree limb next to the barn. The tree has grown and the cable is now wedged deep down inside the tree. Probably losing voltage to ground by now.

Well anyway that is my firt job for him. He has many more coming up.

I guess I should mention, this is not my home that I will be doing the electrical work at. The owner just bought this house from a bank repo, and it has been vacant for 2 years. So the new owner has no ideal where anything is. He just wants all the electric lines to run underneath the ground. The line I am replacing runs from the meter pole overhead and runs between a forked tree limb next to the barn. The tree has grown and the cable is now wedged deep down inside the tree. Probably losing voltage to ground by now.

Well anyway that is my firt job for him. He has many more coming up. Also forgot to mention. I made a couple of rods and tried them out here at my house and was able to find my gas, water, and electric lines easily. Hopefully that will be the way it goes at his house.