How to trace a pipe

[GW8IZR]

you can do this by blowing a tracer down the pipe, I used to find old cat5 cable perfect for this job. very light and slippery to pass down the pipe. Its marked off in metres so you can work out how far it goes etc.

Make a small cone on the far end of the cable then use a co2 bottle or if its practical your compressor to blow the cable along the pipe. Same technique used to blow fibre optic wires down ducts.

Use a signal that you can identify, a good square wave of 900Hz alternating with 950Hz so it warbles then you can tell its your signal. If its clay soil and the pipe is deep then a much lower frequency is better. Send that signal down one of the twisted pairs and at the far end connect the twisted pair to any two random wires (not a pair) then back at the source end connect just one of the wires to the pair of the other.

So lets say:

• Signal applied to white/blue blue/white as a pair,
  
• At the far end connect white/blue to white/orange and blue white to green/white.
  
• Back at the source connect just white/orange to white/green.

The far end needs to be waterproofed and insulated in case there are any sumps containing water etc.

use a sense coil on a high gain amplifier, bi-mek were very good but I made a copy many years ago for a few quid and a bit of time.

Maplin do sell a kit for about 30 quid but you need to be in a low noise environment such as fields if the cable is deeper than a few inches, but I reckon a bigger coil and tuned to your signal frequency and it would work.

After a few practice goes you will even be able to hear the lay of the cable as it twists

Even if it only goes half way down the pipe it will give you a direction.

HTH

 

[Parm]

you can do this by blowing a tracer down the pipe, I used to find old cat5 cable perfect for this job. very light and slippery to pass down the pipe. Its marked off in metres so you can work out how far it goes etc.

Make a small cone on the far end of the cable then use a co2 bottle or if its practical your compressor to blow the cable along the pipe. Same technique used to blow fibre optic wires down ducts.

Use a signal that you can identify, a good square wave of 900Hz alternating with 950Hz so it warbles then you can tell its your signal. If its clay soil and the pipe is deep then a much lower frequency is better. Send that signal down one of the twisted pairs and at the far end connect the twisted pair to any two random wires (not a pair) then back at the source end connect just one of the wires to the pair of the other.

So lets say:

• Signal applied to white/blue blue/white as a pair,
  
• At the far end connect white/blue to white/orange and blue white to green/white.
  
• Back at the source connect just white/orange to white/green.

The far end needs to be waterproofed and insulated in case there are any sumps containing water etc.

use a sense coil on a high gain amplifier, bi-mek were very good but I made a copy many years ago for a few quid and a bit of time.

Maplin do sell a kit for about 30 quid but you need to be in a low noise environment such as fields if the cable is deeper than a few inches, but I reckon a bigger coil and tuned to your signal frequency and it would work.

After a few practice goes you will even be able to hear the lay of the cable as it twists

Even if it only goes half way down the pipe it will give you a direction.

HTH

That's awesome

I live in the back of be you d so no nterference from anything

 

[GW8IZR]

That's awesome

I live in the back of be you d so no nterference from anything

In that case you *might* get away with the cheap tracer kit from maplins but it really does depend on soil type and of course depth.

Interesting project anyway..

 

[Crater Creator]

Water divination? Really? In 2016?
Come on folks, we have moved on a bit.
"I can do this"? Get a grip on reality my friend.
Look it up, google etc, it's complete codswallop.
Now - back to the welding..... :-)

 

[Ton-up]

Water divination? Really? In 2016?
Come on folks, we have moved on a bit.
"I can do this"? Get a grip on reality my friend.
Look it up, google etc, it's complete codswallop.
Now - back to the welding..... :-)

You obviously havn't tried it.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

I should be able to divine that for you, I am an Aquarius (the water carrier). I will ride over on my dragon once this holistic cold remedy kicks in.

 

[cliff366]

Get these round
Start at 1min

 

[tinman123]

Water divination? Really? In 2016?
Come on folks, we have moved on a bit.
"I can do this"? Get a grip on reality my friend.
Look it up, google etc, it's complete codswallop.
Now - back to the welding..... :-)

yeah, as someone else just said,............... you obviously havnt tried it......

up until someone broke it i last year I had a purpose built divining tool here, speedy hire sell them...
its just a fancy rod on a handle but i can tell you one thing, i found more pipes with it than half of the lads did with anything else.
dont be jealous if some can divine and others cant...

in the mean time, why dont you stick to the welding and we will continue to chat about parm's problem because right now you obviously dont have much to input other than criticism.

 

[Kent]

Now that's realy not funny at all

Tiz

 

[Cobbler]

yeah, as someone else just said,............... you obviously havnt tried it......

up until someone broke it i last year I had a purpose built divining tool here, speedy hire sell them...
its just a fancy rod on a handle but i can tell you one thing, i found more pipes with it than half of the lads did with anything else.
dont be jealous if some can divine and others cant....

I agree with you, see my post 56. If you watched the guy I worked with, it looked just as if he had walked into a brick wall, the cable or pipe would be right under his heels. I was never sure whether it was the action of stopping caused the rod movement or the rod movement caused him to stop, the first I think as it appeared as stopping appeared to be an involuntary action. This was early 80s when there was all the talk of ley lines being found by dowsing & I tried to get him to see if he could pick anything up, but all I got was I'm not interested in how it works or that sort of thing. Pity really as he was really gifted at it, obviously very sensitive to what ever he picked up.

All he used was a bent piece of wire from a metal coat hanger, bent into an "L" shape.

 

[Wedg1e]

We use cat & genny to trace oil and gas pipelines, gets a bit desperate in naval yards as there are so many services you often end up going off along the wrong pipe or even a cable.
Pompey is hilarious as a lot of buildings were put up over old lines. There are also tidal culverts so you can be stood measuring up a line and suddenly the floor is under water.

 

[the snooper]

ive found the end of your pipe it looks like its never been plumbed in see here

 

[Parm]

Very good, very good indeed

 

[the snooper]

Very good, very good indeed

seems quite a length of pipe

 

[Parm]

seems quite a length of pipe

Do you reckon I need a pipe tracer?

 

[the snooper]

Do you reckon I need a pipe tracer?

nah just a ball bearing and some compressed air

 

[brightspark]

nah just a ball bearing and some compressed air [/QUOTE then what ??

 

[the snooper]

the idea was mentioned earlier in the thread

 

[thinfourth]

You obviously havn't tried it.

Well there is still a prize fund of over $1,000,000 sitting unclaimed for someone to prove water divining works

 

[addjunkie]

I have had success with it, for field drains, amd my field water supplies i didnt know were there. The rods were found in the shed left by the previous owner.

I thought nah this is pishhhhh when i saw a digger driver doing it looking for the pipes when i hired him to dig a found for me. But yes it works, not very accurate, about 18 inches each side id say. Ofcourse there fairly easy to teace once you bash through them with the digger.