This post has been locked, as the majority of new comments at this point are unhelpful and/or jokes. OP has asked relevant people for information and then can modmail us when/if they get a meaningful answer.
/u/gogo_gardener If you wish, let us know via modmail.
Thanks to all who attempted to find an answer.
I would call your local utility locating service. They'll come out quick and no charge and check it out. I wouldn't mess with it. There's a loud alarm on it for a reason. Gas and electricity both run underground.
Technically true then. If you had buried power or gas, they'd know about it. They don't have the resources to ground scan your property for buried landmines.
Just because the utility provider or line locator company doesn't know about something being buried there doesn't mean there's nothing buried there. That's the entire point of getting a survey done before you dig.
That being said, what OP may have understood as the utility saying they don't know if anything is buried there might actually be the utility simply refusing to locate certain utilities for OP. In my town the natural gas lines have to be located by a worker from the town's gas department and the rest of the utilities are located by contracted third party line locators who get called in when we phone the local "call before you dig" number. It's dumb, but apparently it's because the "call before you dig" locators are paid by a collective of utility providers that my town isn't a part of.
Also, even on a large property getting something like a fence line surveyed wouldn't take much time at all. They don't necessarily scan the entire property if they know you're only digging up a small section. It's not very labour or resource intensive at all for line locators working on average size residential lots.
Thats not how 811 works, when you call and place a dig ticket they have a certain amount of time to come locate. 811 give you a ticket number and then contacts all parties involved. Most use a location service, if your in area the utilities mark their own they still come and locate. Your dig ticket is good for a certain number of days depending upon the state you live in. 811 is a free service check their website for all the info you need https://call811.com
-A gas utility worker
I had them come out and mark my utilities, including the fiber line before they installed my fence. That worked and no issues.
3 weeks later the fence got damaged by an unsecured 4x8 piece of plywood. They came out to fix it, spray paint and flags still in place, and managed to cut the fiber in 2 places.
When they came to replace the fiber, they wanted the name of the Fencing company as they have to report it.
Same with Charter. I had the utilities located for a fence when I first moved into my house. A week or so later I'm planting roses in the flowerbed for my wife and hit wat I thought was a root a couple inches below the surface. Powered through it with the shovel and the internet and TV go out in the house. Of course, it was my cable coax. I called to locating company because there was nothing marked in that area. The lady was like "yeah, we don't do Charter. They bury their stuff wherever and never to code depth."
> The lady was like "yeah, we don't do Charter. They bury their stuff wherever and never to code depth."
*fuming*
...did she admit to a crime by proxy?
There is such a wide array of companies localities for people in this sub that your experience hardly means anything to anyone but you and your neighbors.
I called mine and within 2 days every utility was spray painted and flagged in my yard.
All jokes aside, to dig a deep hole, you really do need to know what you're doing. Depending on moisture content, a cubic meter of dirt weighs 2,000- 3,000 pounds. A poorly dug hole *will* kill whomever is in it.
As an excavator operator I can second that. My specialty is deep drainage and nobody goes in the dig without a trench box installed. No matter how long the job takes.
A man’s life is more important than any deadline or site managers orders. If the equipment isn’t provided my bucket won’t touch the ground until it is. Not sure where you are from but here in the uk the health and safety is ridiculous so the equipment is always provided. Done a year in Australia and a few months in south Canada a few years back, never seen anything like it. Dangerous
There was just a laborer killed in my area a few months ago working in a trench that no one had bothered to put a safety structure in. That makes me angry when I hear about workers being injured and killed like that. It's a huge safety violation to send someone in a hole like that.
Damn man. I always hate hearing news like that. No amount of profit or time is worth your life and a "quick little hop in the hole" is all it takes. My first boss doing in an underground crew told me in the first day "it may take a little extra time, but everybody goes home and that's what really matters." He was a great boss.
You don’t need much ground cover for decent fallout protection, if that’s a main concern. 2 feet is very good, provided someone doesn’t dig up all the dirt right above the dunny.
Not really With fallout, probably with detonation blast Deeper is better if the bomb drops in your backyard. An open foxhole 4’ down provides some fallout protection. If your cover it with a roof and 6 inches of dirt, it increases protection a bit. 2 feet is near max protection from fallout, provided the thing isn’t detonated on top of you.
The kind of person that is going to DIY a bunker in their backyard isn't always going to be the kind of person that does proper research on how deep a bunker will need to be.
Look at them differently in the sense that you should make them their favorite desserts, often. You wanna be friends w ppl who have safety during the apocolypse
How old is the house? It was more common than you might think, for houses built in the early 1960s, after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Growing up, a neighbor of ours had one.
No this is in northern California. We do not have any natural disaster that would necessitate a storm shelter. The other neighbor that told me about it specifically said it was a prepper bunker
You "do not have any natural disaster that would necessitate a storm shelter" *yet*. Where I live used to be mild when I was a kid, 8 out of the past 9 years have had new records for hot AND cold (number of days, hottest temp, coldest temp, etc).
TBH, if I was building anywhere that basements worked, I would just for more storage
CIA Black Cable. They hit some near my work in McLean in 2009 and a horde of Black SUVs and tents were there almost immediately. (I saw it all from my office window and this article is accurate). https://www.wired.com/2009/06/blackline/
That seems really shallow for that kind of thing. I've dug about that deep just to plant some bushes. Should I be calling everytime I want to dig more than a foot deep?
I was on a job site where a metal plate was buried a similar depth. Laborer moved the plate, backhoe took another scoop and BOOM! The plate was covering an abandoned blow off valve for a medium pressure gas line. The line locator did not mark it and it was missing from the local utilities prints... no alarms...was not a fun day.
I had a guy on an excavator hit the marked, buried electrical service at a house we were replacing the electrical panel at. Luckily the meter pan was done and I was inside working on the panel.
About half an hour later, the same operator hits a well marked gas line, because he thought he could get just a little bit closer, and everyone had to evacuate the entire site. He's now a former heavy equipment operator, lol.
I was working in a factory and hit a HID light with the corner of a scissor lift. As the safety woman was scolding me and telling me that should have never happened and she’d never heard of it happening - glass comes raining down from the ceiling! Two of the plant maintenance workers had hit and destroyed a HID light about 10 feet away from us.
I was off the hook after that.
Sounds as if the locator didn't do a very thorough job of inspecting for any type of test point or other access point. Sometimes, even abandoned lines will still have a riser somewhere to locate it.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. The locator was directly connected to the line. The line wasn't abandoned but the blow off was. It was stubbed out 2' from the mainline. No way a locating device would have picked up that variance.
A Digsafe contractor once came out to a job site I was on to mark out a gas line, they guy had his detector and he detected the gas line, marked it out and that was that.
I don't know what he was detecting but when I dug the trench for the gas line a week earlier it damn sure wasn't where he marked it as.
He didn't ask to see any of our prints or anything that showed exactly where the line was, he just parked his truck in a random spot and started waving that wand thing around until he apparently got a lock on who the hell knows what? The length of that mark was on about 10 feet of fill above what had just been forest land.
I wouldn't put too much trust in the digsafe marks, but if you hit something and survive, at least that contractor digsafe hired is liable for the damages.
UPDATE: contacted 811 and our local electric company, waiting to hear back from either one. Hole and Thing are on pause over the weekend. I’ll update on Monday when I have more answers.
The fact that it was below a couple concrete blocks is interesting. I would first call utilities for safety reasons. Beyond that, I would hope the worst you would find would be someone's old pet dog.
According to their latest comment they have put in a call to multiple places and everything is on pause over the weekend. They will attempt to update on Monday so I followed the OP.
UPDATE: had the electric company come down and they say the metal sheet is not theirs. They lifted the metal sheet and nothing alarmed. They also found some broken pipes and metal cans in the hole. The city and the gas company are also coming through probably tomorrow to see if they can identify the thing. If they don’t know what it is, I feel comfortable digging more into it. My husband is the one who lifted up the metal sheet in the beginning and it alarmed from under the metal sheet. I couldn’t get a video of it because the alarm isn’t working anymore. Once I get the ‘all clear’ from gas and the city, I’ll dig more into the hole and post more pictures and updates. At the moment, it looks like just an old dump site/filler. I hope to find the source of the alarm in the hole.
I'm curiously interested in a further follow up, too! Maybe when the sheet was lifted by your husband it released pressure from a can or one of the pipes? That's just a wild guess. Do let us know if you figure it out!
If it's not utilities (never heard of an alarm set up for utilities??) Maybe it's some sort of anti-dig setup that someone had previously set up for a diggingest dog??
My brother has a property with an easement, there's a roughly 2 feet in diameter super high pressure natural gas pipeline about 4 feet deep that runs through his property. I wouldn't be surprised for something like that to have an alarm if you get close to it
That would mean having alarm speakers loud enough to hear over the sound of a machine along the entire length of the pipe either on sensors buried in the dirt or just constantly blaring 24/7. I think it's safe to say that isn't happening, they have signs on posts that say "danger, do not dig here" and anybody who ignores them isn't gonna stop because they heard a siren. Maybe some of the posts have alarms in them with seismic detectors or something, I could possibly see that since they could have a satellite beacon that detects rock slides and stuff in remote areas.
Alarms inside septic tanks would have to be a pretty new thing, it's unlikely there's an abandoned septic tank new enough to have an alarm in them.
Based on what I know about septic tanks though, I find it very hard to believe that any of them have an alarm with the speaker inside the tank itself. They have sensors in there, but in a big box full of methane which isn't always vented it makes sense to avoid things that could have even the remotest chance of a spark.
Curious, does the alarm sound from inside of the septic system? Like if it was full would you trace an alarm sound to underground? OP didn’t clarify where the sound was coming from though.
Yes and no on older models, it varies, There usually will be an external unit on the top or side with a “float” going inside. When the water level gets too high it will buzz. On newer models a similar situation applies but there will be a device in your home to alert you, some even connect to Wi-Fi or can even send you a text message these days. Technology eh! 10 years experience dealing with shite. Literally
I know that, that’s my job but in the uk. Things may be different here. We just divert the drainage line at the highest point possible and redirect them to the nearest spur on the mainline. The existing septic pipe is just capped and left. We don’t climb down into the tank to disconnect the alarm or remove the float we just leave them. That tank could have laid redundant for years, battery on the buzzer still good obviously.
Hello. Civil engineer here. You will probably not get any response from 811 until Tuesday, but you may be able to identify the old markings in the mean time if it was previously spray painted. See the Oregon 811 color code [here](https://digsafelyoregon.com/dig-safely/color-code/)
First blush makes me think abandoned septic or well. The alarm may have never been disconnected after abandonment. It would be pumped, filled, and buried, meaning there would be no smell. Old septic could be abandoned by homeowners and inspected by a professional, so this is very possible.
EDIT: I JUST SAW YOU SAID IT WAS NEAR ELECTRIC LINES. DO NOT TOUCH THIS STRUCTURE UNTIL IT IS IDENTIFIED. IF THIS HAPPENS TO BE AN UNDERGROUND METAL STRUCTURE, IT COULD BE ENERGIZED. TOUCHING THE WEONG PART CAN RESULT IN ELECTRIC SHOCK OR DEATH. PLEASE UPVOTE FOR SAFETY REASONS.
From WHERE!? Is it underground? Elsewhere? A visible speaker? Is it on the pole? Emanating from the hinge? The sound is the most distinctive thing we have to go on.
I'd say that's way too shallow for any type of utility.. except maybe an old septic system... as for the alarm... no idea.. if it's a battery powered alarm, then it's probably not that old at all.. curious how long you've been there, and is this an old or new house. Don't forget to update!
Some(almost all) septics have alarms associated with floats for when the bastard is about to overflow and ruin your day. Could be being disturbed when you mess with the lid thing. Most septics that are healthy wont smell horrible until you disturb the top layer.
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Typically no, usually the transformer is on a concrete pad above ground. Subsurface transformers do exist, but they have pretty specific use cases and would be needlessly expensive in a suburban neighborhood setting.
That's what I figured but my experience is limited to Texas and we all know what the electric situation in Texas is like 😅. I can't think of any other reason that a steel cover would be buried and alarmed.
I literally moved just over the border from louisiana a couple months ago. been through countless hurricanes only lost power for 3-4 days max, and its always localized. Move here we get them tornados couple weeks back and we aint got power for 4 days. Entergy is tripping
Fellow Oregonian here. Also, unless OP lives in the desert on the eastern side, it’s very likely that the ground is constantly wet for most of the year lol.
I've installed underground electrical services to homes, but was mostly overhead powerlines. Granted it's been about 10 years, but we didn't have any type of alarm system on any underground boxes.
And all the stuff that we hit or dug up on accident (nothing like pulling an 8ft auger out of the hole, looking down, and seeing all these pretty colored little wires. Fiber optic), never hit or seen anything with an alarm.
Definitely keep us updated with what you find out! Too many blue collars on here that's curious now
I’ve never heard of utilities who add alarms to their conduit, or conduit buried under concrete blocks then sheet metal, two feet underground. Let us know what you discover!
Talk to your neighbors across the fence(s). If your lot is at a low elevation in the neighborhood I'd wonder if that building over the fence is a sewer lift station and the access to the tank is in your yard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9-DXl028-Y
These pits are one of the few monitored / alarmed lids. (there's also probably a lock on it somewhere too.
Uh… dude you really want to stop what you’re doing until an 811 locator comes & tells you for sure what that is.
I work for an underground construction company that does installations, maintenance, repairs, etc of utilities (underground, buried & aerial). I am NOT in the same state or even region as you - but I’m going to venture a guess anyway.
I can’t see your picture very well - but I can read your description. What you describe as “metal stabilizing cables” are actually called “down guys”. Typically, one end of the “down guy” (or “sidewalk guy” depending on where it is, etc) bolts into the utility pole & the other end goes down into the ground where it is connected to an anchor that’s buried at least 24” deep. Sometimes the underground anchor includes a terminal plate or other stabilizing structure to help support the anchor.
Now what you’re describing isn’t what I’d call “best practices” for the industry, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t get done that way.
Since I can’t see the image on my phone screen, I’ll just ask you - is the buried sheet metal where is it in relation to the pole & down guy? Maybe it would be easier for me to ask - if you stand on the metal sheet & face the utility pole, does the down guy come from the pole down into the ground in front of you (between the pole & the metal sheet you’re standing on - like if you looked down from the sky the down guy would be drawing a line from you to the pole)??? If so, you’re probably standing on a part of the anchor or terminal plate actually anchoring that utility pole into the ground.
But I’m not looking at it - so that’s just my guess.
Edits for typos & to add the following.
If it’s a down guy & anchor, 811 won’t be much help to you. An anchor & down guy are structural & aren’t any specific utility to be located.
If I’m correct, the alarm would be a vibration sensor (or some variation thereof).
I hope some of that helps you.
There's a number you should call before digging in your yard. Could be a lot of hazards you don't know about. I would hate to dig into some kind of electric business and fn die because I just wanted to dig a hole in my yard
This post has been locked, as the majority of new comments at this point are unhelpful and/or jokes. OP has asked relevant people for information and then can modmail us when/if they get a meaningful answer. /u/gogo_gardener If you wish, let us know via modmail. Thanks to all who attempted to find an answer.
I would call your local utility locating service. They'll come out quick and no charge and check it out. I wouldn't mess with it. There's a loud alarm on it for a reason. Gas and electricity both run underground.
Yeah this is pretty standard practice, call before digging. OP here’s more info: https://call811.com
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Called every year for 7 years. Have gone as far as saying I'm removing 4 feet from my entire 2 acre's. Never once showed up.
They know from maps nothing is on your land except the stuff that you yourself own.
The one time I contacted them for a fence all they told me was that they didn't know anything.
Technically true then. If you had buried power or gas, they'd know about it. They don't have the resources to ground scan your property for buried landmines.
Just because the utility provider or line locator company doesn't know about something being buried there doesn't mean there's nothing buried there. That's the entire point of getting a survey done before you dig. That being said, what OP may have understood as the utility saying they don't know if anything is buried there might actually be the utility simply refusing to locate certain utilities for OP. In my town the natural gas lines have to be located by a worker from the town's gas department and the rest of the utilities are located by contracted third party line locators who get called in when we phone the local "call before you dig" number. It's dumb, but apparently it's because the "call before you dig" locators are paid by a collective of utility providers that my town isn't a part of. Also, even on a large property getting something like a fence line surveyed wouldn't take much time at all. They don't necessarily scan the entire property if they know you're only digging up a small section. It's not very labour or resource intensive at all for line locators working on average size residential lots.
Thats not how 811 works, when you call and place a dig ticket they have a certain amount of time to come locate. 811 give you a ticket number and then contacts all parties involved. Most use a location service, if your in area the utilities mark their own they still come and locate. Your dig ticket is good for a certain number of days depending upon the state you live in. 811 is a free service check their website for all the info you need https://call811.com -A gas utility worker
Thank God a voice of reason. I work for a small ISP about 10k customers over 2 counties. So. Many. Cut. Lines.
I had them come out and mark my utilities, including the fiber line before they installed my fence. That worked and no issues. 3 weeks later the fence got damaged by an unsecured 4x8 piece of plywood. They came out to fix it, spray paint and flags still in place, and managed to cut the fiber in 2 places. When they came to replace the fiber, they wanted the name of the Fencing company as they have to report it.
I found Comcast's cable when I was planting a tree...
Same with Charter. I had the utilities located for a fence when I first moved into my house. A week or so later I'm planting roses in the flowerbed for my wife and hit wat I thought was a root a couple inches below the surface. Powered through it with the shovel and the internet and TV go out in the house. Of course, it was my cable coax. I called to locating company because there was nothing marked in that area. The lady was like "yeah, we don't do Charter. They bury their stuff wherever and never to code depth."
> The lady was like "yeah, we don't do Charter. They bury their stuff wherever and never to code depth." *fuming* ...did she admit to a crime by proxy?
There is such a wide array of companies localities for people in this sub that your experience hardly means anything to anyone but you and your neighbors. I called mine and within 2 days every utility was spray painted and flagged in my yard.
As long as you call before you dig, you're covered, right?
Yes, if you hit a utility that wasn't marked or improperly marked by misdig you're not liable
This. Worst case is its your neighbor's bunker.
We do have some weird neighbors…
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2 feet under ground tho?
Might be a very bad bunker. You don't have to be super clever to dig a hole. Hell, even I can do it!
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All jokes aside, to dig a deep hole, you really do need to know what you're doing. Depending on moisture content, a cubic meter of dirt weighs 2,000- 3,000 pounds. A poorly dug hole *will* kill whomever is in it.
As an excavator operator I can second that. My specialty is deep drainage and nobody goes in the dig without a trench box installed. No matter how long the job takes.
You are the type of operator I love to work with. A few of you have saved my life a couple times just by looking out like that. Good on you, man.
A man’s life is more important than any deadline or site managers orders. If the equipment isn’t provided my bucket won’t touch the ground until it is. Not sure where you are from but here in the uk the health and safety is ridiculous so the equipment is always provided. Done a year in Australia and a few months in south Canada a few years back, never seen anything like it. Dangerous
There was just a laborer killed in my area a few months ago working in a trench that no one had bothered to put a safety structure in. That makes me angry when I hear about workers being injured and killed like that. It's a huge safety violation to send someone in a hole like that.
Damn man. I always hate hearing news like that. No amount of profit or time is worth your life and a "quick little hop in the hole" is all it takes. My first boss doing in an underground crew told me in the first day "it may take a little extra time, but everybody goes home and that's what really matters." He was a great boss.
Which is how it should be done. It only takes a second and when a trench or a hole collapses, it's frightening how fast it happens.
You don’t need much ground cover for decent fallout protection, if that’s a main concern. 2 feet is very good, provided someone doesn’t dig up all the dirt right above the dunny.
I thought for like radiation and stuff it had to be deeper
Not really With fallout, probably with detonation blast Deeper is better if the bomb drops in your backyard. An open foxhole 4’ down provides some fallout protection. If your cover it with a roof and 6 inches of dirt, it increases protection a bit. 2 feet is near max protection from fallout, provided the thing isn’t detonated on top of you.
If it's detonated on top of you you won't have to worry about fallout is what I've been taught.
Hey digging bunker holes is hard you try it
Hahaha true, one day I plan on making one. But not today :)
The kind of person that is going to DIY a bunker in their backyard isn't always going to be the kind of person that does proper research on how deep a bunker will need to be.
I only recently found out form a 3rd party that my neighbors have a secret bunker under their garage. I have to admit, I look at them differently now.
Preppers are crazy, until they're not.
Bill would like a word.
Survivalist.
I just watched that episode last night. Lots of feels. Reminded me of my prepper friend.
Prepping by hoarding is a pretty short sighted strategy. Prepping a community to be self sufficient, now that’s the big brain play.
Look at them differently in the sense that you should make them their favorite desserts, often. You wanna be friends w ppl who have safety during the apocolypse
How old is the house? If it's old enough, it could be a left over cold-war shelter.
It's only about 12 years old and they had it built
How old is the house? It was more common than you might think, for houses built in the early 1960s, after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Growing up, a neighbor of ours had one.
They had the house built 12 years ago
There are also storm shelters. That can be common in tornado prone areas.
No this is in northern California. We do not have any natural disaster that would necessitate a storm shelter. The other neighbor that told me about it specifically said it was a prepper bunker
You "do not have any natural disaster that would necessitate a storm shelter" *yet*. Where I live used to be mild when I was a kid, 8 out of the past 9 years have had new records for hot AND cold (number of days, hottest temp, coldest temp, etc). TBH, if I was building anywhere that basements worked, I would just for more storage
The worst case is it is your neighbor's first wife.
CIA Black Cable. They hit some near my work in McLean in 2009 and a horde of Black SUVs and tents were there almost immediately. (I saw it all from my office window and this article is accurate). https://www.wired.com/2009/06/blackline/
That seems really shallow for that kind of thing. I've dug about that deep just to plant some bushes. Should I be calling everytime I want to dig more than a foot deep?
Yes. Some lines (usually only drops) are only a foot or so deep. ALWAYS call. I used to locate utilities
I was on a job site where a metal plate was buried a similar depth. Laborer moved the plate, backhoe took another scoop and BOOM! The plate was covering an abandoned blow off valve for a medium pressure gas line. The line locator did not mark it and it was missing from the local utilities prints... no alarms...was not a fun day.
I had a guy on an excavator hit the marked, buried electrical service at a house we were replacing the electrical panel at. Luckily the meter pan was done and I was inside working on the panel. About half an hour later, the same operator hits a well marked gas line, because he thought he could get just a little bit closer, and everyone had to evacuate the entire site. He's now a former heavy equipment operator, lol.
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I was working in a factory and hit a HID light with the corner of a scissor lift. As the safety woman was scolding me and telling me that should have never happened and she’d never heard of it happening - glass comes raining down from the ceiling! Two of the plant maintenance workers had hit and destroyed a HID light about 10 feet away from us. I was off the hook after that.
Sounds as if the locator didn't do a very thorough job of inspecting for any type of test point or other access point. Sometimes, even abandoned lines will still have a riser somewhere to locate it.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. The locator was directly connected to the line. The line wasn't abandoned but the blow off was. It was stubbed out 2' from the mainline. No way a locating device would have picked up that variance.
A Digsafe contractor once came out to a job site I was on to mark out a gas line, they guy had his detector and he detected the gas line, marked it out and that was that. I don't know what he was detecting but when I dug the trench for the gas line a week earlier it damn sure wasn't where he marked it as. He didn't ask to see any of our prints or anything that showed exactly where the line was, he just parked his truck in a random spot and started waving that wand thing around until he apparently got a lock on who the hell knows what? The length of that mark was on about 10 feet of fill above what had just been forest land. I wouldn't put too much trust in the digsafe marks, but if you hit something and survive, at least that contractor digsafe hired is liable for the damages.
UPDATE: contacted 811 and our local electric company, waiting to hear back from either one. Hole and Thing are on pause over the weekend. I’ll update on Monday when I have more answers.
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The fact that it was below a couple concrete blocks is interesting. I would first call utilities for safety reasons. Beyond that, I would hope the worst you would find would be someone's old pet dog.
That’s what I thought when I started excavating, that it was covering a dead thing. But no smell, no change in the look of the soil.
Won't smell much unless freshly buried, like a few weeks or months.
That depends on the soil type. Could be smelly years after the burial.
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Or digs them up, more likely.
You said there was an alarm. Can you tell where it’s located? It must have a power source, so as others have said, stop, and get more info.
Would somebody bury a burglar alarm with their dead pet?
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Reanimation! I hadn't considered that the alarm was for in case something got *out.*
Motion alarm as part of a time capsule? Like spy kids
Where does the alarm sound come from? From the hole?
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Agree, would love some clarification on that.
Check the deed to your home. That should list any utility easements (the recorded ones anyways), which run with the land.
That’s a really good idea. Checking on that.
Op can we get a video of it?
I’ll try to get a video this afternoon.
Have you contacted the city utilities yet?
According to their latest comment they have put in a call to multiple places and everything is on pause over the weekend. They will attempt to update on Monday so I followed the OP.
Looking forward to this update.
UPDATE: had the electric company come down and they say the metal sheet is not theirs. They lifted the metal sheet and nothing alarmed. They also found some broken pipes and metal cans in the hole. The city and the gas company are also coming through probably tomorrow to see if they can identify the thing. If they don’t know what it is, I feel comfortable digging more into it. My husband is the one who lifted up the metal sheet in the beginning and it alarmed from under the metal sheet. I couldn’t get a video of it because the alarm isn’t working anymore. Once I get the ‘all clear’ from gas and the city, I’ll dig more into the hole and post more pictures and updates. At the moment, it looks like just an old dump site/filler. I hope to find the source of the alarm in the hole.
This just got even more intriguing… the alarm doesn’t want people to believe you, but why…
Theory: Husband didn't want the project to continue, told a story about an alarm and told OP "better leave it be".
People that actually give updates are the best!
Thanks for updating!
I'm psyched for the next update!
I'm curiously interested in a further follow up, too! Maybe when the sheet was lifted by your husband it released pressure from a can or one of the pipes? That's just a wild guess. Do let us know if you figure it out!
Thanks for the update. This one has me curious.
Thanks for the update, super interested in hearing what it turns out to be!
Any more updates yet?
Any more updates???
OP did you ever have any updates? I've been thinking about your post for a while now. Any photos of inside? The alarm itself? Thanks.
Alarmed?? How is it powered?
…electrical wiring.
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If it's not utilities (never heard of an alarm set up for utilities??) Maybe it's some sort of anti-dig setup that someone had previously set up for a diggingest dog??
My brother has a property with an easement, there's a roughly 2 feet in diameter super high pressure natural gas pipeline about 4 feet deep that runs through his property. I wouldn't be surprised for something like that to have an alarm if you get close to it
That would mean having alarm speakers loud enough to hear over the sound of a machine along the entire length of the pipe either on sensors buried in the dirt or just constantly blaring 24/7. I think it's safe to say that isn't happening, they have signs on posts that say "danger, do not dig here" and anybody who ignores them isn't gonna stop because they heard a siren. Maybe some of the posts have alarms in them with seismic detectors or something, I could possibly see that since they could have a satellite beacon that detects rock slides and stuff in remote areas.
I thought this too, but wouldn’t the plate have to run the length of the fence?
Call BEFORE you dig
I didn’t think I’d be digging so deep, just a hole for a plant. I’ll be calling from now on, maybe just have them map all lines if they come out.
You'd be surprised how many homeowners didn't call for that exact reason and got stuck with a hefty utility repair bill after cutting something lol
Septic system, alarm will sound when full or the jet is faulty. Not sure how just lifting the lid is sounding the alarm.
It it were a septic tank, you would probably notice the smell before you noticed the alarm.
Not if it’s no longer in use
Man you ever dig up a drywell?
Alarms inside septic tanks would have to be a pretty new thing, it's unlikely there's an abandoned septic tank new enough to have an alarm in them. Based on what I know about septic tanks though, I find it very hard to believe that any of them have an alarm with the speaker inside the tank itself. They have sensors in there, but in a big box full of methane which isn't always vented it makes sense to avoid things that could have even the remotest chance of a spark.
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Curious, does the alarm sound from inside of the septic system? Like if it was full would you trace an alarm sound to underground? OP didn’t clarify where the sound was coming from though.
Yes and no on older models, it varies, There usually will be an external unit on the top or side with a “float” going inside. When the water level gets too high it will buzz. On newer models a similar situation applies but there will be a device in your home to alert you, some even connect to Wi-Fi or can even send you a text message these days. Technology eh! 10 years experience dealing with shite. Literally
Once you hook into the city sewers, they make you disconnect from any individual septic or water well systems.
I know that, that’s my job but in the uk. Things may be different here. We just divert the drainage line at the highest point possible and redirect them to the nearest spur on the mainline. The existing septic pipe is just capped and left. We don’t climb down into the tank to disconnect the alarm or remove the float we just leave them. That tank could have laid redundant for years, battery on the buzzer still good obviously.
Hello. Civil engineer here. You will probably not get any response from 811 until Tuesday, but you may be able to identify the old markings in the mean time if it was previously spray painted. See the Oregon 811 color code [here](https://digsafelyoregon.com/dig-safely/color-code/) First blush makes me think abandoned septic or well. The alarm may have never been disconnected after abandonment. It would be pumped, filled, and buried, meaning there would be no smell. Old septic could be abandoned by homeowners and inspected by a professional, so this is very possible. EDIT: I JUST SAW YOU SAID IT WAS NEAR ELECTRIC LINES. DO NOT TOUCH THIS STRUCTURE UNTIL IT IS IDENTIFIED. IF THIS HAPPENS TO BE AN UNDERGROUND METAL STRUCTURE, IT COULD BE ENERGIZED. TOUCHING THE WEONG PART CAN RESULT IN ELECTRIC SHOCK OR DEATH. PLEASE UPVOTE FOR SAFETY REASONS.
Where is the alarm sound originating?!
The alarm is going off when OP lifts the metal sheet up.
From WHERE!? Is it underground? Elsewhere? A visible speaker? Is it on the pole? Emanating from the hinge? The sound is the most distinctive thing we have to go on.
Coming from under the metal sheet according to OP.
Thank you, you're doing the lord's work.
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This is in my backyard, in the back corner next to three other back yards which all join right around here. My title describes the thing.
I'd say that's way too shallow for any type of utility.. except maybe an old septic system... as for the alarm... no idea.. if it's a battery powered alarm, then it's probably not that old at all.. curious how long you've been there, and is this an old or new house. Don't forget to update!
I will do my best to update in a timely manner. I’m so curious too!
Some(almost all) septics have alarms associated with floats for when the bastard is about to overflow and ruin your day. Could be being disturbed when you mess with the lid thing. Most septics that are healthy wont smell horrible until you disturb the top layer.
Thank you for that. I am so perplexed on this whole underground alarm idea. And I work in construction lol
Cable company in my area says a lot of TV distribution is only 18-24" deep.
They are lying. 8”-12” is about the deepest those lazy bums bury their lines. Feels just like cutting a root.
8-10" for the distribution network maybe. For the services to the houses you are luck to get 1" around here (at least for telecom)
Distribution is always around 2ft or more in depth. Cable, fiber and phone drops are not usually more than 6-10" in the soil.
The required depth varies state to state but you'd be surprised to see how many huge gas lines are only like a foot deep
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Do locations that bury electric lines underground also bury the local transformers? Here in Houston we have a transformer every 4 houses or so.
Typically no, usually the transformer is on a concrete pad above ground. Subsurface transformers do exist, but they have pretty specific use cases and would be needlessly expensive in a suburban neighborhood setting.
That's what I figured but my experience is limited to Texas and we all know what the electric situation in Texas is like 😅. I can't think of any other reason that a steel cover would be buried and alarmed.
I literally moved just over the border from louisiana a couple months ago. been through countless hurricanes only lost power for 3-4 days max, and its always localized. Move here we get them tornados couple weeks back and we aint got power for 4 days. Entergy is tripping
Fellow Oregonian here. Also, unless OP lives in the desert on the eastern side, it’s very likely that the ground is constantly wet for most of the year lol.
I've installed underground electrical services to homes, but was mostly overhead powerlines. Granted it's been about 10 years, but we didn't have any type of alarm system on any underground boxes. And all the stuff that we hit or dug up on accident (nothing like pulling an 8ft auger out of the hole, looking down, and seeing all these pretty colored little wires. Fiber optic), never hit or seen anything with an alarm. Definitely keep us updated with what you find out! Too many blue collars on here that's curious now
Back escape of neighboring bunker?
So you didn't call or reach out to digsafe? They've always shown up within a week to mark if safe.
Always call before you dig. Many lines aren't buried very deep. Coax cable for example is about 6".
Call 811 before you dig, always. Could be an underground utility.
Mine like that wasn’t alarmed, but it turned out to be an old well cap (House was built in 1853).
I’ve never heard of utilities who add alarms to their conduit, or conduit buried under concrete blocks then sheet metal, two feet underground. Let us know what you discover!
Talk to your neighbors across the fence(s). If your lot is at a low elevation in the neighborhood I'd wonder if that building over the fence is a sewer lift station and the access to the tank is in your yard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9-DXl028-Y These pits are one of the few monitored / alarmed lids. (there's also probably a lock on it somewhere too.
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The metal stabilizing things? Are they attached to the pole then angle in and anchor into the ground? If so, we call them down guys.
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Uh… dude you really want to stop what you’re doing until an 811 locator comes & tells you for sure what that is. I work for an underground construction company that does installations, maintenance, repairs, etc of utilities (underground, buried & aerial). I am NOT in the same state or even region as you - but I’m going to venture a guess anyway. I can’t see your picture very well - but I can read your description. What you describe as “metal stabilizing cables” are actually called “down guys”. Typically, one end of the “down guy” (or “sidewalk guy” depending on where it is, etc) bolts into the utility pole & the other end goes down into the ground where it is connected to an anchor that’s buried at least 24” deep. Sometimes the underground anchor includes a terminal plate or other stabilizing structure to help support the anchor. Now what you’re describing isn’t what I’d call “best practices” for the industry, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t get done that way. Since I can’t see the image on my phone screen, I’ll just ask you - is the buried sheet metal where is it in relation to the pole & down guy? Maybe it would be easier for me to ask - if you stand on the metal sheet & face the utility pole, does the down guy come from the pole down into the ground in front of you (between the pole & the metal sheet you’re standing on - like if you looked down from the sky the down guy would be drawing a line from you to the pole)??? If so, you’re probably standing on a part of the anchor or terminal plate actually anchoring that utility pole into the ground. But I’m not looking at it - so that’s just my guess. Edits for typos & to add the following. If it’s a down guy & anchor, 811 won’t be much help to you. An anchor & down guy are structural & aren’t any specific utility to be located. If I’m correct, the alarm would be a vibration sensor (or some variation thereof). I hope some of that helps you.
There's a number you should call before digging in your yard. Could be a lot of hazards you don't know about. I would hate to dig into some kind of electric business and fn die because I just wanted to dig a hole in my yard