[Live4Mowin']

I have a few customers that have cable boxes with wires going into the ground. Im afraid Ill break a wire if I trim too close and I dont want to not trim around it because it looks horrible. One time I used scissors to trim around some. How do you guys trim around wires?

 

[GLAN]

be real carefull and or use hand clippers

 

[tiedeman]

we get as close as we can...there is always some tall grass there. We even just pull out the grass by hand sometimes

 

[lawnman_scott]

You wont break cable wires, if your talking about coaxial cable for cable tv

 

[tiedeman]

I am talking about all wires. I have learned my lesson from ripping out the phone wires with the trimmer. Not fun at all

 

[lawnman_scott]

Those you can cut clean through. I just avoid the area or pull them, or roundup

 

[tiedeman]

ya, but I know what you mean by the cable wires. I have hit a lot of satelite wires before and nothing happens to them..not even a mark

 

[Tbarchaser]

You wont hurt rg6 or 59....just don't wrap them....you will break the copper stinger inside. Also you can cut them! they should be 18" below ground! BY NEC CODE! I have a phone cable on one prop...the orange temp cable. I have cut it 3 times...and it still wont go away...Mr bell comes out and puts bugs on it. 4 months and its still not buried.

 

[David Haggerty]

Originally posted by Tbarchaser
Also you can cut them! they should be 18" below ground! BY NEC CODE! I have a phone cable on one prop...the orange temp cable. I have cut it 3 times...and it still wont go away...Mr bell comes out and puts bugs on it. 4 months and its still not buried.

Nope. Wrong on both counts.

Drop wires are simply placed below the sod. In accordance with NEC.

If you accidentally cut a temp drop, the phone company may fix it for free. Because you have a right to mow the lawn. The second time you should have known it was there. That you've cut it three times without being billed is rare. Better check with the homeowner to see if they have a bill for you.

Intentionally cutting someone's phone line also liabels you to criminal prosecution. CATV etc. have similar protection.

I used to work for the phone company. A man called in about a cable that had been improperly installed in front of his property. I told him we'd get to it when we could. (you could look into the slit and see the cable) He said "I'll just cut it and that'll get the crews out here!" So I looked it up for him. It was a fiber optic cable connecting two cities. Told him it bills at $1000/minute for down time. By the time the crews got it fixed, we'd own your house. But it wouldn't matter to you. Because you'd be living in prison. When the crews got there he was guarding the cable.

Sure I've accidentally cut wires. Once I cut a 15 pair cable with hedge clippers and put an entire factory out of service. I was lucky they didn't bill me for that one!

Dave

 

[Runner]

For phone wires and such going up the foundation of a house, I just get close to them and pull the rest out by hand, too. Sometimes, I'll slow the trimmer down a bit and rub into them, but a shot of Roundup right around the wire IS the worksaving key, and isn't even noticable from the distance - especially looking across the yard.
These other stories reminded me of one time some years ago, at my Mom & Dad's house. They were putting in water and sewer for the house across the street, and had to hook up from over on our side of the road. Well, there is a big Willow tree in the front yard where they were digging, and there were several good sized roots to go through. Well, as this guy was hacking through these roots, before we knew it, he had hold of a big one, and I mean to tell you, that he had that backhoe justa jumpin' and bouncin' offf the ground. Well, just then, he broke through it, and a l l t h e s e t i n y w i r e s come up out of the ground, and it looked like angel hair pasta with Walt Disney colors! Needless to say, "operations" were shut down, and it took the phone company two whole days to get this stuff back together. Not a bill I would want to handle.

 

[cantoo]

On my day job we pulled down a 600 pair phone line. The bill was US$9500.00 Pulled down the wire and the two hydro poles. The fire department and 3 cop cars were there within 4 minutes. Both poles were rotton at the ground but verison didn't care. It was on Orchard Lake Road in Farmington Hills Michigan. The week before the excavator company pulled down the hydro lines on the other side of the road and the bill was over US$20,000.00 They caught the pole with the tail swing on their trailer.
Two years ago we also pulled the hydro service right out of the end of a house, pretty much a typical day for us

 

[LAWNGIRL77]

ROUND-UP!!
FOR REAL. I USE IT AROUND ALL MY WIRE & ELECTRICAL BOXES. IF YOUR CUSTOMER DOESN'T MIND OF COURSE!?
IF YOU YOU DO IT RIGHT IT WIIL LOOK GOOD. IT WIIL ALSO SAVE YOU THE STRESS TIME! HA-HA!

PRISSY
PRISCILLA'S LAWN CARE

 

[tiedeman]

Originally posted by LAWNGIRL77
ROUND-UP!!
FOR REAL. I USE IT AROUND ALL MY WIRE & ELECTRICAL BOXES. IF YOUR CUSTOMER DOESN'T MIND OF COURSE!?
IF YOU YOU DO IT RIGHT IT WIIL LOOK GOOD. IT WIIL ALSO SAVE YOU THE STRESS TIME! HA-HA!

PRISSY
PRISCILLA'S LAWN CARE

but it comes back to whether or not you are licensed to apply pesticides

 

[maple city]

I usually just pull out the tall grass by hand when it's near wires.

I got tangled in some dead wires one time. The grass was really tall and it was an unfamiliar property. they were wrapped around the trimmer head and it was a mess getting them untangled. They were dead before my trimmer got ahold of them (thank goodness). I don't know what they were or why they were there. I never even saw them in the tall grass. Made me think about the damage I could have done...

 

[Tbarchaser]

Hey david,
My former day job was a Broadband install trainer for Time warner for 3 1/2 years, 8 yrs as an electrician/estimator.

18" is code but very rarely done. 8"-12" is common, any less is just a lazy tech. If you cut them on a Time Warner/Bright network there is no charge to a cust but a backchage to the installer. But if we are talking trunk lines (the big uns) I would use roundup and call the cable company. Phone lines I admit I don't know the policy's they prob vary by region.

 

[LAWNGIRL77]

ROUND-UP IS NOT A PESTICIDE. IT'S A HERBICIDE. IF THE HOME/PROPERTY OWNER SUPPLIES IT THEN IT'S OKEE-DOKEE. IF IT SAVE A LOT OF HEADACHES & AGGRAVATION THEN IT IS WORTH GETTING OT DONE YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN JELLYBEAN?
THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK.

PRISSY

PRISCILLA'S LAWN CARE

 

[Runner]

With all due respect, - a herbicide IS a pesticide. And yes, it IS illegal to use if you are not the homeowner. The State DOA does not take kindly to "loophole" attempts. They've seen 'em all. This includes the ol' "I'm not getting paid to do this" and several others.

 

[Live4Mowin']

Originally posted by Tbarchaser
4 months and its still not buried.

Ive been waiting about 3 months to get a cable at my house submerged in the earth. Right now its woven in my fence.

 

[pinnacle]

Get a qoute for an steel cover to be made up for the wires and give it to the client. Explain the problem and let them know if their happy with the price on the cover they can leave it up to you and they'll be billed. If the owner dosn't dig this or if it just won't work Round-up the shot. Arfter a few applications of round-up you will bring the area back to dirt and end up with a clean edge.

 

[David Haggerty]

Originally posted by Tbarchaser
Hey david,
My former day job was a Broadband install trainer for Time warner for 3 1/2 years, 8 yrs as an electrician/estimator.

18" is code but very rarely done. 8"-12" is common, any less is just a lazy tech. If you cut them on a Time Warner/Bright network there is no charge to a cust but a backchage to the installer. But if we are talking trunk lines (the big uns) I would use roundup and call the cable company. Phone lines I admit I don't know the policy's they prob vary by region.

Really?

My title was Engineer Facilities Outside Plant (telephone line engineer)

Handling plant damages were a part of my job.

And you have a couple of things wrong again.

It isn't laziness that drops are shallow. 4" deep is common. And it is in accordance with the operating procedures filed with the state utilities commission. The National Electric Code is not the Holy Bible of electricity. Just a guide that procedures are based on. So you're not going to find the phone company "in the wrong". They have a right to provide temporary service by laying wire on the ground. The record I've seen for temp service was 6 years. You can beg and plead, call the phone company, write your congressman to have the wire buried, but you CAN'T cut the wire.
Some fiber optic cables are no bigger than a pencil and carry 100,000 conversations. It could turn into a really grim error to cut the wrong wire.

Also, phone company policy doesn't vary much by region. As a lot of their facilities are governed by federal law. Plus a lot of companies are nationwide.

I apologize for the lecture. Just happened to be something I'm familiar with. What someone has gotten away with in the past doesn't make good standard procedure.

If I as much as notice a loose ground clamp on a ground sake I tell the customer. Or tighten it up myself.
I've heard of LCOs who take a hammer, break the ground wire and drive the stake under ground. OK when someone gets electrocuted because of that stupid little trick, what's he going to do? If I had my way he'd be doing time.

Dave