Locate Underground Gas Pipes

Locate Underground Gas Pipes

Underground gas pipes come in a variety of pipe materials. That pipe material is the main factor in how easy it will be to detect the pipe location.

As always, the best first course of action is for you to request Dial Before You Dig (DBYD) plans for the area you’re interested in. Always keep in mind that with Dial Before You Dig you aren’t likely to get any information on private services, though they are very useful for working in public areas.

If you’re inside a private property you need to find the gas meter. From there you will have the feed (the gas pipe between the meter and the main), and then you may have another underground pipe between the meter and what ever building or equipment it is servicing.

For a simple domestic property, the meter is likely attached to the house and the pipe between the meter and the building above ground. In a property with multiple structures or a meter/gas kiosk that is detached from the building, then you need to be aware of the internal private pipes being underground as well.

Locating the feed

The pipe that connects the gas meter to the gas main should be either made from a traceable material:

• Copper
• Galvanised steel
• Cast iron

Or be Poly Pipe (polyethylene) in which case it should have a trace wire installed in the same trench. The trace wire is a thin copper strand that should be wrapped around the incoming gas pipe at the meter. If you’re lucky, this will be visible and unbroken for the entire length you need. If you’re like the rest of us, it’s probably going to be buried and broken. So if you can’t see the wire, try digging down around the base of the incoming gas pipe.

Once you’ve got it, you can use your pipe and cable locating equipment to directly clamp onto it and induce your signal. If you find that the signal disappears before you get to the main gas line, don’t be too shocked. These trace wires are often broken or corroded to the point they no longer hold a consistent signal. You’ll need to play around with different frequencies and induction points to figure out the rest of the picture.