Locating buried pipe below hydrocarbon contaminated soil 3

Depending on the age, it might have been installed with a locator wire placed above the pipe. I would check the nearest valves or above-ground features and see if by chance there is a locator wire that runs up the side. If so, the wire could be energized and tracked by a utility locator.

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I'm not sure it would have locator wire, it's on a mine site. We can check though.

So long as they are not more than 2m deep, find someone for who divining rod work....

I know it is seen as some sort of witch craft but you asked for out of the box ideas. It works for me.

But below about 2m cover very little works.

Dig a slit trench across the site?

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

In the 1970's I worked briefly on a project to locate leaks in an unmarked, long, buried aircraft fuel pipeline. We used a ground-coupled microphone. Walked along the approximate pipeline route and placed the microphone (shielded from airborne sound by what looked like an oversized upside-down headphone earcup, on a stick) on the ground surface. We intentionally had fuel flowing in the pipeline. You could clearly / accurately hear flow and could tell if you were over, or off to the side of the pipeline. Leaks sounded somewhat like waterfalls - we marked their location and kept going. Repair crews came later to dig up and fix leaks.

GPR

Einstein gave the same test to students every year. When asked why he would do something like that, "Because the answers had changed."

Is it big enough that you can send a pig with a transmitter through it?

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So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

Good ideas all around. I'm not sure about pigging it with a transponder, but SRE's idea sounds pretty plausible.

If you can take the pipe out of service, UNI-T has a device where you insert a cable and then uses another device that detects the cable.

Otherwise, acoustic pipe locating — Plastic pipe can often be located when it has a leak by using traditional leak noise locators. Most who have used an acoustic leak locator can find the pipe by the leak sound. The leak locator will show peak sound when directly over the leaking pipe. Moving it perpendicular to the pipe can help find the pipe location.

It is possible to artificially induce a sound on plastic pipe and then use an acoustic leak detector to locate the pipe. On small-diameter service tubing, a mechanical knocker can do the job. It is a device that makes a controllable solenoid with repeated knock on the pipe or tubing. The intensity and frequency are adjustable. It straps to the outside of the pipe, so it is noninvasive and does not require turning off water or removing the water meter. However the knocking is not loud enough to go very far on large-diameter pipe, so an alternate method must be used. Distance will vary based on depth and soil type, but 100 to 150 feet is achievable.

There is also a device with a valve that attaches to a fire hydrant. The hydrant is turned on and the valve pulsates water to create an acoustic pressure wave. The audio profile of the water main becomes much like a heartbeat. This sound can be followed on plastic pipe for hundreds of feet to accurately locate the pipe with an acoustic locator. There are acoustic pipe locators optimized to detect and locate the specific frequencies the device creates. I have detected the sound and located pipe 300 to 500 feet with a locator optimized for this purpose. Distance will vary depending on the depth, soil type and quality of your acoustic pipe/leak locator.

Link

Great link, Bimr...

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

I hope PETA isn't monitoring this thread.