water main "trace wire"

[sm_jamieson]

This was new to me - a requirement for a "trace wire" from water main all the way into the house stopcock.

Trace Wire is attached to the mains water service pipe by means of cable ties at intervals of not less than 1 metre. The purpose of Trace Wire is to enable the location of the service pipe in the future. The wire must be 1.5mm single strand BLUE plastic coated to 6491 standard and installed on ALL installations.

Simon.

[mick]

I suppose this makes sense if the pipe is plastic. It gives a metal detector something to look for, if nothing else! :-)

[RW]

Sounds like utter bollocks to me.

I have successfully traced MDPE water pipes using a "Cat" scanner and a transmitter.

[sm_jamieson]

Is this wire in the building regs ? It came off some the Bristol Water plc website. Simon.

[Frank Erskine]

I'd have thought that 'not more than 1 metre' might have been more appropriate.

[nightjar]

Depends whether they are referring to frequency or distance.

Colin Bignell

[Frank Erskine]

A metre is usually a measure of distance :-)

[jhewitt]

"veeery interestiing". I have several buried polyethylene water lines in my yard / garden. I'd like to trace them.

Can you give me a reference to this techniquen please.

Thank you John Hewitt, Malaga, Spain

[Steve Walker]

The other kind is a metronome - it's a common mistake...