Hello. I’ve done 2 mock inspections now and on both inspections I have noticed a wire sticking up next to the gas line by the meter. Both were disconnected. Is this a bond wire to ground that should be connected? I’ve added the pictures. Thanks.
That is a tracer wire for the utility company to mark the exact location of the buried gas line
Thanks so much. I feel very fortunate to be able to turn to you on here for my questions before ever dealing with a live client. I’d rather ask dumb questions here than make dumb calls in the field.
Well when you ask those questions here and don’t get ridiculed for asking you will never forget the answer in the field
Tracer wires are used mostly when the gas pipe is not an electrical conductor, plastic for example.
Not in Okla they put them on every type metal or plastic. When there is no Tracer they call Charley and I witch um plastic or metal its all in the hands;-)
I need to buy some stock in the company that makes wire for you guys in Oklahoma…LOL
The dead ones are the easiest to deal with, no back talk 
Ha! They haunt you forever, talking to you, even screaming at you, in your dreams…LOL
Charley - Wonder how many here know what you meant by “…I witch um” … LOL
Probably not many if any, mostly city boys here;-)
Not this one, I have seen my share of it done plenty of times, though I have never seen it with a gas line.
It works with any type pipe metal, plastic, clay tile. orangeburg or what ever. I installed so many water lines on my property I have to use a witch to find them all. I have lived on this property since 1984 and it was an open pasture with no water lines except at the road.
BTW I still to this day carry a set of rods with me on inspections just in case I ever need to tell a client which way a line is traveling
Divining rods. I first saw it as a kid. Still don’t understand how the heck it works.
Very simple. Money goes in wallet, rods point wherever or at cows eating the cabbage…
This is just one scenario, as I have seen it work countless times.
I have seen the fancy college educated people come out and tell someone where to drill for a well, only not to hit water. When we were putting in a leach field, my boss at the time had witched it for water before hand and the clients didn’t believe him. Guess what happened after they didn’t hit water with the educated guess?
Not the same thing a divining rod is like a large wishbone from a chicken two handles and one probe. What I use is just two rods bent in a 90 degree offset with the short end no longer than the palm of your hand and when you approach a buried pipe the two long ends point towards each other its like you are breaking a magnetic field with the two rods it works every time
A Y- or L-shaped twig or rod, called a dowsing rod, divining rod (Latin: virgula divina or baculus divinatorius), a “vining rod” or witching rod is sometimes used during dowsing, although some dowsers use other equipment or no equipment at all.
Yipper I use the L shape in your PIC I make them out of a brass brazing rod or a steel welding rod with the Flux broken off, the brass works best