Know About the Different Types of Utility Locator Tools

Excavations used to be the practice when it comes to locating utilities, but with utility locator tools, the process has become safer and quicker. A utility locator device is used in non-destructive testing to find problems, cracks, and manufacturing or structural defects in a surface or material without damaging anything. The most important advantages of using this tool involves savings in terms of the time, money, and effort needed for excavations and destruction of the structure, and it makes the job of locating hidden objects safer, quicker, and cost-effective. Here are the different types of tools used for finding utilities:

·       Pipe locators – When locating pipes, you can use either passive or active tools. Utility locator systems make a sound when a pipe or leak is detected. Active locators may yield complex results, as it will detect both the pipe and the leakage on other pipes and try to stop or minimise water leakage. Once the utilities have been identified, you can already start digging by hand.

·       Electromagnetic location wands – These wands may be used to locate metallic piping, or ceramic and plastic piping that has been buried along with a tracer wire. Where no metal is present the use of a Sonde, threaded into the pipe can allow an EM wand to be used to locate it.

·       Acoustic pipe locators – These may be reliable for small pipes, as they work depending on vibrations generated in the pipeline. However, they will require a transmitter, which must be attached to an extension or an exposed end of the pipe. These utility locator tools are typically not recommended when the pipe detection is far from the transmitter. Plastic, concrete, and steel pipes, as well as certain types of soil could minimise sound waves, too.


·       Ground penetrating radar – GPR is currently the most trusted utility locator in the industry. The device works with a software and a sensor designed specifically for simplified finding and marking of utilities. The technology uses radio waves for imaging the utilities in the subsurface, which may consist of materials like asphalt, rock, and soil. GPR systems generate high-frequency radio wave pulses, then detects the echoes reflected from the objects in the subsurface. They work on utilities that have broken tracer wires, as well as both non-metallic and metallic utilities. They can be used to find undocumented utilities or on disturbed soil, too.

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