Dug up wire in yard

[Tgo01]

I'm working on a project about a foot from my house and I'm only digging about 2 inches deep so I figured I was relatively safe from hitting any buried wires, seeing how most wires are required to be buried deeper than that. Even still I was trying to be as cautious as possible.

Well then I came across this wire:

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The thing that is odd though is it doesn't look like it was cut at all...well it does look like the plastic coating has been peeled back but it doesn't look like anything has been exposed.

But it's not cut. It looks like it goes from my house to this part of the yard (as I said about a foot) and just ends here.

Any idea what it could be? I'm wondering if it's just a piece of wire that isn't attached to anything that just happened to be buried under the ground here but I'm afraid to keep digging and actually cut through it.

[Tgo01]

I very carefully dug a few more inches by hand and it looks like it's extending all the way to my house.

[m444w]

maybe some dumbass thought that it would work for a ground, but usually they're 6' deep and copper wire.

Could also be an old satellite wiring cable if there use to be a dish in that area of the yard

[Taernath]

Lick it and see if there's a current.

[Wrathbringer]

I very carefully dug a few more inches by hand and it looks like it's extending all the way to my house.

NSA has learned of your concern with their cable monitoring system and is en route to discuss it with you. Use keyword "THANKSOBAMA" and get 10 yrs off your fema camp sentence!

[Tgo01]

maybe some dumbass thought that it would work for a ground, but usually they're 6' deep and copper wire.

That's what I was thinking too but I can see the ground in the basement behind the finished walls and it is a copper wire.


Could also be an old satellite wiring cable if there use to be a dish in that area of the yard

We are the first people to own this house. Although it was used as an office by the company who built this neighborhood so I guess it's possible they did something like that.


Lick it and see if there's a current.

That doesn't sound very safe at all :O


NSA has learned of your concern with their cable monitoring system and is en route to discuss it with you. Use keyword "THANKSOBAMA" and get 10 yrs off your fema camp sentence!

Wire? What wire? There is no wire buried in my yard...

This is right next to a window well and there is a security light towards the very top of the house here.

Still, kind of odd to just end there for no apparent reason. I wonder if when they were building the house someone accidentally cut this wire so they ran a new wire somewhere and they just left this in the ground.

Everything appears to be working; electricity, phone line, cable. Going to check the sprinklers in a minute here to make sure it wasn't supplying power to that.

[Wrathbringer]

That's what I was thinking too but I can see the ground in the basement behind the finished walls and it is a copper wire.



We are the first people to own this house. Although it was used as an office by the company who built this neighborhood so I guess it's possible they did something like that.



That doesn't sound very safe at all :O



Wire? What wire? There is no wire buried in my yard...

This is right next to a window well and there is a security light towards the very top of the house here.

Still, kind of odd to just end there for no apparent reason. I wonder if when they were building the house someone accidentally cut this wire so they ran a new wire somewhere and they just left this in the ground.

Everything appears to be working; electricity, phone line, cable. Going to check the sprinklers in a minute here to make sure it wasn't supplying power to that.

Maybe it goes to a secret underground chamber. Cool! tgo has a chamber!

[Ker_Thwap]

Maybe it goes to a secret underground chamber. Cool! tgo has a chamber!

Maybe it was secret...

[Tgo01]

A few more inches of digging...

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Why you mess with me, wire?!

And I was hoping to find the secret underground chamber :(

[Wrathbringer]

A few more inches of digging...

6815

Why you mess with me, wire?!

And I was hoping to find the secret underground chamber :(

You can always run a dummy wire out of your box down into the floor and label it "chamber" just to mess with the electrician when he comes to repair that wire you're digging up.

[Tgo01]

You can always run a dummy wire out of your box down into the floor and label it "chamber" just to mess with the electrician when he comes to repair that wire you're digging up.

That's the entire length of the wire in the picture though; it was just about a 12 inch long piece of wire buried under ground for some reason.

But I still like your idea...hmm...

[Anebriated]

Cant really tell from the pic, was it loose wire or does it run into the house? By the looks of the wire/gauge I would guess its a cable wire of some sort, possibly an old phone line.

can get a volt meter pretty cheap to see if its live to avoid an electrician.

[Tgo01]

Cant really tell from the pic, was it loose wire or does it run into the house? By the looks of the wire/gauge I would guess its a cable wire of some sort, possibly an old phone line.

It ended up just being a loose wire that ended a few inches from the house. It had me worried for a minute there. Darn wires.

[Anebriated]

ah, gotcha. some slapdick contractor found it easier to bury the wire post construction than clean up the job site. Fairly typical.

[Latrinsorm]

Lick it and see if there's a current.Really irresponsible.

Rub your penis on it and see if there's a current. For safety purposes sever it before doing so, so no current can flow into the rest of your body.

[Ashlander]

Really irresponsible.

Rub your penis on it and see if there's a current. For safety purposes sever it before doing so, so no current can flow into the rest of your body.

Make sure you sterilize the knife first though, wouldn't want an infection.