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How not to run a Ditch Witch A good friend of mine asked me to help him dig a trench in his yard so that he could run an electric line from his house to his barn. So early one morning, we rented a large Ditch Witch trencher. When we got to his house, he went inside to change clothes and I decided to start the trencher and let it warm up. Unbeknownst to me, the trencher was in drive mode and began slowly creeping forward with its tines in motion. In a panic, I couldn’t find the off switch, and within seconds, it had ripped two gaping holes in the back door of his van. Fortunately, when it began pulling against the hold-down chains, it broke the drive shear pin and quit moving. Otherwise, I guess it would have completely devoured his van. After we took it back to the rental company and had the shear pin replaced, we began again. This time we hit the branch city water line serving his house. After spending an hour trying to get the five-sided nut loose on the water meter cover, we were able to get the water turned off and continue trenching. Next, we dug up the electric line going to his yard light. Our final act of destruction involved cutting through the city gas line that went to his house. As luck would have it, the gas company’s regular workers were on strike so an emergency crew of supervisory personnel was dispatched to make the repair. It was quite a sight seeing those guys in their white shirts and dress pants crawling around in the hole trying to shut off the flow of gas. Needless to say, they weren’t very happy. This was probably the worst day of my life. I’ve never had so many things go wrong in one day. Two things I learned: 1) Know how to operate your equipment before starting a job, and 2) Always call a locator service before you dig. Dennis Fruits |
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