Stay out of manholes

Not sure exactly how to say this, Nate, but I've never had any attraction to manholes. :p

[CAPTAINOBVIOUS] Dangerous indeed- proper PPE can save your life, and the lack thereof can tragically end it as the linked article shows. [/CAPTAINOBVIOUS]

Not sure how to say this, Mr Cow, but read it carefully. Those are MAN holes. OK?

They have been renamed "maintenance holes" here.

Back in the olden days (1950's) of farming nearly every farmer had some sort of chemical spray rig that mounted directly on his tractor and included a 55-gallon barrel positioned directly behind the driver's seat. He would pour in the water, then pour in the correct amount of liquid chemical, then grab something like an old wooden broom handle to stick through the bung hole to act as a stirrer to blend the mixture. After a vigorous stirring, the slippery, wet broom handle would be removed with bare hands and tossed out of the way for future use. The hose connected to the pump would then be inserted loosely into the bung hole. Next came the adventure of bouncing along through the area needing sprayed with excess chemical mixture sloshing out all over the lid of the barrel and frequently splashing the tractor driver as well. Long term health issues ensued for many before scientists realized the cause/effect of this widespread practice.

Back in the olden days of surveying nearly every surveyor stuck his head in a sewer manhole with some frequency. Some inserted their entire bodies through the opening. Long term health issues ensued for some but it took years for the link between cause and effect to become apparent.

It's defined as a confined space and you need the proper gear before entering. Just ask OSHA...Tripod, gas sniffer etc.

I always quipped that manhole would be much funnier if it was 2 words. Then a few months ago one of the guys text me that he had dipped his rod inside one and his phone corrected to 2 words.....

We have a company policy against going in them unless you have the training and equipment.

Nate The Surveyor, post: 409776, member: 291 wrote: Not sure how to say this, Mr Cow, but read it carefully. Those are MAN holes. OK?

Nope can't use that name anymore. Can still label them as MH on your plan. But the politically correct name is "Maintenance Hole". None gender specific.

Holy Cow, post: 409779, member: 50 wrote: Back in the olden days (1950's) of farming nearly every farmer had some sort of chemical spray rig that mounted directly on his tractor and included a 55-gallon barrel positioned directly behind the driver's seat. He would pour in the water, then pour in the correct amount of liquid chemical, then grab something like an old wooden broom handle to stick through the bung hole to act as a stirrer to blend the mixture. After a vigorous stirring, the slippery, wet broom handle would be removed with bare hands and tossed out of the way for future use. The hose connected to the pump would then be inserted loosely into the bung hole. Next came the adventure of bouncing along through the area needing sprayed with excess chemical mixture sloshing out all over the lid of the barrel and frequently splashing the tractor driver as well. Long term health issues ensued for many before scientists realized the cause/effect of this widespread practice.

Back in the olden days of surveying nearly every surveyor stuck his head in a sewer manhole with some frequency. Some inserted their entire bodies through the opening. Long term health issues ensued for some but it took years for the link between cause and effect to become apparent.

You mean those were chemicals?? Pops always told me not to worry, it was just water. "Here, drive out to the field and spray this water all over...". j/k

He did warn me about peeing on the electric fence. But he was about a year too late. I had already found out. It's true. It does travel up your pee stream...

Beer Legs, post: 409894, member: 33 wrote: You mean those were chemicals?? Pops always told me not to worry, it was just water. "Here, drive out to the field and spray this water all over...". j/k

He did warn me about peeing on the electric fence. But he was about a year too late. I had already found out. It's true. It does travel up your pee stream...

Summers spent on an uncle's cotton farm near Mercedes, Tx always included running out of the house so we could stand under the crop duster mist...it smelled good and would cool you off. I could blame my bad liver on the crop-dusters, but we all know better. 😉

40+ years ago we performed what were called "I and I" studies. Infiltration and Inflow. We had to measure the depth of flow in manholes, not just the invert elevation. I was young and dumb(er) and climbed into MANY manholes. We did do some rudimentary checking though. Light a whole book of matches and throw it in the manhole. If it goes BOOOOM, don't go in that one. If the matches go out before they get to the bottom, don't go in that one either. Also look for roaches and crickets. If they can't live in there then you probably can't either.
Andy

Andy Bruner, post: 409931, member: 1123 wrote: 40+ years ago we performed what were called "I and I" studies. Infiltration and Inflow. We had to measure the depth of flow in manholes, not just the invert elevation. I was young and dumb(er) and climbed into MANY manholes. We did do some rudimentary checking though. Light a whole book of matches and throw it in the manhole. If it goes BOOOOM, don't go in that one. If the matches go out before they get to the bottom, don't go in that one either. Also look for roaches and crickets. If they can't live in there then you probably can't either.
Andy

Helped with a number of I & I studies myself back in the day. Weren't they fun?

I'm sure they have digital equipment now but I can remember staying up all night and making the rounds to several MHs measuring the depth of flow every hour. And yes we climbed down in those dreadful places on ladders with little PPE except maybe a clothespin for our nose. We always feared finding a body at 2 AM in the bottom of a MH. It actually happened. The PC popped a lid and came running back to the truck, white as a ghost. We all went back and peered into the hole to see a naked department store mannequin standing at the bottom. That, a kitchen chair and a basketball were some of the weirdest "finds".

The fun part was forced air smoke. Seeing green smoke come up from the ground was just amazing to me. And although we always put flyers on doors the day before we "smoked" any residential areas, there was always somebody that didn't get the memo and called the fire department when their garage floor drain filled their house full of green smoke.

paden cash, post: 409933, member: 20 wrote: Helped with a number of I & I studies myself back in the day. Weren't they fun?

I'm sure they have digital equipment now but I can remember staying up all night and making the rounds to several MHs measuring the depth of flow every hour. And yes we climbed down in those dreadful places on ladders with little PPE except maybe a clothespin for our nose. We always feared finding a body at 2 AM in the bottom of a MH. It actually happened. The PC popped a lid and came running back to the truck, white as a ghost. We all went back and peered into the hole to see a naked department store mannequin standing at the bottom. That, a kitchen chair and a basketball were some of the weirdest "finds".

The fun part was forced air smoke. Seeing green smoke come up from the ground was just amazing to me. And although we always put flyers on doors the day before we "smoked" any residential areas, there was always somebody that didn't get the memo and called the fire department when their garage floor drain filled their house full of green smoke.

We were still doing smoke studies until about 10 years ago. We found LOTS of cross connections between sanitary and storm drains. Green smoke coming up through someone's kitchen REALLY got their attention too.
Andy

One summer in the mid 70‰Ûªs we ‰ÛÏweired‰Û about 30 sanitary manholes (one word) and monitored them daily while it wasn‰Ûªt raining and hourly while it was raining, looking for lines with possible storm water infiltration. I was the one going down the hole, sometimes spending lots of time in each one until I had a leak-proof setup using different sized sandbags strategically placed. The rookie summer helper was up top. The only safety rule was ‰ÛÏif you see me tip over down there, go get help!‰Û. I‰Ûªm sure that by the time ‰Û÷help‰Ûª arrived - in the era well before portable phones - it would have been too late. Silly. Stupid.

Years ago me and a mate from engineering school had a job at the council doing video inspections of stormwater and sewer pipes. On the latter it was mostly to check for illegal connections. We weren‰Ûªt told of the risks (and were too dumb to work it out for ourselves), but fortunately for other reasons we avoided going into sewer manholes in fear of what we had seen in them on the video. At one site we had videoed from a MH in a private garden upstream to the house at the top of the line and found nothing out of order. The next morning we were in the same area, but doing a different branch, when the posh elderly woman owner of the house approached us to say she lived alone and had seen us in her garden the day before and wanted to know what we were doing. So we explained, and she was more than happy with that, but then requested that we reopen that MH in her garden, as she ‰ÛÏhad always wanted to see what was in it‰Û. I tried to give body language suggesting that was not a good idea, but in a flash matey had popped the lid and all three of us were peering in. Being at the top of the line it was shallow and the sun lit up the inside and there peering back at us, shipwrecked on the haunching, was a gigantic fresh golden yellow turd. Simultaneously all or heads swiveled to follow the direction of the only incoming line, namely the one that went straight back to her house, and matey exhaled a giggling exclamation that rhymed with ‰ÛÏclucking bell‰Û. She took off like a scratched cat, cussing that there must be an illegal connection to her pipe and demanding that we locate it and prosecute the offender. As she passed through and slammed her front door, matey called out ‰ÛÏthere isn‰Ûªt, we can show you the video if you want‰Û. Never saw her again.

Years ago me and a mate from engineering school had a job at the council doing video inspections of stormwater and sewer pipes. On the latter it was mostly to check for illegal connections. We weren‰Ûªt told of the risks (and were too dumb to work it out for ourselves), but fortunately for other reasons we avoided going into MH's including fear of what we had seen in them on the video. At one site we had videoed from a MH in a private garden upstream to the house at the top of the line and found nothing out of order. The next morning we were in the same area, but doing a different branch, when the posh elderly woman owner of the house approached us to say she lived alone and had seen us in her garden the day before and wanted to know what we were doing. So we explained, and she was more than happy with that, but then requested that we reopen that MH in her garden, as she ‰ÛÏhad always wanted to see what was in it‰Û. I tried to give body language suggesting that was not a good idea, but in a flash matey had popped the lid and all three of us were peering in. Being at the top of the line it was shallow and the sun lit up the inside and there peering back at us, shipwrecked on the haunching, was a gigantic fresh golden yellow turd. Simultaneously all or heads swiveled to follow the direction of the only incoming line, namely the one that went straight back to her house, and matey exhaled a giggling exclamation that rhymed with ‰ÛÏclucking bell‰Û. She took off like a scratched cat, cussing that there must be an illegal connection to her pipe and demanding that we locate it and prosecute the offender. As she passed through and slammed her front door, matey called out ‰ÛÏthere isn‰Ûªt, we can show you the video if you want‰Û. Never saw her again.

Richard Imrie, post: 410062, member: 11256 wrote: fortunately for other reasons we avoided going into MH's in fear of what we had seen in them on the video.

Does New Zealand enjoy the same nasty, venomous critters that Australia has?

RADAR, post: 410063, member: 413 wrote: Does New Zealand enjoy the same nasty, venomous critters that Australia has?

Fortunately, no. No spiders (except one, but it's very rare) and no snakes. No crocs either. So our fear was pretty much focused on that of human origin.