How do you find a non-ferrous empty pipe such as CPVC, uPVC, ABS, HDPE, or PB-1 in concrete or soil? Pipe and cable locating devices know as utility locators work based on sending a signal down a ferrous material and tracing the signal. These are great for many utility locate needs except CPVC, uPVC, ABS, HDPE, or PB-1 pipes. If the pipe is filled with water you can use a water pipe locator that creates a mechanical wave instead of an electromagnetic wave like the Pipe and cable locator. These devices do not care what the pipe is made out of, just that it is full of water or some other fluid. Now if the CPVC, uPVC, ABS, HDPE, or PB-1 pipe is only partly full or empty your only real option is a GPR utility locate service (Ground Penetrating RADAR utility locate service). In the pictures posted above the entire line was missed by the other utility locate service's methods and it ran for several hundred feet right through the planned construction zone. We were able to trace the entire line with our 400 MHz antenna without issue. If the client would have chosen to not double-check the area with GPR then these runs of pipe would have been damaged in many places due to the fact they were only 1 foot below the surface. You should always double-check the area with a trained GPR utility locate specialist before breaking ground.