Dont Miss the Water Yill the Well Runs Dry

If this one inch pipe only serves as a pressure tap then the lack of any flow will allow it to freeze up with these prolonged cold spells, even if the 3 inch line has flow.

The easiest solution is some heat tape wrapped around the pipe, with a layer of good insulation to keep your electricity costs down. Be sure to follow the manufacturer's directions carefully, some types don't allow overlapping.

Those are great ideas and I am installing an electrical outlet down there this morning. I have heat tape on a waterline in an unheated outbuilding but I thought the ground down that deep would keep the air temperature steadily above freezing. At least it has in the past. I may throw a tarp over the lid and see if that helps. It has a ventilation tube on top so maybe the wind blew down there. Does "wind chill" affect water freezing in pipe? Thanks for ideas.

First, I would like a better description of your well construction. Is this a drilled well serviced by a well pit? If so, it may now be illegal. If you have a drilled well I would suggest having casing welded to the existing steel casing and the extension terminated above ground about 18 inches or more. Look up pitless adapter And you will find a very easy method to install the horizontal portion of the pipe with an easy disconnect to remove the pump from the well if when required. The top of the well is terminated with a suitable cap. You may need a well contractor or pump installer to do the work. The pit portion of the well would be abandoned. Pits are conduits for surface contamination and that may lead to deep well contamination.

Second. The water in the well will have a temperature equivalent to the average ambient air temperature. It will rise from the well but the steel casing can carry a frost line deeper. Hanging a light can help to thaw the line if it is frozen.

Third. The horizontal portion of the water line may be the portion frozen. I am not sure of the distance, but we have used hot water forced from the house back to thaw such frozen portions. I think there is a tool used to remove wall paper that works in this situation. Sorry, I can't remember the procedure but it does involve getting hot water and pumping it back down the line.

Just a few thoughts. Consider the abandonment of the well pit sometime after the frost comes out of the ground. A clean safe water supply is important. Your immune system may be OK but guests to your house may not be similarly equipped. Good luck.

I'm not understanding this set up. Can you post a picture?

Around here, when well heads are below ground level, they just extend the casing up above ground level, and fill the pit with dirt. Not only does it guarantee no water intrusion into the well, but you can just get one of these to cover up the new head location:

It sure makes everything a lot easier...Girl not included

Does "wind chill" affect water freezing in pipe?

Wind chill will affect the RATE of cooling, not the temperature is gets to. Thus will not affect the freezing--unless the pipe is wet, then chilling from evaporation might.

Complete aside: I met the guy (Paul Siple) who developed the wind chill chart.

Kevinm, it's a old well and am quite sure it's out of code and it is a drilled well serviced by a well pit. A new one would be out of my price range right now so Ill have to use it for now. I may have my well company come out and quote extending the casing but its so old may not be much to weld to... Ive seen them pull the pipe on it and will leave repair work to them. Havent had any problems with water so far (pit moisture is hard on electrical parts though) and have it tested every four years. Even had it shocked a while ago. Kramarat, i am not at the location to take photo but will when i am. Basically a big hole lined with cinder blocks and a cover, containing water holding tanks and piping where the water comes out of ground. North, thats good advice and i have it wired now and i did use gfi. I always turn off power before jumping down there but one brainfart and poof! All good points. I am going to try light bulb.

You should be able to keep your existing well. New wells tend to be expensive today. The 3 inch pipe you refer is likely a 4 inch well casing ( 3 inch will not accommodate a standard sub as they are 4 inch or actual 3 5/8) . Most drilled wells where I live are 6 inch with an 8 inch hole required for the cased portion. Unless you are in flowing well conditions, this pipe will not be under any pressure. Most domestic subs are equipped with 1 inch or 1.25 inch discharge. There are weld couplings that can fit over casing and allow a weld of the coupling and then welding new pipe to extend the casing is easy. 4 inch casing may require slightly different type of pitless adapters to accommodate the plumbing but your well contractor should be able to get them if needed. A 20 year old steel casing should not deteriorate unless you have high sulfur levels in the water supply. Well head rehabilitation is for a time when the weather is better.

By the way if the casing were installed properly, it would not be able to be pulled. The casing is usually grouted into place like an oil well. The space between the well bore and the steel casing installed is called the annular space and is filled with grout. However, I have dye tested many old well annular spaces and found too many leaky wells. Today, Newer wells are much better constructed by all reputable well drillers. I spent a lot of time a few decades ago with well drillers to teach grouting techniques. Again I wish you luck to thaw the pipes and get water back into the house.

No rush on the photo. I get it...I just don't understand how anyone thought that setup was a good idea. At least not in the last 100 years.

They did it that way here too; probably into the 70s. Buried the well head under 4-5 feet of dirt, or a pit like the one you have. It seems stupid to me, and I can't see the justification for it.

Finish installing the heating source and anything else you put in the pit as a heat source. Then put one or more movers blankets over all the equipment in the pit to protect it from the freezing and retain the heat.

Also open up a faucet in the house at a rate of about a pint or two per minute. Do it at a faucet that is not on the inside of an outside wall.

Also protect all the piping, gauges and small piping included, within the pit. If one of them breaks it could cause a severe frozen water situation. If that happens you could have no water, a lot of ice in the pit and no way to get to the equipment.

Goode Luck, Old Salt

All looks good, except this...

Do it at a faucet that is not on the inside of an outside wall.

In our last deep freeze, my well head was fine. However, I did have frozen pipes in the house...

Both hot an cold lines going to my kitchen sink froze; they were the only lines in an exterior wall. My solution was to open the lower cabinet before going to bed, (to let warm air in), and starting a "warm" trickle...keeping water moving through both hot and cold lines. That fixed it.

In single digit weather, any lines in exterior walls, will be the most susceptible to freezing, and should be the first ones used for the "trickle" method.

kramarat-

Your right! My mistake. I keyboarded inside when I meant to say outer walls and explain why.

Must have been brain flatulence.

Good Luck, Old Salt

No worries. I just wanted to specify.

I've typed the wrong thing, or left entire (important) words out of sentences, more times than I can count.

I have a similar setup and used a light bulb for some years but it needs monitoring for burn-out. Now I have a small "milk house" style heater with an automatic thermostat aimed at the pressure switch. Works for me!

We have a conventional dug well about 16 feet deep- in spite of the severe temps here in Canada it has worked just fine as the line from the submersed pump is buried below the 4 foot frost line- I would suggest going to a buried line as soon as conditions permit some digging- costs a bit more but well worth it- and this is the most severe winter I remember in our area

- good luck

The quarter inch pipe below your pressure switch is likely the culprit. Due to its size, it'll be the first to freeze, and then the pressure switch can not function.

We had the same thing,

Frost can penetrate especially when they is a lack of snow cover.

We would also hook up a 100 watt light bulb in they, this is plenty of heat. (As long as your pit doesn't flood out. may be even wrap it up with an old rug or blanket.

We also put a cover on top of the cover like straw bales.

Unfortunately we do not know where you're located.

First thing that I notice in your OP is that your well is only 8 feet deep. That classifies it as a shallow well. This is very unacceptable in terms of both freezing and a common reason for water well contamination. I'm assuming that you're utilizing this well as a potable water source?

To avoid the latter, your well should be no less than 40 feet in depth to the static water level below grade. Your well is highly susceptible to surface contamination, meaning you could have a very significant problem with unwanted microbes. I sure hope that you are not using this water for human consumption.

Here in New York State (as well as many other states), the minimum water depth is the aforementioned static water depth of 40 feet. That's a Statute. Your actual over all well depth may be a further 25 feet or more, depending on the groundwater recharging rate during pump-down and other conditions, depending on the actual factors involved in the subsoil stratums and groundwater levels.

Another problem I see is that you have only a piece of sheet-metal cover the top of the well. If this is a well supplying water for human consumption, a properly constructed well would have a steel casing pipe capped with a steel wellhead cap as well as the inclusion of a pitless adapter where the pump discharge pipe passes through the side of the pipe casing.

I'm glad I'm not drinking your water......one could get very sick, or worse.

IF this a potable water source for you, then my professional recommendation to you is for you to have a local well driller construct a new well to conform to your state's statute (at least to the minimum requirements) and have it approved by the appropriate state or county Health Dept. having jurisdiction. Typically, you need to have the well provide a minimum of 5 gallons per minute w/o adversely affecting the water residual level and water quality.

Additionally, any newly constructed well needs to be tested for water quality and Total Coliform Bacterial Count, also known as the BacT test. The testing must be conducted by a State Health Dept approved independent laboratory.

Good luck,

Captmoosie, PhD, P.E.

I believe the pit is 8' feet deep, the well itself is 150 feet deep.

The OP stated "The pump is submersible and about 150 feet down."

That is not a shallow well. It sounds like he has a pit around the casing -but then the top of well casing should probably be extended above grade.

... just musing..

Yeah. That's what they are doing to the older wells around here...although, I don't think they weld new casing onto the existing. It looks like some type of heavy duty compression fitting.

Welded lots and is most common for a casing extension. Usually requires a bit of grinding but almost always can be done. Unless as stated the well has been subjected to a lot of H2S or is overly pitted due to age. As long as the casing met regulation when installed and isn't stove pipe ( I have seen that done) most casing will be .188 wall or even .250 wall. Lots of metal should be left to weld.

I haven't seen many of them. Seems like it was a method like this that was used, except instead of open hole at the bottom, it would be the old pipe. The grout is required anyway, so maybe they just skip the welding.

If I recall correctly, I think they also use PVC, even if the original casing is steel or iron.

Depends on the region you live and the regulations. We had PVC used but it did create problems with the marrying of the steel casing to the PVC extension. MJ clamps were often used and would leak if the top of the casing was bumped. Or worse, the casing cracked. I can even recall an electrical shock being given off a well because the bond/ground was not re-attached. If a well driller tried to go back into the well to clean or deepen a well, the PVC was destroyed. A weld coupling and steel casing to the surface was always the best to use. My own well is completed with 6 inch steel casing. I once worked as a well inspector and saw almost all things done to a well that could be done and the tales I could tell.

By the way that is a good schematic you posted. You have done your homework. It was always the grouting that caused drillers a problem. Some were very good, but some had older machinery and had to use techniques they were ill equipped to do. Grouting of casing was a key in construction and at the time was very fuzzy as to how it was done. I had wars with my bosses in the resource commission back in 1970 to upgrade regulations. It wasn't until I was asked to specify wells in upgrading residential water supplies in small rural villages that action was done. Our programs worked at the time. That success resulted in revamped regs in Ontario and I know if I hadn't pushed it would have failed. I was extremely strict, but did spend a lot of time with individual drillers to help them. Even held seminars with Haliburton and the Well drilling Association. Fun times.

I got to reading about it, and it looks like the primary reason they terminated the casing below ground, was to keep it below the frost line, which still seems like a really bad decision...even for those days.

If it was all about preventing freezing, they still could have brought the casing above the ground surface, built a box around it, and filled it with dirt.

I have thawed it all out and replaced the pressure guage and switch and now have a light bulb burning down there. The quarter inch pipe to the pressure switch was frozen as well as a one inch pipe feeding it. Come to think of it i wonder what would have happened if the pressure switch froze in the closed state. May not be even possible but would not be good. I had a holding tank settle one time and it broke a pipe, filling the whole pit with water. I opened the lid and the holding tanks bobbed up out of the opening. THAT was a mess! Im going to call the well company in the spring and have it updated. Appreciate all the input.

Put a fence post or log in the water to keep the water from freezing and creating a cap where a vaccumm would form preventing flow