Frozen pipes at well pump. Freeze switch?

[BHPSteel]

Or your local weed store and pick up some grow lights

 

[Dice]

I got woken up this morning by the wife. The water stopped working in the shower. It’s freezing out and this happened once before. The above ground pipes at the water well froze. I used bottled water and boiled it on the stove, wrapped a towel around the pipes at the well pump and poured the boiling water over the towel. After the water started flowing inside the house I removed the wet towel and put the well pump cover back on.

I obviously have power. It looks like 110vac at the well. I see they make wires to safely heat pvc water pipes. Do I need some sort of a a freeze switch? Am I barking up the wrong tree? How would a pro make this problem go away?View attachment 6748319
View attachment 6748300View attachment 6748301View attachment 6748302

what I think I'm looking at is a deep well that runs on 240 volts not 110. I don't see a tank or a pressure switch so they must be at a different location. Looks like you have a cycle stop valve here but for what you are trying to do at this location you don't have 120 volts without a little work. I'd just insulate the heck out of this entire pipe and ftgs. and put the rock back on top with insulation bat covering the entire insides of the rock.

 

[Fatal_Bert]

I'm gonna say it again, save yourself the headache, hassle, and trouble of all these over the top solutions.

You live in GA. About $20 or less on insulation is all you need. Be done with it.

 

[H2O MAN]

The actual temperature is a concern, but the frigid wind is even more of a problem here in the south. Seal up all of the drafts around your pipes.

Scrape all of the leaves away until you have level bare dirt to sit your insulated cover on, make sure the cleared area is twice as large as the covers footprint. Set the cover in place so that it is touching level dirt all the way around. Now pack dirt all the way around the exterior of your cover about 3 inches high so it creates a soil seal, then spread your leaves over the area. That should do it.

 

[BHPSteel]

Back in the before times when I lived up where the Damnyankees are, we had well water. We had to lift it over 300 ft, and needed a hefty 240V pump. Just wiring that sucka was a challenge (and expensive). But the one thing we never had trouble with was the pump pipes freezing.

How? We routed the supply in below the frost line. You don't need to go deeper than that. Here in Georgia, try and get anything you don't want frozen at about 2ft below the surface and you'll be OK. One really bad winter, we considered putting an electrical "tap" in at the wellhead and have a 60W incandescent lamp installed, but in the end, we didn't bother.

Now, once the pipes were inside that cold, drafty raised ranch - well - that was another matter.

 

[ne ga pappy]

Betting $$$ that is a 220v pump line

 

[Medic1957]

I use this laid in the middle. 60 or 75w bulb. Maybe 100 .View attachment 6748577
Then line that dome with insulation

I have used one like in the pic before too.

I use this also with a 60w bulb. Well is covered by a short 36" concrete culvert with concrete cap. I wrap insulation around the pipes and cover the culvert with a heavy tarp in the winter.

 

[rbstern]

Agree with everyone who said insulation is what you need.

You can wrap the pipe with foam pipe insulation, and then one roll of fiberglass batting should be plenty. Fit as much as you comfortably can and cover with the fake rock. Tight seal to ground is important. You can pile up some dirt around the edges of the rock to seal it better.

 

[TrueGrit]

Hay keeps things from freezing.

 

[Blue bio balls]

Or your local weed store and pick up some grow lights

It's all led now.....no heat.