Frozen Spring House Pipes!

[wjmst]

I am out of ideas. On saturday morning our pipes froze in our spring house and when the pump kicks on it blows the pipe right off, so I fixed that. The temperature outside was -2 and the temp in the springhouse was 17. I put a kerosene heater in there saturday and thought there should be no trouble now. Well, this morning it froze again. This time it was not froze solid, so 45 mins with the wife's hair dryer did the trick. The temperature was about -8 this morning and 21 inside the spring house.

I have an electric heater blowing across the pressure switch (this kept freezing last year) and heat tape on the pipes (except for the one that froze, I purchase a heat tape for that today) and the kerosene heater is on 24hours now that our weather is frigid.

I am using a 1/2 HP sears jet pump (11 years old) with 5 gal pressure tank that pumps water out of my spring up to my house. It would be great if I could get a sump pump that sits in the water and is connected to a pressure switch and pressure tank. Has anyone ever tried this?

Wes

 

[mjarrels]

Who are you trying to fool... everybody knows spring water doesn't freeze.

mark

 

[BTDT]

Do you leave the faucets in the house dripping so the pump will cycle on and off? This keeps the water in the pipes moving, thereby not freezing. May be worth a try. Ruth-Berry pumps have the pump located inside the pressure tank, this usually keeps them from freezing up (unless electricity goes off).

 

[Doc_Bob]

Drain the pipes!
Bob

 

[Doc_Bob]

I put a house to "sleep" for the winter like they do with summer homes in Northern Wisconsin. RV antifreeze in the toilets and drain all the pipes. No heat at all for the entire winter, and everything did fine.
Bob

 

[BTDT]

I put a house to "sleep" for the winter like they do with summer homes in Northern Wisconsin. RV antifreeze in the toilets and drain all the pipes. No heat at all for the entire winter, and everything did fine.
Bob

Well, Doc, I was going to say something about you putting down your house (to sleep), thought I'd check to see what kind of Doc you were, but it wasn't in your profile. Then I got sidetracked by your acreage description. 9+7=16, but your numbers listed don't add up to that. New math?

 

[WayneB]

Wes, Not sure how large your springhouse is. I have the same problem here in New Hampshire and what I have done is add about 6 " of insulation to the walls and roof of the spring house. My springhouse (basically it is a very small box type cover that is in a A-shape frame) is rather small and sits directly over the well, so it is pretty easy to add the insulation.

I have two heat lamps running on a temperature control circuit that will shut-off the lamps when the temp is some where between 45 and 50 degrees. It will kick back on when the temp falls to 40 degrees. One heat lamp is pointed directed toward the pump itself and the other just into the area. I could get away with only one lamp, but some years ago that is what I had and the bulb burnt out and the line froze. So I figure the chances of two lamps burning out at the same time is pretty small. So far it has worked for us.

Wayne

 

[Tig]

Is your spring house air tight? A little breeze can make a big difference and freeze a pipe. I had a problem at my country place last night. I stopped the air leak and then thawed the pipe. My fingers are crossed for tonight. It is very windy here and 15 C on the thermometer.

 

[tommu56]

A Friend of mine had same problem he made a cover out of 2 layers
of 2" foam insulation (4"total) with the pipe tape on pipes and
around pump housing and a 100 watt light cover was made to
knock down to 5 panels that interlocked to provide seal were top
wet on.

I woulden't use a kerosene heater with the foam is too flammable

________________________
l cover
l_______________________
l . l cover
l s l__________________
l i. l . l
l d l . l
l e l . l
l s l . l

I had to add ......when i saved it forum would deleat extra spaces

ends were lapped same as side and top with cutouts for pipes


tommu

 

[WhyNot]

If you have access to some straw bales stack them on the outside of the shed on the side or sides that the wind is coming from. My parents kitchen is built on a craw and this is what they do to keep the pipes from freezing. For some reason it seems like it could be 10 below and the pipes would be fine but add some wind and they freeze up.

 

[Doc_Bob]

Well, Doc, I was going to say something about you putting down your house (to sleep), thought I'd check to see what kind of Doc you were, but it wasn't in your profile. Then I got sidetracked by your acreage description. 9+7=16, but your numbers listed don't add up to that. New math?

I could put down the house .

I have about 15.4 acres, close to 16
Bob

 

[wjmst]

Thanks for all the replies. I bought another heat tape last night and installed it on the pipe that froze the previous night. It seemed to work ok, no freeze ups. I got up this morning and the temperature inside the springhouse was 15 at ground level, colder than the previous two freeze ups.

We do leave the kitchen sink dripping on the cold nights, but that doesn't seem to help much.

The spring house is about 5 foot wide and 10 feet long. It is insulated with the pink fiberglass rolls, however, this summer I plan on insulating it a little better. There is a lot of air leaks inside, even though the springhouse is well protected from the wind.

I would really like to set the pump in my basement and not have to worry about this, but the basement is about 200 pipe feet away and from what everyone says a deep well jet pump won't draw that far.

My wife would just like a well drilled, but then I explain how much people pay for great tasting spring water, even when made into ice cubes!

wes