Freezing temps overnight no water this morning

[indiana45]

Hi guys, so my fiance & I moved into my great grandparents house recently & we knew nothing about plumbing or wells. During our time here we had to replace all coppers lines under the house which are now pex although we did not get a chance to wrap them in heat wire prior to the cold temps we are experiencing here Indiana.

My great grandpa apparently got very irritated with having to work on the water heater as it was inside a closet so he took outside right next to the house & built a small outhouse looking building around it. Which I can feel the cold from outside coming through there but it has worked like a champ thus far.

We also have a pump house which is falling apart but we not in the best place financially due to the economy & just trying to get it to last through this winter until spring when we can tear the pump house down & either bring the pressure tank & what not inside or rebuild. The pressure tank is new & so is the submersible well pump. Last night it got down to 10 degrees & being extremely tired forgot to leave water dripping throughout the house.

I have had a fan heater in the space where the lines lead outside to the water heater & still no water. The breaker for the well pump has not been tripped & the pressure switch was all the way down when I went to check it I flipped it back up & pressed the contacts together & I can hear the pump turn on.

Please help me in understanding what is going on. I assume it is just the very low temps & hoping that when temps get back into the 40s Friday it will start working but we have been through so much hell with water problems here I don’t want to chance anything. Thanks in advance.

 

[indiana45]

Also I wrapped the lines running running from the well to the pressure tank & what not with heat tape had enough in feet to double wrap & figured with how bad the pump house is falling apart it definitely wouldn’t hurt. I also measure the depth of the main line to the top of the ground & it’s only about 6-8 feet I can’t remember my grandparents having any problems with the main lines but now that the pump house is falling apart & eveything is much more exposed to the temperatures I can see why the main line might freeze, idk tho.

I’ve read that my area of Indiana’s freeze line is 30 inches so wouldn’t that mean the main line to the house should in reality be atleast 3 feet deep so that it’s past the freeze line?

 

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[Valveman]

Sorry for your problem. Yeah in your area anything above 3' is going to freeze. The little nipple to the pressure switch is usually the first thing to freeze and it can still freeze when trickling water if it stays off too long during its on/off cycle. Insulating the pipe helps, but once it freezes the insulation keeps it from thawing out as well. You could put the pressure tank in the house and bury all lines 3' deep. Then using a pitless adapter at the well will also keep the well head connections 3' below ground.

Oh and BTW. Turn off the breaker until it thaws out as running against a frozen pipe will quickly burn up the pump.

 

[indiana45]

Sorry for your problem. Yeah in your area anything above 3' is going to freeze. The little nipple to the pressure switch is usually the first thing to freeze and it can still freeze when trickling water if it stays off too long during its on/off cycle. Insulating the pipe helps, but once it freezes the insulation keeps it from thawing out as well. You could put the pressure tank in the house and bury all lines 3' deep. Then using a pitless adapter at the well will also keep the well head connections 3' below ground.

Oh and BTW. Turn off the breaker until it thaws out as running against a frozen pipe will quickly burn up the pump.

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Thanks for the info. I definitely thought after I read about frost lines that it is main line that is frozen. How warm does it need to get for the ground & those lines to thaw out? & is there anything I can do without calling someone out to help thaw things out besides what I’ve already done. The kitchen sink faucet has a small fan heater at & the space where the water heater is has one as well. I wrapped the lines from the well pump to the bladder tank with heat tape last night

 

[Fitter30]

Need to put some heat in that well house. Can be a heat lamp. Water heater won't freeze unless power goes out but the piping will. Need aheater on top of the water heater or wrap the lines with heat trace/ tape and insulation.