What do you do to keep your pressure tank/well head from freezing?

[dmccarty]

I was up late on Saturday night. Sleeping in a bit late on Sunday when I hear the wife say to the kids, "Maybe something fell and that is why we do not have water." Hearing "...we do not have water." got me quickly out of bed.

Turned out the water supply had frozen up. We had had 2-3 days where the high temps did not get much about 34. Lows Sunday morning were 17 at best. The thermometer I keep in the well house was just at 32 degrees.

The well house is a small, ugly insulated wood box that I built as a temporary solution 6-7 years ago. The box aka well house sits on the concrete slab around the well head. Our pressure tank sits in the well house.

To keep the plumping from freezing I run TWO CFL's in those hand held work lights. I run two lights since if one burns out the other would still be working and the water supply would not freeze. At least that was the theory.

One of the CFL's burnt out and the water froze. So my theory was not so good.

We have an electric space heater which I used to warm up the well house and melt the ice. :thumbsup: The heater has some sort of thermostat but I do not have the manual anymore since we bought this thing 15 years ago. I did find a thermostat that plugs into a power outlet. The thermostat turns on whenever the temperature goes to 34/35 degrees. I thought of using this with the space heater.....

In the end I just went out and bought two more work lights and an extension cord to run the lights. Now it will take the loss of three light bulbs to get freeze our water supply. :laughing: Each of the bulbs are only 11 or 13 watts so there is not a lot of power use or heat. The lights are placed around the plumbing leading from the well, to the tank and out to the house.

What do other people do to keep their well supplied water from freezing?

Later,
Dan

 

[jinman]

I use a space heater set to 1200 watts and adjusted to come on around 45 degrees. Since my well head is actually in a "doghouse" attached to the side of my wellhouse, it can be colder in there when the temperature inside the wellhouse is in the 40s. I've never had a well freeze-up. . . knock on wood.:thumbsup:

EDIT: I have always been able to find inexpensive heaters for around $20 that work perfectly for 2 or 3 years and then the thermostats malfunction. I just toss them and buy another. They aren't worth fixin'.

 

[MossRoad]

A CFL saves energy buy NOT GIVING OFF HEAT!

 

[zene55]

I purchase about 30' of electrical heat tracing for mine. It has a built in thermostat that comes on below 38 degrees. It plugs in to 110v and has done a great job. It was about 30$ and came in lots of different lengths.

 

[SpudHauler]

Wind is a big enemy of water pipes. If you can keep the wind out that is always a big plus. So seal up every little crack after the box is reinstalled. Electric heat tape works real well. Paint the box black so it benefits from any sunny days. Heat tape is probably more efficient than 2 or 3 bulbs and has it's own thermostat.

 

[arsenix2001]

Its a no brainer, seal and re insulate your building to stop wind penetration and use thermostatically controlled heat tape to wrap the pipes and you could probably even use it to wrap the tank. Those cfl's put out no heat, youd be better off with incadesant.

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Insulation for sure and nothing wrong with heat tape but a simple and affective solution is to leave several faucets open with a small stream of water. Protects tank and pipes. Should be adequate if pump cycles about every 10 min. Every time the pump cycles you bringing up 10-20 gal of water that is likely in the 50ｰ-60ｰ range. That a lot of heat that is very low in cost and affective in keeping the water from freezing.

 

[woodchuckie]

My pump and tank set in a 4x4x4 house made of left over roofing from my house. It is lined with the old foam bed from my pop up camper I use to have. The floor is dirt which I assume radiates that 50 degree + natural temp of the earth like in a cavern. Never has frozen in 25 years.

 

[CrownHawg]

I recently re-built my pump house. It was about an 8ft square plywood shed, with insulation just stapled up on the inside. Now it is a 16X10 slab building with insulation in the walls, siding on the outside and good sealed doors and windows. I have a 1500 watt heater that I plug into one of those yellow thermostats that simply plug into the wall, then you plug the heater into. It is rated for 20 amps (110v) and comes on at 38F and goes off at 50F.

 

[bdeboer]

I was up late on Saturday night. Sleeping in a bit late on Sunday when I hear the wife say to the kids, "Maybe something fell and that is why we do not have water." Hearing "...we do not have water." got me quickly out of bed.

Turned out the water supply had frozen up. We had had 2-3 days where the high temps did not get much about 34. Lows Sunday morning were 17 at best. The thermometer I keep in the well house was just at 32 degrees.

The well house is a small, ugly insulated wood box that I built as a temporary solution 6-7 years ago. The box aka well house sits on the concrete slab around the well head. Our pressure tank sits in the well house.

To keep the plumping from freezing I run TWO CFL's in those hand held work lights. I run two lights since if one burns out the other would still be working and the water supply would not freeze. At least that was the theory.

One of the CFL's burnt out and the water froze. So my theory was not so good.

We have an electric space heater which I used to warm up the well house and melt the ice. :thumbsup: The heater has some sort of thermostat but I do not have the manual anymore since we bought this thing 15 years ago. I did find a thermostat that plugs into a power outlet. The thermostat turns on whenever the temperature goes to 34/35 degrees. I thought of using this with the space heater.....

In the end I just went out and bought two more work lights and an extension cord to run the lights. Now it will take the loss of three light bulbs to get freeze our water supply. :laughing: Each of the bulbs are only 11 or 13 watts so there is not a lot of power use or heat. The lights are placed around the plumbing leading from the well, to the tank and out to the house.

What do other people do to keep their well supplied water from freezing?

Later,
Dan

I have a rental property with a cinderblock pump/pressure tank house. It is lined with two inch foam around the sides and around 3 inches in the roof. A single 75 watt incandesant (sp) rough service bulb keeps it from freezing. I stuck a thermometer in there and have seen temperatures from the 50's to 70's. The rough service bulbs seem to last longer.

I would check the temperature and probably go to a single incandesant bulb. Remember that you are already burning around 39 watts (3x13) with the 3 CFLs. Or try something like this with a thermostat:

Comfort Zone Multi-Purpose Utility Heater Fan - 2170699 | Tractor Supply Company

 

[dmccarty]

A CFL saves energy buy NOT GIVING OFF HEAT!

Well DUH!

But CFLS last ALOT longer than incandescent bubs. The two CFLs have worked for 6 years. We would have gone through dozens and dozens of incandescent bulbs during that time frame and we would have frozen the water supply multiple times. Instead of once.

The question is how many watts of heat do you need to keep from freezing. In my case I now know it is more than 11 or 13 watts. With four CFLs the chances of me loosing three at one time to get down to 11 or 13 watts is pretty slim to none.

DUH!

Later,
Dan

 

[Egon]

Pitless adapters set below the frost line seem to work well for many folks!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[dmccarty]

Our well house is well insulated with R15 or R19 walls and no air leakage. The CFLs have worked down to 8-9 degree nights without a problem. With both bulbs working. With both CFLs working, the lowest temperature in the well house was around 40 degrees and that is when I checked because the temp was going down to 8-9 degrees.

When I opened up the well house on Monday to add more lights the temp was between 50-60.

I thought about heat tape on the plug in thermostat. Glad to hear they work. I saw one thermostat for $11 and it seems like good idea.

My concern with using a thermostat was I would find that it failed when we froze up the water supply. :laughing: With the light bulbs I know when my "heater" no longer works.

And now I have more work lights if I need then for another chore.

I looked at sensors to warn of freezing temps in the well house but that was looking to be expensive and way too complicated. :laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[MossRoad]

Well DUH!

But CFLS last ALOT longer than incandescent bubs. The two CFLs have worked for 6 years. We would have gone through dozens and dozens of incandescent bulbs during that time frame and we would have frozen the water supply multiple times. Instead of once.

The question is how many watts of heat do you need to keep from freezing. In my case I now know it is more than 11 or 13 watts. With four CFLs the chances of me loosing three at one time to get down to 11 or 13 watts is pretty slim to none.

DUH!

Later,
Dan

My point is using a CFL bulb as a heater in a shed is point-less. You can grab them with your hands. They aren't warm enough to do beans.

My suggestion would be to get one of these portable greenhouse thermostats and then connect either a small heater or a couple incandescent bulbs to it. You can wire them for heating OR cooling. I use one in my basement where my wood stove is located. I have it connected to a fan in the vent between the basement and 1st floor. I have it set to cool the basement. So, if the basement gets over 78 degrees, the fan turns on and blows the warm air up to the first floor. Once the fire goes out and a few hours later, the room drops below 78, the fan stops and no cool air is blown upstairs. It has worked flawlessly for three years now. I think the temperature range is adjustable from 30 degrees to 110 degrees. So, you plug it in, plug in your two drop cords with 60 watt bulbs into it and set it for 40 degrees. Any time the temp in the room drops below 40, the bulbs come on. It warms up, the bulbs go out. Two bulbs for peace of mind.

Portable/PreWired Thermostat

By the way, up here in Indiana we put the pump in the bottom of the well, keep the water lines below the frost line and put the tank in the house. :thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

Here's a picture.

 

[dmccarty]

My point is using a CFL bulb as a heater in a shed is point-less. You can grab them with your hands. They aren't warm enough to do beans.

And my point is that your point is wrong. For you to say that my using CFLs is pointless is simply daft. This has worked for years with the same and much colder temperatures. CFLs DO generate heat just not as much as incandescent bulbs.

Later,
Dan

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Dan,

You could also wrap your pressure tank with insulation. Kinda like the insulation blankets they sell for hot water heaters. And wrap all exposed pipes. I don't have my pressure tank outside but I do have an insulated well house for the pipes above ground. I wrapped all pipes with insulation and have a 60 watt bulb in there but have not needed to use it the last two years. We had several days of 20-25* and several nights of 8-15* and no problem with water.

David

 

[cdaigle430]

And my point is that your point is wrong. For you to say that my using CFLs is pointless is simply daft. This has worked for years with the same and much colder temperatures. CFLs DO generate heat just not as much as incandescent bulbs.

Later,
Dan

Yeah, but, he's not the one without water.

 

[dave1949]

Yeah, but, he's not the one without water.

Cruel and unusual :laughing:
Dave.

 

[Car Doc]

And my point is that your point is wrong. For you to say that my using CFLs is pointless is simply daft. This has worked for years with the same and much colder temperatures. CFLs DO generate heat just not as much as incandescent bulbs.

Later,
Dan

Respectfully Dan I have to side with Moss Road about the incandescent bulbs putting out more heat than compact fluorescent.

I have an outside well house also and have had freezing problems for 24 years up until this year I built a nice insulated walk in house over it.

I wouldn't waste my money on them (cfl) as a heat source a 50w plain old bulb will put out about twice as much heat as a 100w rated cfl. ymmv as always