Our home (in Northern Michigan) was built in 2002. We had no trouble with the well until last January when it stopped working. The well driller pulled the well (265 ft) and determined that the impeller stack at the bottom had failed. They replaced the 'stack' and everything worked fine for about a week and then stopped again.

They pulled the well again and determined it was frozen at the T that leads to the house. They thought possibly when they pulled the well the first time that all the water draining onto the ground around the well had driven the frost line deeper than normal. We left a stream of water running for several weeks and then turned it off during a warm spell. Temps got cold again and it froze up again. The T that leads to the house is 5 ft below ground!

Yesterday, the temps got down to 5 degrees with a wind chill of about -30. When we got home from work, there was no water. We were only gone 9-10 hours. The well driller returned today and it was frozen solid in the same place. He is completely mystified as to what could be causing this.

The only remedy he can think of is to dig it up in the spring and drop the supply line to the house down another 2 or 3 feet. In the meantime, we'll probably have to leave the water running all winter to keep it from freezing again. The strangest thing is that we never had a problem before they pulled the well the first time for the impeller problem.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this to freeze so far below ground and what we can do to remedy the problem?

I hope they didn't pull the well just to find it was a frozenTee. 5 feet is very deep compared to here which is 3' min. I would get some bails of straw break it up and spread it over that area at least a foot thick where the pipe/ line is and do that from the well to the house. What's the plummer say of the normal depth should be? Now the choice is pull the well and check for everything to be OK. If its OK then put the hay at least a foot or more thick and 6 feet wide or so. And cover that with a cheap landscape cloth and weight it down on the sides and wait until spring. In the mean time if you get water now keep it trickeling until all is checked and straw is down. You say never a problem until it was pulled. Well is his winter colder now than it was since 2002? I seen our street water lines freez at 5' already. This only happeed twice in the 28years since I've been in the trades. And the questions remains. If it is colder now what about 10 years from now? The sasturated grown could be a small effect and if it is. What about a wet fall and then a cold snap for a week?

Things get old put you a heat lamp in your well house. A blow dryer for your hair turned to hot and aimed at frozen ground is a fast thaw.

Kl

things get old put you a heat lamp in your well house. A blow dryer for your hair turned to hot and aimed at frozen ground is a fast thaw.

kl


We don't have a well house. It's just a PVC pipe that comes out of the ground?
And where it is frozen is 5 ft below ground. Not sure I have that much patience!

I hope they didn't pull the well just to find it was a frozenTee. 5 feet is very deep compared to here which is 3' min. I would get some bails of straw break it up and spread it over that area at least a foot thick where the pipe/ line is and do that from the well to the house. whats the plummer say of the normal depth should be? Now the choice is pull the well and check for everything to be ok. If its ok then put the hay at least a foot or more thick and 6 feet wide or so. and cover that with a cheap landscape cloth and weight it down on the sides and wait until spring. In the mean time if you get water now keep it trickeling until all is checked and straw is down. You say never a problem until it was pulled. Well is his winter colder now than it was since 2002? I seen our street water lines freez at 5' already. This only happeed twice in the 28years since I've been in the trades. and the questions remains. If it is colder now what about 10 years from now? The sasturated grown could be a small effect and if it is. What about a wet fall and then a cold snap for a week?

It was 5 degrees yesterday and we have a foot of snow on the ground to insulate. 20 below is not uncommon here, so it's not really that cold. The ground itself doesn't appear to be frozen yet, that's why we can't figure out why the well is freezing.

Because it was cold then at the (T) It had to be to freez the first time unless you were told a fob. The finish grade might have thawed but underneath the dirt is stll frozen ir close to it if the (T) was actually frozen. The snow will help that. Good luck and have a nice Holiday.