Have been trying thaw water for 3 weeks any ideas???

Question

We live in northern vermont and have never had any problem but frost can this year before insulation [snow] our well is across the road on the side of a hill it's gravity fed about 6 hundred feet away.We'v fed almost 100 feet of tubing in line thru the house and pump almost boiling water up the line and blow all water out with aair hose when done for the day so tahat it can't refreeze unfortionatly no water yet. Any idears other than wait till spring? The pipe from well to house is black plastic. Any thing we can pump in and let sit to help melt?
Thanks,Carol

Answer 1

Pumping water won't work, you need to create a container to hold the water at the downstream side, so that you can heat the water in the container either electrically or by a torch, until the heat eventually thaws the plug of ice.

I have also been successful feeding a thing copper wire through the standing water and heating the end outside the pipe with a propane torch, but be careful you have a plastic pipe.

Answer 2

Have you tried letting the water run out your end so it keeps running in the black pipe? It may drain your well but it might not freeze up again.

Maybe If you feed some salt into the pipe at the well you'll be able to thaw out the plug. The salt lowers the freezing temperature of the water. I believe your problem is that when a water pipe goes under the road, and the road is plowed, the insulation of the snow is gone

Answer 3

Our well pit is outside as well - but not quite as far away as yours, but I agree with Twizard11, use heat tape, but you will need a place plug it into. We also have a spot lamp on and aimed at the lines in the well pit. Heating the plastic lines with the heat tape and the spot lamp, has never damaged the lines, it just kept the plastic warm enough so the water wouldn't freeze. One word of caution if you choose to use the spot light, make sure it is not placed on top of the plastic lines, but a reasonable distance to provide a little added warmth.
Good luck, I know how frustrating it can be from years of dealing with it, till we discovered the heat tape and spot light ideas.

Answer 4

My daughter has a similar setup. The best way to keep outdoor pipes from freezing is to wrap them in heat tape, although 600 feet of heat tape may be rather expensive. You can buy it at most any hardware stores and never have to worry about frozen pipes again.

Answer 5

You might try salty water (brine) or RV antifreeze, both non-toxic.
Now that the snow is on the ground, the heat of the earth will start moving up...so you probably won't have to wait till spring....but what a pain, huh?