No Water Since Freeze Started

artfreak

Looking for some advice on what to do. We have a private well, some distance from house, its on a farm.
Is it safe to leave the water pump running when the pipes are frozen or is it safer to switch off, and is it safe to light a fire with a backboiler to circulate hot water through the pipes.
We have the lights on in the attic and the pump house.
We have had freezes before but never this bad.

Joey the lips

artfreak wrote: »

Looking for some advice on what to do. We have a private well, some distance from house, its on a farm.
Is it safe to leave the water pump running when the pipes are frozen or is it safer to switch off, and is it safe to light a fire with a backboiler to circulate hot water through the pipes.
We have the lights on in the attic and the pump house.
We have had freezes before but never this bad.

The water pumps usually work on a flow switch so with no flow it should not work.

As to lighting a fire it depends on the type of heating system. If its closed. ie uses a seperate tank or is pressurised then it should be fine. It would do no harm leaving the pump circulating imo even when the heating is off. This fire should be fine if you close the damper however if your heating system is closed it should be ok to open the damper.

What else can you do...Freeze?

10-10-20

Which pump are we talking about here? The circulation pump for the heating system or from the well?
If it's the well, I'd turn it off if it's on and the water is frozen. It will cavitate and damage the seals if it runs hot.
If it's for the central heating, keep an eye on the buffer tank - if this drops, you may have to consider topping it up, perhaps with snow/clean melt-water.

artfreak

10-10-20 wrote: »

Which pump are we talking about here? The circulation pump for the heating system or from the well?
If it's the well, I'd turn it off if it's on and the water is frozen. It will cavitate and damage the seals if it runs hot.
If it's for the central heating, keep an eye on the buffer tank - if this drops, you may have to consider topping it up, perhaps with snow/clean melt-water.

Joey the lips wrote: »

The water pumps usually work on a flow switch so with no flow it should not work.

As to lighting a fire it depends on the type of heating system. If its closed. ie uses a seperate tank or is pressurised then it should be fine. It would do no harm leaving the pump circulating imo even when the heating is off. This fire should be fine if you close the damper however if your heating system is closed it should be ok to open the damper.

What else can you do...Freeze?

Just turned off Well Pump. The heating system is solid fuel, not sure whether it is safe to light a fire or not, looks like another deep freeze week. Thanks for replying.

items

Plumbing and heating systems are separate, provided you have no existing heating problems, problems that require heating system relying on constant supply of water, their is no problem running heating while main supply is down. This goes for solid, oil, gas, any fuel fired heating.

In your attic should be a separate heating tank (header tank) it's well smaller than storage water tank, once full with water, heating is safe to use.

Fresh water well has lots of exposed pipework, pump house etc. If you can find a way to heat area, might free up frozen pipe work and prevent further freezing.

Pump comes on by pressure switch, it will keep trying to pressurize line when pressure drops, have a look at gauge close by to pump, if no pressure on gauge, your line is frozen before pump, if pressure on gauge, your line is frozen after pump. Just a tip to find where line is frozen.

sold

electric blanket in the pump shed did the trick for me.

steamengine

artfreak wrote: »

Looking for some advice on what to do. We have a private well, some distance from house, its on a farm.
Is it safe to leave the water pump running when the pipes are frozen or is it safer to switch off, and is it safe to light a fire with a backboiler to circulate hot water through the pipes.
We have the lights on in the attic and the pump house.
We have had freezes before but never this bad.

Check as best you can that water has not frozen in the pump. If you haven't got a thermometer, then get some ice (should be plenty around) and place it in and around the pump. If it melts, then it looks like no damage will ensue as the surrounding temperature in the outhouse is above freezing. If the ice does not melt then further freezing could damage the pump, as ice expands.

Leave the pump off if its not doing its job of supplying water to the house. Try to keep the outhouse above freezing, bulbs, fan heater etc.

Back boilers should be fitted with a pressure relief valve at source. ie on the boiler itself. If you suspect the back boiler is frozen, and it has not got a safety valve as mentioned, then lighting it could be extremely dangerous. The reason is that the vent pipe and other pipes will also be frozen and ice is an insulator. It doesn't conduct heat like water does.

If it has a safety valve still proceed with caution until you are sure that all the pipework especially the vent pipe is free of ice. Just a few sticks, firelighters etc for starters. Stick close by, and listen for any "singing or rumbling". Be ready to competely douse the fire with water if you hear the above. If it has no safety valve then do not attempt to light a fire at all, and get one fitted.

items

sold wrote: »

electric blanket in the pump shed did the trick for me.

First time hearing about use of elec blanket. good idea just hope shed is well sealed.

artfreak

Unfortunately we don't have a socket in pump house, we have a light on full time there now and have sealed all the gaps, just have to wait it out.

Anyone have any idea how long this cold spell is going to last?

The Waxbill

I've had the same problem myself the last day or two, no water due to freezing. We have our own well and today i went out to the pump house. i disconnected the pipe coming out of the pump and there was a solid plug of ice in the pump outlet. So i put back on the pipe, got myself a kettle of boiling water, poured it over the frozen area and bob's your uncle water again at the tap in the house. To be honest i just got lucky as it could have been frozen anywhere along the 30metre or so stretch from the pump house to the house as I know the pipes aren't buried deep enough (job for the summer i think). I just have to make sure to leave a tap running slightly now for the next few days. It would be worth a try for anyone in a similar situation i think.

items

artfreak wrote: »

Unfortunately we don't have a socket in pump house, we have a light on full time there now and have sealed all the gaps, just have to wait it out.

Anyone have any idea how long this cold spell is going to last?

Listen to news today, more frost all of next week, getting even worse later in week. Co Council contact mentioned big load of road grit coming in over next fortnight, it might be too late, never used or the powers that be have been advised more frost for next few weeks, stocking up in preparation.