well house requirements

[Hogleg]

I am moving to my acreage this November!! 12 acres of meadow and trees. I am excited and I need to make winter preparations. There is a 74 lamplighter mobile home with a wood stove, that we will live in while we save for a house.
There is a well with a plywood shack shoddily built around it. The presure tank is in a seperate location and is unprotected in open air.
The property is in Elk Washington, north of Spokane. The temp could get 10 below or colder on occasion.
My question is what do I need at minimum to protect this water system from freezing. Aside from an insulated structure, do I need a heat source?
I am not experienced in wells or pressure tanks, and any advise and lessons learned is appreciated.

[GREEN_ALIEN]

Hog,

Both the well head and pressure tank will need to be in an insulated shack of some sort. I would first get them in the same location. The pressure tank is easy to drain and move.

I used to have a little building with 2X6 framing and R19 insulation and was able to keep it from freezing inside with nothing more then a low hung 100 watt light bulb. It was good to 20 below. (Nearly tropical huh?)

The secret is the door. Use a good quality entry type door on it and make it fit tight. Don't case it out without spray foaming the gaps.

Ted
Crabapple Ranch
In the blowing cold are of WA

[Hogleg]

Thanks for the advise G A. I assume the light bulb is hung low so the heat can fill the room instead of collecting immediatly at the highest point.

Was your shack floored or bare earth?

Thanks again,

[ChoochCharlie]

I like Alien's ideas.
The door is an often missed detail.

[rassd71]

I totally agree with GA, an insulated shack is the first step, but also all water lines as they come up and go into the ground or any other structure, they also need to be insulated and wrapped.

[GREEN_ALIEN]

Hog,

Sorry for the delay, had to work cows... tis the season ya know.

The old water building had a concrete floor, a simple slab on grade. I used 2 inch rigid foam below it and wrapped the exposed edge in small strips of rigid foam prior to backfill. This insured a conductive break between the freezing earth and the slab.

Save yourself the trouble and frame a trap door in the roof centered on your well head.... that is experience talking. Make it about 2 feet square and hinge it so it can be opened.

Ted

[CarolAnn]

Hogleg -
Depending on how much time you have, you might get by with a straw bale structure around the well house - just stack'em like bricks. For sure, you'll need something around your pressure tank too - and don't forget the places where the pipes are close to the surface going into and out of the tank & well.

We got by our first year with bales of hay and piles of leaves - but it wasn't in as cold a climate - and it wasn't any longer than we had to!

Later, we used a heat lamp light bulb, but found that in our mild Arkansas winters we could get by with a 100-watt bulb in the insulated well house.

The worst thing about it was CRICKETS! They liked the moist, warm air - it was their winter vacation place! When I had to get in to change the bulb, I was jumping around more than they were! :P

[sheen_estevez]

There is a well with a plywood shack shoddily built around it. The presure tank is in a seperate location and is unprotected in open air.
The property is in Elk Washington, north of Spokane. The temp could get 10 below or colder on occasion.
My question is what do I need at minimum to protect this water system from freezing. Aside from an insulated structure, do I need a heat source?
I am not experienced in wells or pressure tanks, and any advise and lessons learned is appreciated.


The well shouldn't be an issue, my well is located outside, it is only a pipe that sticks out of the ground, my pressure tank is in the house just in from the well, being heated I have no issues, yes the tank and lines from the tank should be insulated at the very least. the piping would be an issue if not heated, it doesn't take long for thing to freeze up once it drops below 32.

[desdawg]

I recently learned about a type of piping called PEX tubing. It comes in rolls and is a polyethelene pipe. When it does freeze it expands rather than bursting and when it thaws it contracts back to it's original size. I haven't had a chance to install any of it yet and it is not a fix to prevent freezing but should you have a freeze up it will save a lot of grief when it comes time to make repairs. I have a couple of mobile homes in the mountains and have had to replace some burst pipes. I will be replacing any new breaks with PEX. And of course taking some additional preventative measures. Needless to say I don't live on these properties full time.

[rassd71]

Be careful of PEX, most rodents LOVE the stuff! There have been several cases where the rats have chewed through it locally.

[tufhelp]

Yep, I’ll second that about the rodents. Our LRD (Luxury Re-locatable Dwelling) has some kind of grey tubing used as a cheap substitute for actual plumbing and the rodents chew through it all the time. I don’t know if it is PEX, but it is crap by any other name to us. To gain access to the trailer they chew it off where it goes through the flooring and there ya go…

[desdawg]

Wow, I hadn't heard about that. I rendered a packrat homeless the other day when I moved my firewood pile.