Frozen well pump

Bear with me here, I might have some of the terminology wrong:

I water my horses from an outside well that's powered by an electric pump
down in the well. The "pump" that's frozen is the pump unit that's at
ground level, not the electric one down in the well. At least I HOPE it's
not the one down in the well...

Normally, when using the water, I hook up the hose to the ground level
"pump" (I don't know what else to call this part), lift the handle up and
then flip the switch to start the electric pump and pump the water.
After I'm done filling the troughs, I put the "pump" handle down and shut
off the electric.

Yesterday, there was an ice block in the hose so I shut off the electric,
detached the hose BUT I FORGOT TO PUT THE PUMP HANDLE DOWN. An hour
later, when I got back with the thawed hose, everything at the "pump" was
frozen solid. The handle is frozen in the up position and won't budge.
No water will come out when the electric pump is on.

I did try to thaw the ground level pump with a small propane torch for
almost an 45 minutes. I thought the only block must be in the top of the
ground level pump since no water would have been pushing upward from the
well without the electric running, right? But I had no luck. It did
cross my mind that parts that weren't receiving direct heat were
refreezing faster than I could keep them thawed. What do I need to do to
thaw this out? We're due to be in a deep freeze here for another week at
least. Do I need to call in professional help? Who do I call? A
plumber?

Thanks for any help and suggestions.

Giselle (obviously a city girl gone bad)

Posted by Edwin Pawlowski on February 4, 2007, 7:56 am

> I did try to thaw the ground level pump with a small propane torch for

> almost an 45 minutes. I thought the only block must be in the top of the

> ground level pump since no water would have been pushing upward from the

> well without the electric running, right? But I had no luck. It did

> cross my mind that parts that weren't receiving direct heat were

> refreezing faster than I could keep them thawed. What do I need to do to

> thaw this out? We're due to be in a deep freeze here for another week at

> least. Do I need to call in professional help? Who do I call? A

> plumber?

Since you left water in the outer pump, there would be water in the line
from the pump back. Can the pump be removed? If so, take it off and take
it inside to thaw and you can then work on the rest of the piping if need
be. It is also possible that the freezing cracked the pump housing and it
will not work or will leak.

Posted by FragileWarrior on February 4, 2007, 8:08 am

>> I did try to thaw the ground level pump with a small propane torch

>> for almost an 45 minutes. I thought the only block must be in the

>> top of the ground level pump since no water would have been pushing

>> upward from the well without the electric running, right? But I had

>> no luck. It did cross my mind that parts that weren't receiving

>> direct heat were refreezing faster than I could keep them thawed.

>> What do I need to do to thaw this out? We're due to be in a deep

>> freeze here for another week at least. Do I need to call in

>> professional help? Who do I call? A plumber?

> Since you left water in the outer pump, there would be water in the

> line from the pump back. Can the pump be removed? If so, take it off

> and take it inside to thaw and you can then work on the rest of the

> piping if need be. It is also possible that the freezing cracked the

> pump housing and it will not work or will leak.

Oh, good grief.

I have no idea if the pump can be removed.

Please tell me I didn't damage the electrical pump down in the well.
PLEASE.

What a nightmare. Especially since when I was removing the hose I made a
mental note to put the handle down and THEN FORGOT ALL ABOUT IT. *groan*

Posted by RBM on February 4, 2007, 8:15 am

I'm not getting the setup. It seems like if you had a deep well
(submersible) pump, you wouldn't need one at ground level. It may just be a
shallow well pump, In any event, if you allowed water up the pipe and into
the pump housing, if probably froze at the top of the pipe and in the
housing. If you can do it yourself, do as Ed suggested with the pump. The
pipe feeding the pump may be frozen near the surface as well and need the
torch. Also be careful not to drop that pipe down the well. Tie a rope to it
before you disconnect it. If you can't do it yourself, I'd call well people
first,before plumbers

> Bear with me here, I might have some of the terminology wrong:

> I water my horses from an outside well that's powered by an electric pump

> down in the well. The "pump" that's frozen is the pump unit that's at

> ground level, not the electric one down in the well. At least I HOPE it's

> not the one down in the well...

> Normally, when using the water, I hook up the hose to the ground level

> "pump" (I don't know what else to call this part), lift the handle up and

> then flip the switch to start the electric pump and pump the water.

> After I'm done filling the troughs, I put the "pump" handle down and shut

> off the electric.

> Yesterday, there was an ice block in the hose so I shut off the electric,

> detached the hose BUT I FORGOT TO PUT THE PUMP HANDLE DOWN. An hour

> later, when I got back with the thawed hose, everything at the "pump" was

> frozen solid. The handle is frozen in the up position and won't budge.

> No water will come out when the electric pump is on.