Frozen lines and winter well prep

North Bay winters are not gentle — −30°C nights are routine, and an unprotected well line, wellhead, or pump house will freeze. Most frozen-line calls are preventable with an afternoon of prep in the fall.

If a line is frozen right now

1. Stop pumping against ice — running the pump against a frozen line overheats the motor
2. Open a tap so thawing water has somewhere to go
3. Warm the pipe gently — heat gun, space heater, warm towels. Never an open flame or a torpedo heater pointed at plastic
4. If nothing thaws, call — a split line underground is a contractor job, and it gets worse the longer it waits

Fall prep that prevents the emergency

• Insulate and heat-tape the pitless adapter, well cap, and any exposed run
• Heat-tape and lag the line where it enters the building
• Check the pump-house heat source before the first hard frost
• Drain and blow out summer/cottage lines that stay empty through winter
• Fix a short-cycling pump in the fall — a pump that dies in January leaves the whole system vulnerable to freeze

Costs

Diagnostic $95–150 (often credited); switch/tank and line repairs $350–850; a pump killed by the freeze runs $500–1,200 for the motor alone. See pricing.

Trout Lake and lake-road cottages get hit hardest — unheated properties with shallow buried lines. Book a fall check-up and skip the January crisis.