a few winters back we experienced a warm thaw that melted the snow removing any insulating properties, than days of sub zero temperatures. My house is built on ledge so the pipe from the well is not buried at the proper depth. as luck would have it, we lost our power for a few days also, resulting in a frozen well pipe buried in the ground. A large Salamander heater, 10 gallons of kerosene and a sheet of metal roofing to reflect the heat down to the ground along the top of the pipe finally worked to thaw the pipe allowing water to flow back to the house. Since that day when cold weather is approaching i purchase several bales of straw to place a 12 inch thick, 3 foot wide cover along the top of the ground above the pipe,from well to house, it solved the problem
a few winters back we experienced a warm thaw that melted the snow removing any insulating properties, than days of sub zero temperatures. My house is built on ledge so the pipe from the well is not buried at the proper depth. as luck would have it, we lost our power for a few days also, resulting in a frozen well pipe buried in the ground. A large Salamander heater, 10 gallons of kerosene and a sheet of metal roofing to reflect the heat down to the ground along the top of the pipe finally worked to thaw the pipe allowing water to flow back to the house. Since that day when cold weather is approaching i purchase several bales of straw to place a 12 inch thick, 3 foot wide cover along the top of the ground above the pipe,from well to house, it solved the problem