Keeping well line from freezing

Hi. We live in a home built hemp house, earthen floors have a small dug well they produces for us all year.  Last two winters we hauled buckets from the well.  It only froze a in deep cold -40 but we could still break ice with an axe and get water.   This winter we have a line in and 12 v pump.  My husband has wrapped the pipe and we need to cover it.  Not sure what material to use to cover the pipe and base of well.  Debating sand or pea gravel?   Anyone know what keeps freezing temps out better.  We get lots of snow cover ever year about 5-6 feet.  But have a few weeks of -40 as well.   Our natural soil here is very silty and binds tight the layer above is root mass loam.   We are on bedrock.   Any thoughts on best cover material.  We thought we could put straw bales on top of whatever we choose.

Traditionally, water pipes get buried below frost-level to keep them from freezing between the well and house. Frost level varies by location. Might suck to dig a 4 foot deep trench through bedrock, but it provides a permanent and reliable solution.

My feeling is that sand and/pea gravel will allow water to more easily pass through and conduct the cold and freeze the pipe.  It is m My  understanding that foam insulation is doable.  1” of foam board is supposed to be equal to 1 foot of soil.  It might be worth scrounging some to better protect your water lines.  I have used it in my outside lines to my livestock.  It cut it I ft wide and overlapped it at the seams.


How long is the trench for the water line?  How deep is it?  I lived in northern MN for a little over 4 years.   40 below was common.   Our record was 53 below F.

Thank you yes we have wrapped the line and made a foam box of r10 around it.  But it is just on bedrock. So feel like even if we piled foam all around it would still need something more??

The devil is always in the details.   Dirt is supposed to have an R value of 0.25 per inch. If we go by those figures, your R10 should work. In MN I placed my lines below 42 inches. But much depends on the composition of the soil.  More insulation is better than less…..deeper is better than shallower.

I just took the time to search a few sites, the correct R value for soil appears to be 0.25 per inch …not per foot.  It appears the site I originally checked had a typo.

How long is the line?

Is the line always filled with water, or does it drain after pumping? Is there a way to use compressed air to ensure the line is clear before the extreme cold hits? And then haul water by hand?

Personally, for such a shallow installation, I would put heat tape along the entire length, inside the pipe wrap. That is the only way I can think of to ensure reliability at those temperatures. It doesn't have to be operating most of the time, but it gives you a way to thaw and protect the line when needed.

The heat tape is an excellent idea even if you don’t have electricity.  If your line freezes, you can go without water for weeks without the tape, or hook up the tape to a generator to unthaw the line.   A vehicle idling with an inverter might do the trick.