"Jack" wrote in
ups.com:

On Feb 4, 5:33 am, FragileWarrior
wrote:
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)

You apparently have a submersible pump with a ground level antifreeze
spigot, Which drains when you put the handle down, which you forgotand
therefor it froze. You need to just thraw the pipes out in however
manner you can. An electric heater wire made for just such , might do
the trick. But just thaw it out and then remember to drain that spigot
each time you use it, DO YOU HEAR????
Jack




If I *EVER* forget to put that handle down again someone should just take
me out and shoot me because my brain has obviously seen better days and
has turned completely to mush.

Here's the latest: I schlepped into town (30 miles round trip) and got
two heat lamps. I set up the tent, plugged them in and one didn't work.
(I must have broken a mirror recently or something...) I could tell
pretty quick that this set-up wasn't going to do much -- especially with
one lamp -- so when I schlepped back to town, I bought heat tape. I put
that on -- six foot of it, spiral around the pipe but not touching itself
-- and covered it with two huge pieces of R30 insulation. I taped it the
best I could (the tape is freezing and not sticking) and then I jammed a
plastic garbage can down over the whole set up. I figure I will leave it
until tomorrow without undoing it.

Thanks to everyone who is replying and trying to suggest ways to help.
Strength-wise, I don't have what it takes to remove spigots/piping or
other heavy-duty stuff. Until this thaws out, I'll be running out with
buckets of water every hour.

Thanks everyone.