# Do you shovel out your well cap?



## wdcutrsdaughter (Dec 9, 2012)

The cap that comes out of the ground on a drilled well..... do you keep it clear in the winter?


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## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

No. We, however, could easily snow blow a path to if we need to.


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

My well cap protrudes about ten inches above ground. It sits on a small (3x5') concrete pad with a manufactured, insulated box over it. The box is hinged, and inside is the well, pressure tank, an electric outlet for a heater and a faucet that permits hooking a hose directly at the well. I can lift one end of the box, up-end it on the hinges, have free access to all inside.

In Ok the well was 300 feet from the house, bare to the elements, buried wire ran to a small well house where tank and pressure switches were. That house had a heater too. At one time the pressure tank and controls had been in the residence, but when I bought the place I moved them.


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## flewism (Apr 2, 2007)

I keep mine covered, currently by an 6' ornamental lighthouse. I did have to access it one winter, then I had a wishing well over it that I made. The wishing well took most of the abuse that day and needed refurbishing that following spring.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Someone post a picture, please. I don't know what this is. Perhaps that's a regional name??


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

wdcutrsdaughter said:


> The cap that comes out of the ground on a drilled well..... do you keep it clear in the winter?


No. Unless the well needed work, why would you uncover it?


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

Nope, we never have.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Someone post a picture, please. I don't know what this is. Perhaps that's a regional name??


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)




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## wdcutrsdaughter (Dec 9, 2012)

muleskinner2 said:


> No. Unless the well needed work, why would you uncover it?


Well, that is why I shovel it (snow) in case it needs to be worked on in the winter. I was just wondering if I was nuts or if other people kept theirs clear in winter too. We usually get so much snow it would be completely buried and often that snow is frozen and difficult to move....

Thank you Lisa for the photo.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

wdcutrsdaughter said:


> Well, that is why I shovel it (snow) in case it needs to be worked on in the winter. I was just wondering if I was nuts or if other people kept theirs clear in winter too. We usually get so much snow it would be completely buried and often that snow is frozen and difficult to move....
> 
> Thank you Lisa for the photo.


Smart idea. We kept ours marked but never kept it shoveled. We did have to dig down under feet of snow to find the septic tank lid once when that unexpectedly needed to be pumped in the winter. After that we kept that marked.


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## wdcutrsdaughter (Dec 9, 2012)

When we bought the place there was literally 4 feet of snow on the ground and the inspector couldn't find the septic lid. Especially since no one had been living in the house for a couple months and it wasn't being used, there was no tell tale melted area. He agreed to come back 45 days later and try again and had luck that time. You know how it can take months to close anyway, so we had the time. 

Thank you for saying it is a smart idea, Lisa. Feels good to know I'm not crazy and overkilling my shoveling tasks.


Lisa in WA said:


> Smart idea. We kept ours marked but never kept it shoveled. We did have to dig down under feet of snow to find the septic tank lid once when that unexpectedly needed to be pumped in the winter. After that we kept that marked.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

wdcutrsdaughter said:


> When we bought the place there was literally 4 feet of snow on the ground and the inspector couldn't find the septic lid. Especially since no one had been living in the house for a couple months and it wasn't being used, there was no tell tale melted area. He agreed to come back 45 days later and try again and had luck that time. You know how it can take months to close anyway, so we had the time.
> 
> Thank you for saying it is a smart idea, Lisa. Feels good to know I'm not crazy and overkilling my shoveling tasks.


Oh gosh, no. Not crazy at all.
In my superstitious mind, you’re probably avoiding any well problems. You know how it goes. If you didn’t dig it out, you’d have a well problem midwinter, but if you dig it out in case of a problem, you’ll never have one.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Insulated well house. The top lifts off if the well needs work.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> View attachment 81606
> 
> 
> Insulated well house. The top lifts off if the well needs work.


is that a shallow well? 
Our pump is down inside the well 100 feet. Doesn’t need an insulated well house. And it goes down to -30.


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## wdcutrsdaughter (Dec 9, 2012)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> View attachment 81606
> 
> 
> Insulated well house. The top lifts off if the well needs work.


Very nice. Reminds me how much I'd like an insulated outhouse. That's another story.
Ours is below ground too, like Lisa said.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Lisa in WA said:


> Our pump is down inside the well 100 feet.


My well is 115 feet, but the pump is above ground, as is the pressure tank.
It's all in a "pump house".
We don't have to worry so much about extreme cold though.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

wdcutrsdaughter said:


> Well, that is why I shovel it (snow) in case it needs to be worked on in the winter. I was just wondering if I was nuts or if other people kept theirs clear in winter too. We usually get so much snow it would be completely buried and often that snow is frozen and difficult to move....
> 
> Thank you Lisa for the photo.


If your pump quits in the middle of the winter, moving a little snow will be the least of your worries. One of my neighbors does well service work. If he has to pull a well in the winter, or any time the temp is below freezing, he charges $5000.00 just to show up. All of the wells around here are three to six hundred feet deep.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

muleskinner2 said:


> If your pump quits in the middle of the winter, moving a little snow will be the least of your worries.


DH just reminded me that ours did quit in the middle of winter once. He just pulled it up, brought it inside, fixed the brushes and put it back. No big deal.

we always kept a spare pump on hand too, because of how far out we were.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

Lisa in WA said:


> DH just reminded me that ours did quit in the middle of winter once. He just pulled it up, brought it inside, fixed the brushes and put it back. No big deal.
> 
> we always kept a spare pump on hand too, because of how far out we were.


How deep is your well? It isn't normally something a homeowner can do.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

muleskinner2 said:


> How deep is your well? It isn't normally something a homeowner can do.


102 feet with a lightweight pump and pvc pipe instead of steel.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

Lisa in WA said:


> 102 feet with a lightweight pump and pvc pipe instead of steel.


Ok, certainly doable. I have a thirty foot tall arch built over mine, so I can pull it with the winch on a truck if I need to.


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## farmrbrown (Jun 25, 2012)

muleskinner2 said:


> If your pump quits in the middle of the winter, moving a little snow will be the least of your worries. One of my neighbors does well service work. If he has to pull a well in the winter, or any time the temp is below freezing, he charges $5000.00 just to show up. All of the wells around here are three to six hundred feet deep.


I guess I got lucky. The first time ours quit working it was around New Year's with a foot or more of snow on the ground.
It cost me $1000 to learn how to pull and fix one, but it's been worth the lesson.



muleskinner2 said:


> How deep is your well? It isn't normally something a homeowner can do.


There's several threads on here about people doing it. The deeper it is, the harder the job but if you have some equipment and a little help, it's doable. Ours is 315 ft. deep. I could probably do one deeper, over 500 ft. would be a challenge but worth a shot considering they charge by the foot.





To answer the OP's question, No.
Most wells I've seen have some kind of cover on them, either concrete tube and cap, "fake rocks" or small wooden well house.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

If you have a way to pull the pipe up twenty feet, it really isn't all that hard. The only special equipment I have are the two hangers that you put around the pipe to lift it. I pulled one once by lashing onto the pipe with rope to lift and then set the pipe. I would not want to do that again.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Top of our well is a little over 2 feet above ground, it was set that high for future installation of a hand pump. I doubt we'll see that much snow again in my lifetime.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

muleskinner2 said:


> Ok, certainly doable. I have a thirty foot tall arch built over mine, so I can pull it with the winch on a truck if I need to.


We were far enough out that we made everything as fixable as possible by DH. Though he didn’t pump septic tanks. bless our septic guys hearts...they made it out in the worst conditions.


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

We don't shovel out our well casing. It is nicely identified by this birch teepee.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

My well is over 400 ft deep, with a down hole pump. It also has the (visible) secondary pump in case the well fails. I have a large reserve tank. 

My house in Missouri and the rentals there all have well houses.


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

Our other well is easily located in the snow....


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## Grafton County Couple (Sep 20, 2018)

Yes


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## [email protected] (Sep 16, 2009)

our well is about 50 feet, submersible pump. pressure tank is in the basement. the casing sticks above the ground about 40 inches. about 12 feet from the house.
we don't put the pump all the way to the bottom. It could plug up with fine sand.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

You cn just barely see in the lower left corner of the picture our well head. A round hole cut into a whisky barrel half that just fit over the pipe filled with dirt and snow in the summer planted and the plastic jug I put there to keep fetelizer off the cap I had scattered the day before and saw dust from the shop work.

In the winter it had always had snow piled on it from the garage approch which Kare always did when we were working. Now it gets the snow I rake off the roof.


 Al


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## gilberte (Sep 25, 2004)

We haven't touched ours in 32 years. Last year we got estimates because we knew it could happen any day. Gonna be about $1,000.00. We were told it didn't make any difference in the cost if it went in winter or summer. No, we've never shoveled the head out.


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## woodsy (Oct 13, 2008)

Nope, never in 30 years. I do keep it flagged with a post so I could find it easy if needed or so that I don't accidentally run over it with snowmobile or other vehicles.


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## aart (Oct 20, 2012)

Nope, easy to find tho. Pump and tank are inside house...for ~50 years now.
I do keep the septic tank access marked and clean out clear of snow.


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## wdcutrsdaughter (Dec 9, 2012)

ick I hate thinking about having a problem with it but I did ask the question. 
my dad is someone who would pull it out himself and fix it. 
I really admire the guy, but that's not my skill set for sure.

This thread is also teaching me I should know the details of well. DH might. I am sure it is written down in the paperwork somewhere. 

I hope I'm young enough to say I'm still learning.....


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

wdcutrsdaughter said:


> ick I hate thinking about having a problem with it but I did ask the question.
> my dad is someone who would pull it out himself and fix it.
> I really admire the guy, but that's not my skill set for sure.
> 
> ...


You may be able to find information for your well at this State website.
https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mgs/pubs/digital/well.htm


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## Chris in Mich (May 13, 2002)

Nearly all water wells installed in colder climates since the 1960s will have a *Pitless Adapter*. This allows for well water to exit the casing below the frost-line and subsequently into your home -- everything "downstream" from the well casing to the house should be protected from freezing temperatures. If your well stick-up is located in an out-of-way location you should not need any additional insulation, however, if it there is any potential that it might be accidentally struck by service and/or recreational vehicles, care should be taken to properly flag the immediate area to avoid damage.


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