Next winter...what will you be doing differently?

Make my wood storage area close to the house bigger, by at least a cord.
Put the snowblower and chains on the tractor at Thanksgiving regardless, not waiting to do it in a foot of snow again

 

Dennis, my SIL's pump has frozen 3 times this winter. The pit cover and interior walls don't have enough insulation.
She added some, and put a heat lamp down there, but when it's this cold, it's not enough.
We'll be working on that this year.

 

Are insulated "covers" ever used over the concrete tops? Like a real little shed or sumthin? I bet, once the area is insulated and tight, it wouldn't take much of a lamp to keep it above freezing?

 

Most of the pits I've seen are concrete block walls with a 2x and plywood cover. Inside the pit is usually lined with some foam board, and the cover has batts filling it.
The batts aren't usually secured very well, so they tend to fall out, and most of the walls have that cheap styrofoam like cups are made of.
Oh, and not a single one has ever been big enough for anyone but a small 4 year old. Seems like anyway.
Would 16 more blocks really break someone to make the darn thing bigger. Jeesh.
Ok, rant off.

 

I must've gotten lucky then at the old cottage's well pit. I'm 6'4" 240 and I easily had enough room to move around quite a bit, even with the ladder in it. I don't remembere the dimensions, but it had to have at least been 4' x4' and well over my head as we test fitted the new plywood cover with like 8" of styro insulation with me in the pit to look for air gaps as light infiltration. That pit was poured concrete. Never had a well freeze up, and that was pretty far up in northern Wisconsin. Going up most weekends during winter gave it tons of opportunities to freeze up.

 

We built a house for some folks a few years ago and I helped the guy doing the foundation work (which about killed me, BTW), and he dug the pit, then we poured a floor and blocked up the walls. On top of that we built walls and a roof, like a really small shed, then ran electricity to it for a light and a heat lamp. The owner was supposed to insulate.
Kinda' looked like a little outhouse.

She's been lucky so far, except the last 2 years. The previous owners did nothing but show up, drink beer, then go back home.
The pit needs some work, so we'll be fixing it up this year.
I'm 6', 220 and I can get down there, but it's not easy moving around much. This pit is probably 4x4x4', maybe a little deeper.
Put in a new pump last year and the housing cracked (that was her son's fault).