Pumping water in the winter is a little more involved. The pump needs to be kept in the cabin so it doesn’t freeze with any water in it, or the housing will crack. So, when I need to pump in the winter, I first need to check the weather. If I know there is a deep-freeze coming, I will make sure I have enough water in my cistern to weather through. I do not, and cannot pump at -20º to -40ºC. The water starts icing up too fast, water in the pipes will begin to freeze before I’m able to dismantle everything and drag them up the hill, creating ice blockages in the lines that likely won’t thaw until spring. Not to mention how miserable it would be pumping in those temps.

So I like to pump water at no colder than -10ºC.

First, I have to carry the pump from my cabin, down the hill, and across the small field and the gravel bar to the river.

Once the ice is thick and strong I can go right out on the river where I want the hole to chip through to the ice with my icechipper. A friend made me this icechipper by welding a 5/8” thick flat steel piece with a ground-down edge about 4” long to the end of a steel bar that is 50” long:

Once I clear some snow, I chip down a squarish hole to where the water is flowing beneath, scooping out the chopped ice as I go. It makes relatively quick work of it, all things considered. I have used a chainsaw to cut through in the past but it’s messy - I get soaked in the process - and sometimes the chain bar is just not long enough to cut through when the ice is thickest. Last year the ice was 2ft thick. It was a little scary early on with some thaws that happened early in the season after deep freezes creating large pockets of weak air and airy frost layers before more solid ice could form.

The hole needs to be wide enough to fit my jug in so I can 1) scoop out the ice and slush bits so it doesn’t clog my pump, and 2) so I can scoop water out to prime the pump. This takes several trips of filling the pump.

Once I have all the lines hooked up heading up the hill, and the intake line in the water, and the pump primed, then I can start it up.

It usually takes a few moments until I can hear the pump sucking in the water and when I do, I run up the hill to watch the cistern to make sure it doesn’t overflow. I have it timed so that when it gets to the 900L mark I can start running down the hill back to the pump, and by the time I’m back there, I can turn the motor down and then off.

Then I need to dismantle the lines, drain them into the river, drain the pump, and drag the two long black lines up the hill to drain and hang the ends from the tree. Then back down to bring up the intake line and jug, and then down again to bring the pump back to the cabin.

It’s work. But it’s a hell of an improvement from hauling buckets up the hill with water sloshing out everywhere.

I only have to do this once a month.