My brother and I drove a 2-inch diameter sand point about 30 feet or so into the ground. I wish I had photos to show you of the installation. I only have a photo of the finished product. I believe
Lehman's website has a discussion on wells and they sell all the parts. I ordered my parts from a plumbing wholesaler and saved about 30% or so over Lehman’s prices.
Well Point
There are several types of well points sold for driving into the ground. They come in different diameters, lengths and are either screened or slotted. The one thing that all driven well points have in common is that they are pointed. The narrower the diameter, the easier it will be to drive. For my installation, I used a 2-inch diameter, stainless-steel, well point with a #10 slot size. Many country hardware stores sell driven well points in our area.
Well Casing
I used 2-inch galvanized iron water pipe cut and threaded into five-foot lengths. You don’t want to use longer sections of pipe because you’d have to stand on a ladder to pound the end of it. This type of pipe can be purchased at any big box building supply center. The sections of pipe are connected together using special high strength couplings. If a person were to use standard couplings, they would break under the force of pounding the well down.
Well Cylinder
A cylinder is the pump that pushes the water up the well to the surface. The cylinder goes in the bottom of the well below the watertable...consequently it never freezes and can pump water all year long. The cylinder pump is actuated by the sucker rod the moves up and down by the pumping of the well pump handle. Typically, cylinders are made of brass. They come in a variety of lengths and diameters. The larger the diameter and/or length, the more water it will pump per stroke. Most force pumps have a 10” or 12” stroke, so buy a cylinder using that same stroke. I chose a cylinder that fits inside a 2” pipe. I believe my cylinder has a 1-9/16” diameter.
Sucker rod
Sucker rod is a 5/16” chrome-plated threaded rod that connects the cylinder pump to the handle of the well pump. Don’t use a plain steel rod for this purpose as it will rust. It is important that the rod be just the right length, so have a means of cutting and threaded the last section of sucker rod onsite during installation.
Drop pipe
The drop pipe is the pipe that delivers water from the cylinder pump to the well pump. It is thread on one end to the cylinder and on the other end to the well. I used galvanized 1” pipe for this purpose. Try to picture this, the sucker rod goes down the center of the drop pipe and the drop pipe goes down the center of the well casing. A 1/8" hole was drilled into the drop pipe about 5 feet below ground level to allow water to drain out of the drop pipe. This will keep the pipe from freezing in the winter.
Force Pump
The big dollar item of the entire set up is the force pump. Lehmans sells these, you can order them from plumbing supply houses, there are probably many internet sources, and if you’re lucky you can find a used force pump at an auction or antique store. A flange connects the force pump to the well casing. In my set up, I concreted in a six foot section of 6” pipe over the 2” well casing to attach the force pump to.
Installation
I used a heavy fence post driver to drive the well point and 2” well casing into the ground. I used a short section of 2” pipe as the driving surface, not the actual well casing. I have heard of people using sledge hammers. If you use a sledge, there is a driving cap that you screw onto the end of the well casing to hit with the hammer so you don’t ruin the well casing pipe or its threads. Some people have rigged up weights on a pulley system to drive the well.
I know that I’ve left out many specifics. Let me know if you have questions.
