I bought one yesterday anyone have experience installing them? The concept has me very interested and my house spring is trying to go dry in this darned Western drought. I have a 2" Sand Point how well do they stand up when pounding them in?

The Sand Point was reasonable to buy $80 it was the rest of the pipe costs that shocked me. 2" galvanized pipe $20 per foot, 2" coupling $12, Brass check valve 2" cost $65. My cheep well is not so cheep anymore.

Depends what you are driving them through. The few I’ve done in my area have not been bad. Get a good cap to protect the threads while driving it in. This in your basement or an outside setup?

Following

My one attempt was a failure, threads Got screwed up and I couldn't get the cap off. I feel like lots of small hits is the key, don't smash it like it owes you money.

I am interested in doing this in my backyard. High water table but worry about the clay ground.

helped the neighbor with one

the less pounding you have to do the better , it isn't the point that breaks but the coupler typically

on the second or third attempt we started with a 3 foot hole dug with a shovel then a 4 foot hole we dug with a post hole digger

and then standing on a ladder with a 20 foot section of pipe we got down far enough pounding


our water table is about 12-15 feet down

if you know any one with an auger type post hold digger and you can add handle extensions that might get you further
https://www.amazon.com/Seymour-Indu...000OY4ABW/ref=psdc_3753981_t2_B0007LSBJY

everything you get out of the way is less resistance to pound through

and be ready to cut and rethread the pipe , had to do that at the right height once we got the neighbors down far enough

Outside it is a mountain spring a mile above my house.the spring has been in use for over one hundred years that I know of. I will post pictures as I work on it.

I have a Backhoe sounds like I will need to use it more than I intended and pound less on the pipe cap.

If you are going in sand you can probably push it in with your front bucket. Be ready to back up as it goes in to keep from bending it. If you drive it put your pipe wrench on it and tighten it about every 3 or 4 hits. When they get loose is when the threads mess up. They make a special driving cap but they are pricey to.

Drive caps are worthless. You can't keep them tight. Use a drive coupling with a short length of pipe instead. Also, a post driver works better than a maul to drive with. After three or four hits stop and tighten the joints. l've driven about a dozen for people and have found this to work best for me.

If you drive through clay your screen will plug up.

I poured molten lead into a 3 foot long aluminum tube....plug one end. Only poured in about 4 pounds of lead. Slipped that over the point and subsequent lengths of pipe and dropped it repeatedly. Drove the string easily to 20 feet. A couple twists with a pipe wrench every couple minutes kept everything tight. The lead won't damage any threads that it contacts. Just turn the pipe clockwise to keep everything tight.

Rub a dry bar of soap on the sand point. It helps keep the screens clean on the way down

I've been involved in driving a couple. We always used a post driver. Never had an issue with the point breaking. As others have mentioned it is important to keep everything tight, especially the drive cap so you don't mess up the threads.


Drill Head

My brother and I used one of these. We ordered the drill head and welded up all of our own extensions and handles. It worked pretty well down to about 25-30 feet. After that you have to pull it up in sections which makes it a lot more tedious. You won't be able to pull more than about 25 feet of suction head with a pitcher or centrifugal pump located on top of the ground.

White we are going to use this for drinking water I'm thinking the lead would contaminate the water.?

Here, we traditionally used 1 1/4" pipe in 5 ' sections, often times it was driven in the basement. it's only sand here.

fence post pounders work, as does a homemade pounder which consisted of a shaft that fits inside the pipe being driven ,with a heavy weight welded to the top with a eye of some type on the top that you attached a line that goes through a pulley attached to a floor joist or an overhead frame. this allows you to pull on the line lifting the pounder and letting it drop on the drive coupling. You tighten the pipe every few drops to keep all the threaded parts tight. we didn't, but some put pipe dope on the threads.

You can drive a well pretty fast through sand, no need to beat on the pipe like a madman, just a lot of solid taps.

I've never seen it, but if you have access to pressurized water, a garden hose attached at the top of the pipe will hydraulically "drill" your well .

I have driven several here in Wisconsin. We drive them to have a flowing (artesian) well for wildlife ponds, etc.
We use a large pounder, Piece of 4" well casing with lead, weighs probably 75 pounds.
We put up 3 sections of scaffolding with a timber across the top and chain a pulley to it.
It is nice to have a group of a half dozen guys to spell each other pulling on the rope, 2 guys pulling at once.
Use drive couplings and cap and be sure to get the pipe started plumb.
Here the ones we drive are typically from 30 to 50 feet in depth. We use 1 1/2 inch pipe, you will have a bit
more trouble with 2".

Zim

Not at all. I used mine for drinking water and even sent in a sample to have it checked by the state. No issues at all.

X2 Don't try to get by cheap on the couplings as they take a beating.