There are numerous ways to obtain water for a private system. You can dig, bore or drill a well. If ground conditions are right, you can even drive a pipe into the ground until it reaches water bearing strata which often consists of sand or fine gravel. The unit on the end of the pipe is a screened pickup. The pipe itself is plumbed directly to the pump. There is no well casing. The pipe is its own well casing. Check the PDF in the link below. The screen on sandpoints are often quite course in order to keep from plugging up. If they do plug, you're screwed. You have to try back-washing them in the hopes of clearing the screen. If that does not work, you have to drive a new well in a different location but if the strata is the same all over your property, then it's only a matter of time before it happens again. The course screen allows large particulate to enter the water system. Sometimes this is a temporary issue and it will clear itself with continuous pumping. Local well drillers are the best source of information regarding such issues and the OP should probably consult them. It could be that the only solution to this problem is to go to a different type of well that is deeper. She may need to get water from 80 feet or 150 feet or 300 feet below grade in order to find an acquifer that is free from the contaminants that she is forced to deal with currently. In most places, you must disclose whether you have adequate potable water in sufficient quantity to meet the needs of the home being sold. If you lie about it, you can be sued successfully for all the costs associated with remedying the problem so it isn't something to take lightly. The local health branch can condemn a house and put a stop to occupancy if there isn't proper sanitation available. It seems to me that the real problem lies with the water-bearing strata that the sandpoint is pulling water from. There may be no end to the crud that is flowing past the sandpoint. There is no way of knowing one way or the other. She could hire a well driller to put a pump directly on the well pipe and pump it non-stop for a couple of days to see what comes out and if it is increasing, decreasing or constant. Periodic examinations of the residue left after pouring a five gallon pail of water through filter media will give you an idea as to what is happening. Doing that should give the OP some clue as to what direction to go in. In the interim though, I would be hauling the local Culligan Man's butt back to the home to figure out WHY his solution to her problem isn't working. If he cannot produce what he originally promised then he should remove what he sold her, put her system back to the way it was previously and refund her money in full. The error was his, not hers. It's just that simple. Here is a link that might be useful: sandpoint wells

Get a Big Blue 4x20 filter housing and you can use any of the industry standard cartridges. Don't go for the cheaper pacific rim knock-offs of the Big Blue... buy the real thing and avoid unpleasant and costly surprises.. Depending on the plumbing SFR you might need to use two Big Blue 4x20 housings in parallel to get sufficient flow rate. When you install, insert a 1/4 turn ball valve so you can cut flow when changing cartridges and install a pressure gauge before and after the Big Blue housing so you can monitor pressure loss across the filter and will KNOW when to change the cartridges.

Filters are usually compatible across brands of canisters, but there are exceptions. Move your filter canister closer to the keyboard so I can see it. I have no idea what you have but if you look down the bottom of the canister you should see a nipple sticking up and that is what centers the filter on the bottom. Regarding your inherited filter... there is a vast amount of water treatment hardware that is inherited when a house is bought and sold. Some of it is there for a reason and some of it is there because the previous homeowner experimented in solving a problem they didn't understand and didn't solve. That the filter is there neither makes it appropriate or correct or incorrect unless a water test is done to determine what is in the water and what you want/should remove or treat. We started to discuss this in your first filter thread and unless you get a comprehensive water test there is no correct answer regarding whether a filter is needed at all. I can say that 5 micron is unusual at POE and unless there is a specific reason for it that filter will cause more harm than good and that without pressure gauges before and after the filter housing when to change the filter is a blind guess... but I said that before and we still don't know whether the filter is necessary. As I recall, you have a softener that you don't know is working correctly, have a filter that you don't know that you need, and in your Newbie water softener swap advice post you said "I know nothing about water softening so any advice or warnings are welcomed..." yet the same questions travel from one of your threads to another and the advice you're given doesn't seem to suit you. This post was edited by justalurker on Mon, Aug 19, 13 at 11:43

We get the black sand like sediment with our well water. Our sediment filter is after the pressure tank. We have a clear canister which helps to know when it is time to change the filter. We buy pleated filters from Discount Filters.