Comments on my recirc setup..

[Capricorn]

I'm curious about getting feedback for improving my recirc setup. I run it at home, not in the field. It's pretty scrappy.. :P I recently added the header/crash box at the top, and increased both the number of holes I have water coming out of and the size of the holes. I'm getting a better, more consistent flow now, but there are a lot more air bubbles. Maybe I should reduce the volume to try and have less spraying pressure so that I'm not creating as much air bubbles? I ran a bucket of pay material through this setup, and it caught the bigger pieces decently, but I didn't see as much fine gold as I know is in the material, so I think I'm blowing out the fine stuff (or floating it out). I'm using a 2100 gph sump pump, and an Angus MacKirk Explorer sluice.

I'm open to all feedback Thanks for looking and commenting

 

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[Underburden]

Are you running it as steep as it looks in the video?

 

[Capricorn]

No, I think it looks a lot steeper in the video then it really is. With the increased flow I actually brought the angle down a bit. I doubt it is much beyond the inch per foot recommendation, maybe less if anything.

 

[titan100]

It may just be the video but the water does not seem to be flowing evenly across the sluice if so it may be part of your issue. The set up looks cool like the header box idea.

 

[Goldwasher]

You need more flow/ volume. Try to ditch the drilled holes. They are restricting an already weak pump.
Open ended pipe with a riffle then a damper.

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

Here is my backyard setup

 

[Capricorn]

You need more flow/ volume. Try to ditch the drilled holes. They are restricting an already weak pump.
Open ended pipe with a riffle then a damper.

Thanks. I wondered about just an open pipe. I will give that a try. I'm already restricting the pumps output at the pump to. I think it has a 2" port, and I put a reducer down to 3/4" pvc into it. I could try opening that up as well and running 2" PVC, I just don't have the pieces laying around at the moment. Thank you for the feedback, I will try your suggestion.

 

[Capricorn]

Since my setup is so scrappy it's hard to keep it totally flat and level across the box. I find I'm always trying to adjust it or shim it to get it level. I need something better to control the levels.

 

[ebuyc]

No, I think it looks a lot steeper in the video then it really is. With the increased flow I actually brought the angle down a bit. I doubt it is much beyond the inch per foot recommendation, maybe less if anything.

Drop riffles (and two stage Angus ramp riffles) REQUIRE about half the sluice angle slope/drop of a conventional sluice or you WILL blow out gold... FYI

So conventional sluices are usually said to be 1" to 1.5" per foot and a drop riffles sluice should be .5" to .75". The Angus ramp riffles are probably closer to .75" to 1.25" as they are a little more forgiving then a true drop riffle.

My 2 bits...

 

[ebuyc]

You need more flow/ volume. Try to ditch the drilled holes. They are restricting an already weak pump.
Open ended pipe with a riffle then a damper.

I agree with this - you could use a piece of miners moss folded up after the water inlet to get a smooth laminar flow instead of a damper or both is you really want to. You could also use a raised dam or top overflow dam gate...

My two bits...

 

[Capricorn]

Ben, Thanks for the video. I like your solution to smooth out the water flow, and it sure looks nice running through your box! If I can't get what I want out of my current setup I may look at doing something like your bigger reservoir too!

 

[greendave]

My thought is your 2100gph pump is overkill. I recently purchased the Angus Predator III sluice, and I'm using a small 750gph pump and it is unbelievable how small of gold it is catching, and still operating at an efficient pace. The flow in Ben's video is what you're looking for, slow down the pump and get rid of the turbulence.

-Dave

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

My pump is a 600 gph pond pump from Home Depot.

Thanks Capricorn, the large tub catch the water and turbulence and the spill over tub lets it out smoothly. Works well although a bit leaky.

 

[specksandflecks]

If you are running pre washed, classified or already concentrated material you can use a weir to feed the sluice instead of spray bars, like Bens setup.

Not having spray bars means less 'de-ariation' to deal with. If you have a 'recycle' or 'reuse' near by you can probably find some used pvc. Using a couple sizes of pvc, a hack saw and some hose clamps should provide you with a decent stand thats easily adjustable.

I was going to make a video about simple adjustable pvc legs but never got around to it.

These drop type of sluices will reward you with superior performance if you create a controlled environment to operate them in.

ebuyc makes a good point about the MM. Though the real MM can be $$. I use a section of daisy mat where my hopper dumps into the head of the sluice extension. It doesn't de airate so much as it slows the flow a bit giving it time to de airate, then the damper helps with remaining air. Again a weir eliminates all this. This video is about 10 min longer than it needs to be though.




I managed to get decent flow control with a bit of tinkering on this expiremental highbanker.

You will want to consider a series of containers to give fine tailings material a chance to drop out. I could easily use double the resivour capacity in that video. The water volume fluctuates some due to the fine intake screen on my pump getting clogged with ultra fine material.

Basically if you can achieve something like this or what Ben C has for flow control you should have good results.

 

[Capricorn]

Thanks for the continued feedback, I will be sure to watch the video above. I tinkered with my setup this weekend and I think I've improved it a bit, but my flow is still not even. I think it may be due to the force of the water more so than it being out of level, but I'm not sure. I'll have to put a bubble on it and find out. Here is a video of it running now. Let me know what you think!

 

[Capricorn]

The material I am running I've classified down to 3/8th at the river.

 

[specksandflecks]

I'd say that looks a lot better and will probably work fairly well. I haven't used that specific sluice, looks similar to mine though. Have you considered a smaller screen like 8~12 mesh? Not sure but one of those Garret pin-pointer things should make quick work of anything larger than 12 mesh. Think they cost about 100 bucks though. I need to get one.