Jet Dry?

[Shake n Flake]

I've heard or seen passing references to using Jet Dry to help recover gold, but I can't find an explanation for it. Can someone tell me about this?

 

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[enamel7]

It is simply added to water during cleaning cons to keep gold from floating. Nothing more.

 

[Shake n Flake]

I was under the impression that gold doesn't float.

 

[warsawdaddy]

Surface tension of the water can cause flour gold to float.Just 2 or 3 drops of jet dry breaks the water surface and the gold sinks.

 

[enamel7]

I was under the impression that gold doesn't float.

Small flakes of gold will float. It's the nature of water tension. Hard water is the worst. Pan some gold to the edge of a pan, let the water pull away and then slowly allow the water to move back in. In most cases without jet dry or soap to break the water tension it will float. Like the little water bugs gliding on top of the water. Surface tension.
HH
enamel7

 

[strickman]

water tension,will float gold .just like a water strider doesn't sink-same principle.

 

[Shake n Flake]

How is Jet Dry different than, say, a dish soap, when it comes to lessening surface tension?

 

[enamel7]

I believe it's purely preference.

 

[strickman]

I believe it's purely preference.

everyone has thier rathers, but jet dry has my vote.

 

[Nugget Hunter Smith]

Not only is there water tension but oils from your hands that help the gold float. Jet Dry is non sudsing compared to regular dish soap. You do not want soap bubbles carrying your fine gold away.

 

[Shake n Flake]

NHS,

Thanks, that's what I was looking for.

I appreciate all the replies.

 

[Hoser John]

Jet dry is a surfactant that tightly binds waters molecules together to reduce surface tension to allow oxygen to gas off and sheeting action makes water hydrogen move quicker. Good stuff to recycle water with for recovery.To measure your surfactant level make a 3" ring out of wire and you will get a bubble to gage concentration as a dyneamometer is the analytical tool but somehow spending that $2k is a bit redundant. Soap is good to clean and THATS IT. It loses gold in all production and recovery methods. GOOGLE floatation cells as a recovery method utilizing the soaps to float your gold out of a slurry. Rinse and remove soap ALWAYS prior to bowls,wheels or whatever or at least tell me where you threw your gold away please-John

 

[enamel7]

Jet dry is a surfactant that tightly binds waters molecules together to reduce surface tension to allow oxygen to gas off and sheeting action makes water hydrogen move quicker. Good stuff to recycle water with for recovery.To measure your surfactant level make a 3" ring out of wire and you will get a bubble to gage concentration as a dyneamometer is the analytical tool but somehow spending that $2k is a bit redundant. Soap is good to clean and THATS IT. It loses gold in all production and recovery methods. GOOGLE floatation cells as a recovery method utilizing the soaps to float your gold out of a slurry. Rinse and remove soap ALWAYS prior to bowls,wheels or whatever or at least tell me where you threw your gold away please-John

I didn't know that John. Now I'm off to get some Jet-dry!

 

[extractor]

gold will float!

 

[dlgj1987]

Yes gold can float, but only very small flour gold and sometimes bigger pieces that are just rounded and extremely flat in shape. The water tension, especially in areas with hard water will cause the gold to float right out of your pan. It does not happen all the time, but it definitely can and will happen if you’re not careful and use preventative measures.

 

[abbyauhunter]

Jet Dry works

Yes gold can float, but only very small flour gold and sometimes bigger pieces that are just rounded and extremely flat in shape. The water tension, especially in areas with hard water will cause the gold to float right out of your pan. It does not happen all the time, but it definitely can and will happen if you’re not careful and use preventative measures.

Only 3rd day prospecting/panning but I can confirm that jetdry works. About $50 in the vial. Saved all my black sands from previous days & re-cleaned with jetdry. Flour gold recovered equalled a nice little nugget. I saw them floating away but didn't know how to stop it until I watched a uTube about separating black from gold & the guy was adding jetdry with each add of water. Makes sense. I told my toddlers it was like a water bug walking on water. Need to break the surface tension. Guess I was right. Found a nice riverside spot with fractured shale & moss. Scratching away at both. Recovery of fisheman's lead is about 1000:1 though. There should be a way to get paid for that lead recovery other than recycling it for our own use.

 

[goldhog]

Keeping it simple...........

 

[goldenIrishman]

Jet dry isn't only for panning. Out here in the desert I run a recirc highbanker system and it does a great job in it as well. As you reuse the water it's going to get dirty and a little jet dry in it helps the fine particles to settle out. If you get to high a level of particles in suspension in the water it can also cause fine gold to float. Some areas it's not too bad but if there's a lot of clay is is much more of a problem.

By the end of the day my water is usually pretty dark. After letting it sit over night it will usually be cleared out again. Without the jet dry in the water it's still muddy. I can pour off the clear stuff into a couple of buckets and reuse it after cleaning out the catch drum. This helps save a lot of water compaired to a complete water change. When you have to haul all your water in, you save every last drop you can! We can run for a week on 165 gallons and that's including three highbankers, cooking and showers for two guys.

There are other products like "Clay Gone" that will clear your water up but they're pricey and I have no idea if they will break the surface tension like jet dry does.

 

[SLNugget]

Jet dry isn't only for panning. Out here in the desert I run a recirc highbanker system and it does a great job in it as well. As you reuse the water it's going to get dirty and a little jet dry in it helps the fine particles to settle out. If you get to high a level of particles in suspension in the water it can also cause fine gold to float. Some areas it's not too bad but if there's a lot of clay is is much more of a problem.

By the end of the day my water is usually pretty dark. After letting it sit over night it will usually be cleared out again. Without the jet dry in the water it's still muddy. I can pour off the clear stuff into a couple of buckets and reuse it after cleaning out the catch drum. This helps save a lot of water compaired to a complete water change. When you have to haul all your water in, you save every last drop you can! We can run for a week on 165 gallons and that's including three highbankers, cooking and showers for two guys.

There are other products like "Clay Gone" that will clear your water up but they're pricey and I have no idea if they will break the surface tension like jet dry does.

Jeff, When I get back to AZ in a few weeks I plan to try some swimming pool Clarifier in our recirc system. Like you we have been using JetDry or the less expensive generic version of it when available. Would not run without it. The clarifier is supposed to drop particles out of suspension to settle on the bottom. Less expensive than Clay Be Gone. Not sure it breaks surface tension though. In our area vegetation is more of a problem and we use the paint strainers for a five gal bucket around the out flow of the catch tub to the pump tub. Just wrap it around the 4 inch pipe and hold in place with a bungee. Mostly solves the veg problem except when I get lazy and don't empty it often enough.

 

[Clay Diggins]

Jet Dry is an effective wetting agent, it's not really designed to improve settling.

What you are looking for is a flocculant to cause settling. Alum is the most common and cheapest flocculant (usually hydrated potassium aluminum sulfate). There are others including some nice polymers and biological based flocculants. The bio based stuff will take weeks compared to hours for the cheap alum. You can buy alum for about $1 a pound or less.

Pool alum is a little more expensive but does the same job with the added benefit of having mysterious but ineffective expensive stuff in it to raise the cost at checkout. It's also the most available.

You will need a wetting agent, filtering and a flocculant if you want to keep your water clean. Once you use the flocculant you will want to have a way to vacuum, drain or siphon your holding tanks to clean the muck on the bottom. Flocculants make all the suspended stuff clump together and drop to become an interesting slippery mud on the bottom of your tank.