opinions on using a Honda WX15 1.5" pump for a 2 or 3 inch dredge or power sluice....

[mike(swWash)]

opinions on using a Honda WX15 1.5" pump for a 2 or 3 inch dredge or power sluice....

I'll be using either a quad jet or possibly an infinity setup for suction, gold hog mats, and only doing shallow water dredging, less than 6' from water surface to the bottom of the hole. What do you think?

The reason I ask is I have a chance for a killer deal on this pump.

 

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[specksandflecks]

That is a great little motor. The pump will work fine for spray bars on a highbanker.For suction you are going to want higher head pump. Dahlke,Proline,Keene. Anything deeper than knee deep you probably want enough power for air. Not sure what the min hp there would be, 3~5hp maybe. As said that is a great little motor and will run water pump or air fine but probably not both?

 

[mike(swWash)]

I doubt I'll ever get deeper than face down in the water, long arming and using a snorkel for depth, but you don't think 50psi and 3500gph is enough for a small 2-2 1/2" pack dredge? Darn the 20lb weight sounded so nice for my back.

At $200 I still might get it to use for running 1 or 2 highbankers at once with vortex matting during the in river season when we can have gas pumps instead of wheeling a 70lb battery to the river, they only need 1200 to 1500 gph each.

 

[SHoward]

First off, that pump is ideal for a high banker ! As far as a dredge, it will run a 1.5 " suction nozzle with no problem, a 2" at full throttle and very little head 4-6' max.
A 1.5" suction nozzle requires aprox. 1900 gph @ a min of 40 psi.
A 2" suction nozzle requires aprox. 3600 gph @ a min of 40 psi.
Honda's specs on this pump is 3780 gph @ 54 psi. So a 2" is right at the upper limit.
Layflat hose puts to much restriction to get the flows needed so you have to use non collapsable hose (with a trash pump).
I got these numbers from the hydro force nozzle web site and found through trial and error this past year that they are pretty much dead on across the board with other brand nozzles ( Keene and Martin). I tested with 3 different pumps, 3 H.P. trash pump, 7 H.P. trash pump, and a 3 H.P. keene w/ p-160 pump.
The 3 H.P. Keene pump has enough flow and pressure to overcome the restrictions of a layflat hose and work a 2.5" nozzle with no problems, we actually had to throttle it back some.

 

[Timberdoodle]

The standards mentioned by others for volume and psi are good references for off the shelf suction nozzles and log jets, but if you are building a quad jet or infinity jet you will get much more efficiency which means you will be able to use less water volume for the same suction. I have built 2" quad jets that use 20gpm @30psi and have great suction and can run on a Honda wx10. The wx15 at $200 is a great buy. It will put out 40gpm @35psi per their pump chart and while you could probably run a 3", you would be running full throttle. You could easily built a 2 or 2.5 to run off this pump, but only with a infinity, quad, tri-jet etc.. The only time you are going to need more than 35psi (running) is if you are building a highbanker which needs more lift or adding extra hose length. The wx15 would also allow you to buy a jobe or keene pump down the road for a 3".

 

[mike(swWash)]

I was thinking that with the slightly higher pressure available over a regular trash pump and the better suction capabilities of a quad jet or infinity suction setup over a standard nozzle that it might be able to work for a little bigger dredge than a 1 to1 ratio for a 1.5" pump size?

Also the pump would probably have no more than 5-10' of non layflat from pump to the jet. And as far as the dredge hose set up I was thinking, nozzle then 8-10' hose then the jet then 3-5' more hose dumping on the sluice, classifyer or into a flair a few inches above water level.

Please believe me, I welcome everyones opinions about the theories and possibilities for this type set up and I want to gather as much info from those that know about what can and can't be and why it will or won't work before I spend a million hour$ trying to make the impossible possible.....not that I'm not up to a challenge I just think it would be really cool if we could figure out a better small and efficient setup for a pack or entry dredge model.

Without some outside the box thinking, nothing will ever change......and better is.....well....better! mike

 

[mike(swWash)]

What size jets did you use for the quad 2" jet? I'm thinking 4 1/4" or 8 3/16ths.

 

[SHoward]

That pump does have a little more psi and flow than standard trash pumps the same size, so it should perform a little better. And as Timber posted earlier you can always swap out the pump for a keene p-160 later if you need to.
This is my trash pump that I adapted a Keene P-160 to.

 

[Vance in AK]

I don't know poop about hydraulic science & all that kinda stuff. BUT, I do know I use that pump on my Keene highbanker/dredge A-52 sluice conversion set up with a 2.5" suction nozzle with a 10' suction hose & a 1.5" 25' layflat for pressure to the nozzle & it works for me. I do run it full throttle. I also use it for the highbanker setup but I have never had to use a lot of lift but up to 100' of distance with 1.5" layflat & no problems on volume. It's a steal at that price. If I found one for that price I would have 2

 

[Timberdoodle]

What size jets did you use for the quad 2" jet? I'm thinking 4 1/4" or 8 3/16ths.

Hi Mike. for the 2" designed for the wx10 I use 4 jets 3/16 for 5gpm each jet @30psi. (this was built for a small low volume pump) If I built a jet for the wx15 I would go with the 4 at 1/4" for 10gpm each jet at 30psi. 8 jets at 3/16 would also work and match up well. A 2" with this jetting would rock and probably allow you to run 1/2 throttle with great suction, a 2 1/2" would probably run about 3/4 throttle with great suction on the configuration you mentioned earlier.