Recirculating Sluice Ideas?

[bubb1981]

Your welcome. Well you can always take out the minners moss and just buy a new carpet. But if you do go to gold hog mats i would go all the way to the end of your sluice box. Thats the way i run my high banker. And it catches the really fine gold. That i have never caught before.

 

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[Maitland]

I ended up buying the Keene A52 that was offered through the local prospecting club. I also purchased the 10" header box from RDH Prospecting, so slowly but surely this thing is coming together.

Right now I'm looking for recommendations as to what type of Gold Hog matting to use for the upper part of the sluice. I've watched some of Gold Hog's videos, read through their website, and I'm still not 100% sure on what I should order. I'm still leaning toward Gold Hog's Razorback matting, does this sound like a logical choice for an A52 with a 4,500GPH pump? I'm still going to keep the carpet in the lower part of the sluice (for now).

 

[bubb1981]

Well if you keep the carpet in the low half of the sluice youll still need to keep the riffles in it. But if it was me i would put all gh matting. I have talon and downdraft in my highbanker and it works great. I do have some scrubber mat and razzorback. I don't like the razzorback cause its had to bend lol. But all thr mats work great. And that pump will work great for everything you want to do

 

[Oregon Viking]

I have an A52, and an A52P. I'am thinking about getting this.

CALIFORNIA SLUICE BOX - HIGH BANKER PARTS

 

[Capricorn]

Since you are just gonna put the gold hog mat in the top of the box, my uneducated opinion would be to go with the scrubber mat, or something similar.

 

[Maitland]

For right now I think I might stick to regular V-matting. Between the sluice, the header box, and the totes I'm up to over $300, so I'm going to back off for a while with the fancy matting and just focus on getting the main components of the system going. I still have yet to purchase the pump, PVC, hose, etc. I'm sure this recirculating sluice will be a good investment for processing gold, but the cost to build is a little bit more expensive than I had initially thought. Either way, no regrets! I'm focused and determined on making a good system.

Here's a little diagram of what I plan on doing:

 

[Oregon Viking]

Let us know what pump you use, and how it performs. Also, your choice of sluice box stand...bought or built.

 

[Maitland]

I plan on getting my totes plumbed together later on today which is the last major step in building this thing (other than buying the pump and hooking it up to the header box).

I have one question I need to ask before I plumb everything together with 3" PVC. I am going to be using three 30-gallon totes and I am wondering if I should use "solid" PVC that is glued together, or if I should put threaded ends in between each tote so that separating/cleaning them out easier? Obviously any threads could up the chances for leakage. What worries me is this: say I run 25 buckets of material that has LOTS or clay/silt and I want to clean out the whole system; if I want to rinse everything out I'm going to have to find a way to move all three 30-gallon totes out of my garage simultaneously and connected together, then rinse them, turn them upside upside down or something, etc. without breaking the totes or the PVC. Wouldn't it make sense to make them separate individually and easily somehow? The other idea I have (besides using threaded PVC) is cutting each section of PVC halfway between the totes and connecting them back together with one of these rubber splicer things in the picture below (sorry I don't know the correct terminology) so that each tub can be removed separately for rinsing out, however, I don't know if these things would leak very bad or not(?).

Any thoughts/input would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[camocreek]

Those rubber couplers would be a good idea, no matter how you connect the tubs together, make sure you can take them apart fairly easily for cleaning.
Check out PVC Bulkhead fitting for an option too, I've used those to make the sealed connection to on the tub.


I've got a Jobe 45 with a header box that has a 1 1/2" inlet and I use a Johnson 2200gph pump, it's 12v so I can run it off battery but if you have access to regular power, a sump pump like what's been mentioned might be cheaper.


If you're running that Black Hills gravel, it has a lot of silt and crap in it though so it'll require frequent cleaning.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[jcazgoldchaser]

I plan on getting my totes plumbed together later on today which is the last major step in building this thing (other than buying the pump and hooking it up to the header box).

Plumbing questions

Any thoughts/input would be appreciated! Thanks!

Watch a few seconds of this, no need for complicated plumbing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZmP0vsRBZ8&feature=player_detailpage#t=159

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=x8kJ3l4yPLU#t=74

 

[Maitland]

I think I've made a mistake!

Hey guys,

Thank you very much for the responses! I'm not trying to make the most popular thread in TNet history or anything, but the more replies and ideas I get here - the better for my sluice project!

I believe I screwed up, big-time! I decided to angle the PVC from each tote in an upwards direction toward the flow of the pump - thinking that this would be a possible way to reduce silt contamination in the pump. Before doing that, I had wondered if it might create an issue with the hydraulic pressure between the tanks but I was a little hasty and thought "nah, I don't think I've got enough water here for anything like that to go wrong." Well, yesterday I decided to fill my totes with 90 gallons of water and I was pretty disgruntled at how slow the water was to travel from the first tank (the tailings tank) all the way to the third tank (the pump tank). Hindsight is 20/20 and the only way that I can see a three-tote system working with angled PVC is if the totes are increasingly bigger before the pump in order to increase pressure for water going back in the direction of the pump. So... I think I've wasted $25 worth of 30-gallon totes by not keeping the PVC perfectly level between them (and I had my suspicions before doing this too... should've went with my gut instinct!)

Here are a few pictures of what it looks like so far (please note that I just have the sluice sitting up on top for looks - that is not how I will be permanently mounting it!):


I did buy some 10-gallon paint filters at Menard's for $2.99/3-pack. I placed them over the bulkhead/tank adapter fittings at the in-flow side of each PVC section going toward the pump:



Well, to make a long story short: I will be re-doing all of the totes and buying some new ones and I'm going to put the tank adapters in the dead-center of each tote! I shouldn't have been so stupid to try to angle the PVC like I did and I half-suspected it wouldn't work but did it anyway... so that's where I'm at right now.

As always, any ideas/input/constructive criticism is welcome!

jcazgoldchaser: yeah, I had seen another member's sluice thread here somewhere where someone had mentioned using siphoning between the totes (perhaps AzViper?). I thought it would be to too time-consuming to have to do that each and every time, so I decided to go with PVC between the totes.

camocreek: I did end up getting bulkhead fittings and those rubber coupler things. I also bought the pump I posted pictures of earlier at Harbor Freight yesterday - I used a 20% off coupon and got it for $97 and some odd cents. It sounds like you have a nice setup, your sluice is the same size as mine pretty much - is 2200GPH enough water flow for it to work good? Just curious. Not sure if my 4500GPH will be overkill or not, but bubb1981 seems to like his pretty well with his setup (which I used as an inspiration for what I'm building).

Thanks guys!
- Maitland

 

[scoy]

I used 2 25 gal totes and some 1" pvc to keep the levels even. Works great

 

[Maitland]

Finally going

CURIOUS FOR YOUR OPINIONS!
Project-wise, this has been one of the biggest headaches I have had to deal with in a long time. I finally got everything plumbed together and no leaks! One thing I would like to ask from other people who have built or use recirculating sluices: what percentage of your pump's output do you actually use?

Here is a video (it's barely over a minute long if you wouldn't mind watching) I took of my sluice and pump running:



I have a ball valve installed not too far from the pump's output and it seems like I have to keep it restricted a considerable amount or the tailings tote (where the sluice dumps into) starts to get too much water in it and the water can't get back to the pump quick enough. That was the main reason why I used 3" PVC (as suggested by bubb1981 earlier in this thread). Do you guys think my water flow is okay? My sluice is angled at approximately 1" per foot (it is about 4' long). I have a few more things to do to it yet, including adding some extra ribbed v-matting I have, so I have not yet ran any material through it.

P.S. No, I do not intend on "mounting" the sluice on loose 2x4s like that! I have it setup as seen for testing purposes.

 

[Duckwalk]

Looks like a pretty promising build! One thing i will say is that (for me anyways) its hard to determine the water flow without seeing material added to it.if you are looking for opinions, id post another video using material so that others here can chime in on water flow and such.

 

[Maitland]

Thank you for the input, Duckwalk. I'm going to see if I can find me some hot dirt sometime this weekend to test this thing out. I did remove the two paint filters at the beginning of each PVC section towards the pump, and that helped tremendously and I was able to get my water flow to a level that I felt was pretty sufficient. The five gallon bucket that houses the pump has a bunch of holes drilled in it and it has a big paint filter over the whole thing, so hopefully that will still help reduce the silt a little. I know it's a sewage pump and it's rated to pass 2" solids, but I'd still like to keep the silt away and at bay. I didn't want to remove those two filters but it seemed necessary to increase the water flow.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Maitland,
One thing you need to keep in mind on recirculation tanks is that as your tailings bucket fills up, your water level is going to go up as well. Then when you dump your tailings, you're going to loose a little water. You can pour a lot of the water out of your catch bucket but you're still forgoing to loose some.
Another trick to help clean the water up on its way back to the pump is to buy one of the pads that are used in swamp coolers. I'm,talking,about the type that looks like an angled honeycomb. You cut it to fit the width of your tub and try to get as good a seal as possible. You want the side where the openings of the honeycomb are lower pointing towards the incoming flow. Works very well for removing silt from the water and keeping it out of your pump.

 

[Maitland]

Thanks a lot, goldenIrishman! You must be talking about this stuff? I was actually very surprised the the paint filters, as small/thin/open as they were, were causing as much of an issue with the water flow as they were... I mean, quite literally, I only had one of these over each bulkhead from tank to tank:


I'm thinking if something that small can create an issue with water flow between tanks, then anything probably will. (Just a guess, though.)

 

[jcazgoldchaser]

The further water has to travel, the more time suspended material has to fall out of the system. Start with where the water enters. Confine that to a smaller part of the tub, or a tub within the tub, as it will splash in and stir up material. Adding baffles, causing water to flow back and forth or over under increases the distance traveled. The over under will trap floaters/lighter organics. Simple plastic sign material can be used for baffels. Then, as you move further away from the source, increase the distance between baffles.

 

[KevinInColorado]

The problem with your paint filters is that you aren't using all of it (only a few square inches in fact...that isn't how they are intended to be used). Put it on the output side of a pipe and set it up so it billows out with the water flow to use as much filter area as possible). You'll be surprised how much that helps!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Thanks a lot, goldenIrishman! You must be talking about this stuff? I was actually very surprised the the paint filters, as small/thin/open as they were, were causing as much of an issue with the water flow as they were... I mean, quite literally, I only had one of these over each bulkhead from tank to tank:
View attachment 1155582

I'm thinking if something that small can create an issue with water flow between tanks, then anything probably will. (Just a guess, though.)

That be it! The upward angle helps to catch the particles that are in suspension. You just have to rinse it out when you see that it's getting filled to the point that it's not working as well,as it usually does.

I'm in the desert of Arizona, so if I want to do wet processing a recirc system is just about the only option open to me. My system uses a single 55gallon barrel cut in half, a 1500 gph pump that runs on 12 volt and a drop riffle box I made myself. Its portable, fairly light weight and only takes about 22gallons to fill it up. I have 11 of the 15gallon barrels from AzViper so I can haul in 165 gallons of water. That will keep the sluice running for almost a month with water changes and top offs. I work out of a 86 Toyota 1ton and a harbor freight kit trailer for months at a time.