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Re: Underwater sluicing ........

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:17 am
by Wiggler
I could do this on this claim without hookah .........it would only be 4 foot deep or so . I would rather not run a motor if possible .... and I could ... but ....if I need to I have a hookah which runs from an electric motor . I just need to run enough power cord from my generator. But again . I think I could do this without air ..... air might make it a little easier . I know .... almost everyone reading this thinks it cant work . I MIGHT have 50 ft of drop from top to bottom .... I always try to under estimate . I never want to exaggerate potential . I will measure it next week . Anyhow ..... I should be deleting this stuff soon . I hope that you and others might have some more input before I do .

Brett

Re: Underwater sluicing ........

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 3:06 am
by OregonJim

Re: Underwater sluicing ........

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 2:54 pm
by Wiggler
Bingo ! that video is exactly what Im talking about .
I am not a hydraulics expert and I wonder, will having a 4 inch supply line ( rather than say, a 2 inch ) increase my pressure / velocity /and or volume at the nozzle. I think it will , water weighs a lot per gallon.
BTW , I measured the I.D. of my jet nozzle yesterday. It appears to be 15/16" , almost an inch

Re: Underwater sluicing ........

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 3:12 pm
by OregonJim
I suspect you will have to actually do the work of setting up your water line to see if you will have enough force to do as you hope. Still, even if it is inadequate for dredging into a sluice, it should be powerful enough to provide some suction at your nozzle. I suppose you could use that merely to assist in digging and sniping, or even gathering material into an under water bucket for sluicing later. You may be able to use your pressurized water to operate a highbanker or to increase flow across a stream sluice. Pressurized water is a precious resource that can be used for many things.

As to increasing your line size; Smaller diameter pipe will cause a larger pressure drop than larger pipe, so it will make a difference, but I can't even guess how much. I suspect it would be a substantial loss.

Re: Underwater sluicing ........

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 5:55 pm
by OregonJim

Re: Underwater sluicing ........

Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 4:42 pm
by Wiggler
I am going to set up the "syphon Sluice" today . Initially I will use 100 ft of 4" PVC down the creek to an 1-1/2" flex hose and then to the jet nozzle and into the sluice. There is a 4" suction hose hooked to the jet nozzle. 10 ft long.
If I don't produce enough suction , then I will hook the 4 inch pvc up to the sluice and hook my suction ( I mean Siphon ) hose to the upper end of the pvc supply pipe . From the youtube videos I have seen , my elevation drop is plenty . I have more drop than most of those guys .
We will see what happens.

Brett
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Re: Underwater sluicing ........

Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 6:14 pm
by OregonJim
I like your design! I bet you can make that work just fine and I bet your idea will be used by a bunch of people. Thanks for posting it!

Re: Underwater sluicing ........

Posted: Sat May 25, 2019 5:00 am
by Wiggler
Well , the jet nozzle set up didn't produce enough flow . We put the suction hose at the top of the 4 inch pvc supply line and tied the other end into the sluice . Great suction and flow ! We probably siphoned for about 1.5 hours . Found some colors in each of two pans that I panned. We will siphon material most of the day tomorrow. The time consuming part was getting all set up . I sure miss the dredge ..... but hey..... were mining again .

Brett

Re: Underwater sluicing ........

Posted: Sat May 25, 2019 1:37 pm
by OregonJim
Well, crap! I was hoping you were onto something great.

I'll be headed to the claim in a few days with my sluice, metal detector, and big hopes. There are moments when it just feels like defeat and it makes me think of just giving up because I know the limitations are so severe for us, but despite all that I am still eager to get to digging. I'll begin loading my junk into the RV tomorrow and hope to be seeing gold in my pan in a few days. It looks like the weather is improving and the river level has been dropping, so conditions should be good. I haven't been to the claim since nearly drowning in the river the summer before last. My wife tells me I need to have adult supervision. Recovery was hard and I promised to try not to die on this trip, so she is allowing me to play again. Wives are funny. Anyway, I will be on the claim in a few days and will stay about a week. It should be a fun and casual trip.

Re: Underwater sluicing ........

Posted: Tue May 28, 2019 8:01 pm
by Wiggler
Well you are probably heading to the claim now . I need to hear that "almost drowned" story ! Yikes.

We found enough color to keep us excited . My partner got started on the 2nd day, before I arrived and actually pulled a nugget right off of the bedrock with his gloved hand. I dont see a lot of bedrock in this drainage but we may have hit some where he found the nugget. Its either bedrock or a HUGE boulder that we have not found the edges of . We siphoned down about 4 ft. when we hit it. The material is mostly large river rock with small stuff packed in all around it . Glad we are not getting any shale . Yunno the stuff that plugs your hose every 5 minutes. We only had one plug. Glad it was in the see thru flex hose and not in the hundred feet of solid white pipe. Hope you have a safe and color filled trip to the claim.
Brett