Old Keene Drywasher Question

[Bob_T2]

I have an old Keene drywasher, the model with the Briggs and Stratton flathead motor powering a blower. I think this model Keene had a shroud over the engine cylinder head in order to duct engine heat to the blower air. They call it "vibrostatic." Mine does not have the shroud, possibly a previous owner removed it, or maybe it's an early version and never had a shroud.

Now, my question is: Do you think it's worth it to build a shroud around the engine to duct heat to the air blower? Or will it work OK without it?

What specifically will the heated air duct accomplish?

Thank you,

Bob

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[soupfreak]

Here's the patent Keene has:

Dry washer with hot air supply - Keene, Wayne G.

The electrostatic recovery of gold in the drywasher is improved by providing means to scavenge the waste heat from the internal combustion engine that powers the air blower. This preheats the intake air to the air blower, whereby the equilibrium temperature of the compressed air delivered to the partially fluidized bed of ore particles on the riffle table is raised about 50° F. above ambient temperature. The layer of fabric underlying the bed of particles is maintained at bone dryness, the ore particles are dried, and the electrostatic forces operate under most favorable conditions at low relative humidity.

 

[highdesertranger]

keene sells the part you are missing. highdesertranger

 

[Bob_T2]

soupfreak, thanks for the patent link. Do you think it really does what the patent says it does? Now I have a diagram in case I do decide to build a shroud.

highdesertranger, I sent an email to Keene and they said the guy who handles the parts is out and will be back in a day. They responded to my email in a few minutes and I thought that was good of them.

 

[soupfreak]

Anything that gets the moisture out of the soil is always helpful.

 

[Bob_T2]

Anything that gets the moisture out of the soil is always helpful.

Yes, of course that makes sense. What made me question it is that there are lots of successful drywashers using leafblowers without any engine heat ducted to the fan. And here in Nevada the relative humidity in the summer is pretty low. But I'm a believer in optimizing things and even if the heat helps to recover a tiny bit more gold it will probably be worth it to replace the engine shroud system. Thanks to you and highdesertranger for taking the time to reply.

Bob

 

[Dustedyou]

Bob I use a Homelite Leaf Blower and all the new ones have there heat shrouded into the airflow,, it was 69$ on sale now 89 but i hate to say it it works beautifully. (altho i did have to adjust the carb for high altitude I live at 8700 feet) Wonderfull and cheap.

 

[Bob_T2]

Thanks for the info. I've already spent more than $69 trying to adapt a duct to my existing engine. Oh well...

An engine heat shroud from Keene was relatively cheap and they were pretty helpful in making suggestions how to adapt it.