Johnson pump questions

[Jordan P]

Hey guys, I'm completely new to this new sport of gold sluicing lol. I've gone out once for about 45 mins and found a tiny spec of gold.
I just bought a 2200 GPH Johnson pump. It's red in color. My plan is to make a recirculating sluice with this pump.
My question is, do I place the entire pump under water? Will the pump get damaged from being 100% underwater? And since it's recycling the water, will it damage the pump if it sucks in sand?
Sorry for all the questions, I may have more lol
Thanks,
Jordan

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Minelab PRO-FIND 35 Waterproof Pinpointer Metal Detector for Experts with Tone ID & Adjustable Sensitivity - Grab it through Amazon!

[Bonaro]

Read the instructions, many of these bilge pumps are not designed for continuous use out of the water or they will over heat and melt the housing
They are not designed to pump sand at all, doing so will shorten their life...to zero
You can rig a couple buckets so the tailings fall into one bucket and settle and the water will spill to the next bucket where the pump is. Pumping muddy water will not hurt it

 

[Huelten]

I have the exact same pump, i place the whole pump underwater and it works perfectly. If you're building a recirculating system just be careful not to have it sitting on the bottom of the tub, ive had mud get in mine that way. Another thing that could help you is to zip-tie a screen, like a window screen for example, to the bottom of the pump.

 

[B H Prospector]

That pump is a bilge pump ment for boats. It works very good for the application you want it for. Just don't make a real large unit. I have the same pump running my Gold Buddy mini highbanker. Works good. Don't suck up sand! It isn't a trash pump. I set mine in a coffee can with the bottom cut out and it sets a couple of inches off the bottom of the tank. I also wrap the can in window screen to keep the floating trach from getting into the pump.

Good Luck and welcome to mining and the net!

BH Prospector

 

[Sick4gold]

I laughed at "Johnson pump"

 

[Huelten]

^

 

[Jordan P]

Thanks everyone for the help!

 

[Jordan P]

Oh one more question. When the pump is totally submerged and pumping, is there any chance of me getting electrocuted from touching the water it's in? I know it's a silly question, but I don't want to die.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Oh one more question. When the pump is totally submerged and pumping, is there any chance of me getting electrocuted from touching the water it's in? I know it's a silly question, but I don't want to die.

run it on a GFCI OUTLET to be safe. You only die once.

 

[Doug Watson]

If it's a 12 volt pump don't worry about it. If it's 120 volt then GFI. Keep the pump submerged all the time. The little sand that always seems to float from one tub to another doesn't seem to hurt them. Do use at least 2 settling tubs with the pump in the 2nd one.

 

[Jordan P]

If it's a 12 volt pump don't worry about it. If it's 120 volt then GFI. Keep the pump submerged all the time. The little sand that always seems to float from one tub to another doesn't seem to hurt them. Do use at least 2 settling tubs with the pump in the 2nd one.

Thanks Doug!

 

[Bonaro]

That is a 12 volt pump and runs off a battery. It will not hurt you unless you short across the battery terminals with something metal.
Run time will only be a couple hours for a pump that big

 

[omnicron]

Is this the pump you bought?

I mean I typed in red Johnson pump in a search engine and that came up....

 

[Jordan P]

Funny.

 

[Bonaro]

Omni, that's like the one I have only a lot smaller