BLUE BOWL - Clean water??

[outwardjourney]

Okay, so I have a problem... the dirt that I get, is DIRTY!

I classify my material down to 30 or 50 mesh (wet mostly, dry occassionaly) and even though the materials been classified wet, I can only get a good single run on the blue bowl before the water becomes so murky that I can't see what's going on. I am using a recirculating tank and bilge pump, but is there a way to really 'clean' the dirt before putting it into the blue bowl? I ask this in all seriousness because at this point it's worthless to run it in the blue bowl since I can't see what's left behind. To add to this problem, because the water is so murky, I have to let the water completely settle for a couple hours before I can see the remains in the bowl. Of course it is now covered in sediment fallout and makes it impossible to clean the gold out.

Anyone have this problem OR know a solution?! Thanks!

 

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[Hoser John]

CORRECTLY HAHAHAHA

 

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[AzViper]

In Nome, back when I was recirculating water to run my Neffco Bowl, I was going make a Lamella clarifier out of a stack of old corrugated plastic signs (discarded political). With corrugated chambers vertical (duh), signs tilted at about 30 degrees off vertical, plenty of fluid space below signs for settling and flow, the water enters the settling tub, flows up through the signs, and pours into another tub where the pump is.

Lamella clarifier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Unfortunately I didn't get a change to test it, because I didn't have a suitable tub, and I didn't know how to build one then. An old chest freezer or ice chest might work if you can't find a bait tub, and if you want something larger than a Rubbermaid Roughneck Tote.

We used a pair of the largest Roughneck Tote we could find, with a 2x4 frame that they sat in to keep their shape. And a 2" or 3" water filled rigid hose to connect them, which would keep the water levels balanced via siphon action. Pump from one, dump into the other. The balancing hose on the dump tub would be placed in a 3 gallon bucket, with a big rock in it; that helped keep some junk down.

Don't use Sterilite or any clear tub, they crack way too easy. Rubbermaid Roughneck is the best home store available tub I've found. Although a pair of good 30-gallon to 55-gallon round trash cans might be better (the good heavy duty Rubbermaid Roughneck ones), since the height would really help with settling, and no extra support framework would be needed.

I suppose a u-shaped PVC balancing pipe might work better, you just need a way to suck all the air out of it, so the siphon is established.

I have seen the Lamella Clarifier in use on large commercial cooling towers. Very interesting.

 

[AK_Au_Diver]

Viper's system looks like a neat setup. I wasn't able to see the video before I posted, it's basically what I was trying to describe, except Viper uses a nice fancy first stage settling tub (sink), which would make removing tailings way easier.

I can't give a report on how well corrugated plastic political signs work for a homemade Lamella Clarifier, since I never actually tried it. But if one can from some cheap board stock or free used signs after a campaign, then it should be almost free to test.

My brother had the idea to use large drinking straws in the balancing tube on the dirty side (with a 1/8 turn fitting, to get a 22.5-degree slope off vertical). As I understand it, the key is that the fluid flows up through the media (plates, corrugation, straws, whatever), the particles drag on the walls and restrict the flow, which causes clearer fluid to move faster, and makes the dirtier water move even slower, causing even more settling. The angle off vertical is to keep the settled particles out of the flow, so they don't remix on their way down to the trap.

 

[AzViper]

Viper's system looks like a neat setup. I wasn't able to see the video before I posted, it's basically what I was trying to describe, except Viper uses a nice fancy first stage settling tub (sink), which would make removing tailings way easier.

I can't give a report on how well corrugated plastic political signs work for a homemade Lamella Clarifier, since I never actually tried it. But if one can from some cheap board stock or free used signs after a campaign, then it should be almost free to test.

My brother had the idea to use large drinking straws in the balancing tube on the dirty side (with a 1/8 turn fitting, to get a 22.5-degree slope off vertical). As I understand it, the key is that the fluid flows up through the media (plates, corrugation, straws, whatever), the particles drag on the walls and restrict the flow, which causes clearer fluid to move faster, and makes the dirtier water move even slower, causing even more settling. The angle off vertical is to keep the settled particles out of the flow, so they don't remix on their way down to the trap.

Hi Andrew,

Welcome to the forums. I may very well build a small scale Lamella Clarifier to fit inside this black tank to help with the triple tank system I will have in place on the trommel I am currently building. Keith

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[B H Prospector]

Hi Hugo and welcome.

on the internet search mining equipment/bluebowl and you will come up with several companies who sell the blue bowl kits. They will range around $100 US. The kit should come with the bowl, leveling legs and the waterpump. If you have any problems pm me and I will give you the web sites of a few dealers.

Good Luck!

BH Prospector