- Jan 27, 2015
- 976
- 3,381
- 🏆 Honorable Mentions:
- 3
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Equinox 800
XP Deus 2
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
Hi all. Last weekend I got the chance to dredge in Virginia with another Treasurenet member, and it was a lot of fun. I got to run the dredge for about 5 hours; it should have been longer, but more on that in a minute.
Below I've included a picture of the heavies, and along with the gold (awesome) and lead (glad it's out of the river) I found those two copper looking things that look like the letter "A". I included a closeup taken through a magnifying glass. They're heavy, like lead or gold.
I'm guessing that they're copper parts off of a printed circuit board or something similar, but does anyone know definitively what they are?
A side story about why I only ran the dredge for 5 hours: we were dredging in a side feeder stream, so I had to run water from the pump up to the nozzle over about 50' and about 5-7' of lift. I've got a strong pump and a 3" Hydroforce nozzle and I've always been able to run the pump at about 50% with good flow. Keep in mind that this is my 4th or 5th time using the gear, so I'm not an expert yet.
I got everything set up, started the pump and the hose pressurized, but there was no suction at the nozzle. Since the nozzle's a Hydroforce I opened the valve and water came out of the blaster very strongly, so I knew the pump was delivering water; at first I was worried that the distance or lift was the issue. I figured that something must be plugged up somewhere. I spent probably 60 minutes isolating and troubleshooting different parts of the system one at a time, and narrowed the issue down to the nozzle; something had to be clogging the jet part of the nozzle. Now, it's not easy to take the nozzle off of the outlet hose, but I did it so I could get a good look into the outlet of the jet. And there it was: an acorn. It turns out an acorn is the perfect size to plug the jet on that nozzle. So I poked the acorn back toward the supply side of the jet and it came rattling out. I got everything connected back up, and started the pump.
Still no suction. Still no jet. Um... I guess I didn't check to see if there was a second acorn - and there was.
Fast forwarding, after another disconnect, poke, reconnect, repressurize - STILL no jet. There was a THIRD acorn in there.
I'm convinced some squirrel or chipmunk got into my garage and stored 3 acorns in my nozzle. There is no way that 3 of them accidentally got into the pressure hose when I was setting up. That nozzle must have looked like a hole in a tree to that squirrel/chipmunk, and he/she/it climbed up there and stored a winter snack in that nozzle.
Anyway, I learned A LOT about my equipment that day, and about making sure that you double-check everything before reconnecting the hoses.
And if I'd had a coat hanger - which could bend around the U of the nozzle jet - I would have gotten all 3 acorns out at once. Needless to say, a coat hanger is now standard equipment in my kit.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and if you have an idea of what those little copper-looking heavy A things are, please let me know.
- Brian
What is that copper thing in between the two lead shots?
Below I've included a picture of the heavies, and along with the gold (awesome) and lead (glad it's out of the river) I found those two copper looking things that look like the letter "A". I included a closeup taken through a magnifying glass. They're heavy, like lead or gold.
I'm guessing that they're copper parts off of a printed circuit board or something similar, but does anyone know definitively what they are?
A side story about why I only ran the dredge for 5 hours: we were dredging in a side feeder stream, so I had to run water from the pump up to the nozzle over about 50' and about 5-7' of lift. I've got a strong pump and a 3" Hydroforce nozzle and I've always been able to run the pump at about 50% with good flow. Keep in mind that this is my 4th or 5th time using the gear, so I'm not an expert yet.
I got everything set up, started the pump and the hose pressurized, but there was no suction at the nozzle. Since the nozzle's a Hydroforce I opened the valve and water came out of the blaster very strongly, so I knew the pump was delivering water; at first I was worried that the distance or lift was the issue. I figured that something must be plugged up somewhere. I spent probably 60 minutes isolating and troubleshooting different parts of the system one at a time, and narrowed the issue down to the nozzle; something had to be clogging the jet part of the nozzle. Now, it's not easy to take the nozzle off of the outlet hose, but I did it so I could get a good look into the outlet of the jet. And there it was: an acorn. It turns out an acorn is the perfect size to plug the jet on that nozzle. So I poked the acorn back toward the supply side of the jet and it came rattling out. I got everything connected back up, and started the pump.
Still no suction. Still no jet. Um... I guess I didn't check to see if there was a second acorn - and there was.
Fast forwarding, after another disconnect, poke, reconnect, repressurize - STILL no jet. There was a THIRD acorn in there.
I'm convinced some squirrel or chipmunk got into my garage and stored 3 acorns in my nozzle. There is no way that 3 of them accidentally got into the pressure hose when I was setting up. That nozzle must have looked like a hole in a tree to that squirrel/chipmunk, and he/she/it climbed up there and stored a winter snack in that nozzle.
Anyway, I learned A LOT about my equipment that day, and about making sure that you double-check everything before reconnecting the hoses.
And if I'd had a coat hanger - which could bend around the U of the nozzle jet - I would have gotten all 3 acorns out at once. Needless to say, a coat hanger is now standard equipment in my kit.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and if you have an idea of what those little copper-looking heavy A things are, please let me know.
- Brian
What is that copper thing in between the two lead shots?
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