Increase production

[Bejay]

Good point principedeleon.......forgot to mention that one........ that sudden suction stop causes the hose to flex slightly.

All's good if it works and shutting down and unplugging clogs is a real pain. All dredgers have to deal with it. The more suction you have and the faster the material goes down the hose the more you have to pay attention to "NOT" loading the hose and sluice too fast. There is a fine line you cross if you don't pay attention to all that is going on.

As a point of interest: If you are loading the sluice to fast and the sluice is building up with material you will really lose gold. But I have found that paying attention to details makes the day go better. But when the gravels are really loose; the problem is the rocks can come to fast so you have to use the pull back method as pointed out earlier. That way the bigger rocks are on the back side of the intake and the smaller can be "sucked" around to the front.

In shallow water, where I can get on my knees and dredge I use a sight tube and hold it in my teeth so I can see my nozzle working and see the gold before it goes up into the hose.....(makes the day nice when you actually see the gold setting there). My sight tube is made with 6 inch PVC and about 10 inches long and has a handle on it. (It makes a good small hand bucket as well....... Cleaning out the sluice and washing down spots above the water line).

I use a heavy duty grey rectangular "meat lug" to clean out my sluice.....I have had it for 35 years so it is extremely durable.....It also holds my crevice tools etc. when packing in equipment.........it is out on the quad now with tools in it: and another sits atop ( like a lid) the lower one (they fit inside each other like 5 gal buckets do but they have about a 5 inch space between the two bottoms).

The meat lug is also used when I am using my "shrimp gun" (suction gun)....as I can shoot the material into the lug and then pan it;
or place it in a sluice. I highly recommend using "square/rectangular" instead of "round" when cleaning the sluice

Bejay

 

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[Goodyguy]

I have also unplugged some rock jams by just putting my hands on and off the suction hose inside of the water and it works depending the plug up.. I guess it plays with the velocity inside of the hose to loosen the jam; doesnt completely stop the suction like taking it out of the water but becomes just enough to loosen it..Thats Just the first thing i do before i have to send the rock man up to unplug the rock jam.

Yep I forgot to mention that also, always first thing you try, in fact when you first notice a slow down in suction it's a good idea to do that right then because it may help to pre-empt a full on plug up.

GG~

 

[omnicron]

If your getting lots of plug ups, check your hose for rips. Check it out of the water, bend it flex it and so forth. I had a stint last season where I had plug up after plug up. Turns out it was a rip. Some electrical tape and duct tape later I was back dredging and no longer had problems.

 

[Bejay]

For cracks in the hose I always carry a tube of Shoe Goo and CLEAR rescue tape.....it does the job and leaves the hose colorless so I can see rocks that may lodge in it. Which reminds me of another trick I use extensively: sense I dredge alone.

Lets say you get a clog/lack of suction and you have tried all the previous tricks. "SOoo" Float the hose. Where the clog is will sag and you know right away where your problem is. You do not want to bang on the clog when the hose is full of water and has some suction....this will damage the hose. If you float the hose there is room for the multi rock clog to settle when tapped on and the rocks will move up the hose correctly. Be sure to have your nozzle in hand to submerse back in the water so you don't get a blow by. Then the burping can continue if need be to get the issue resolved further.

Bejay

 

[2020hindsite]

Excellent tips from gracious people with far more experience than I.
I appreciate it.
On a side note how often should I clean my box out if I'm running like a newb?
I know there is a lot of factors involved and just want a ballpark
Right now I'll clean out anytime waterflow stops for any reason or every 2 hours

 

[Bejay]

If you have someone with you when you dredge I would suggest you try having them put a cleanout tub at the end of your sluice if you have a water flow stop....and simply restart....catching anything that might dislodge in the sluice. Once things are running as you like have that person pan out the little bit that might have discharged. If you find some gold of ANY size I would be very surprised. Gold is SO heavy; once it lodges it is there to stay.....IMHO.

I stop and start often.......just to check things....and more often than not I simply slow down my engine/pump to an idle and check things....then power back up. Now I have heard that these are all NO NO's....but you would have to prove it to me. I have been using all kinds of dredges and my main dredge now is a triple layer Keene. I have never found gold in my lower safety catch black sand section...and I mean never!

I will admit to the fact that my main claims don't hold fly poop gold of any magnitude. So I don't have to deal with that issue. My claims don't have issues like garnet build up etc etc etc.....or huge amounts of black sand. So each dredge location can vary and such issues must be dealt with accordingly.

If my sluice is looking good (no great build up of "stuff"....I let er run). But I check the upper black "V" matt portion often ( I like to see gold ). If there is some showing I clean twice a day........right before lunch and then right before quitting. But note!... I can clean the upper section in just a matter of minutes with the triple layer.

If what you are doing makes you happy keep doing it. Sounds ok to me.

Go get some gold....

Bejay

 

[Hoser John]

Once a day unless gold running out the end or buildup occurs. Simply slow down the engine,remove larger rocks,give the box a good shake(think goldpan as that gold instantly heads to the bottom),then good to raise up the rpm and go all day-John

 

[2020hindsite]

I clean out whenever water stops because I've heard miners moss packs up like concrete when not in motion and it's difficult to get it fluid again.
I have also heard that dispite it's short comings miners moss is excellent if run correctly.
I'm not sure how accurate this stuff is...
Anyways I like the miners moss and trust it as I've seen the results. At this time I don't wish to switch to carpet but any advise on running moss would be appreciated.

 

[Sticks]

Thanks guys... Couple things,
I don't know how to run my engine hard? I have a proline 3 inch and was told to run just over 1/2 throttle with up to a 1 inch drop on the entire box. This is how I've always ran it. Wouldn't jacking up the throttle blow out gold? I know the water speed is not increased in the box but the water depth.

Second I have no idea what kind of dredger I am. I use a 3 inch proline with a power jet and just try and limit my plug-ups. I am a novice for sure. But I'm trying desperately to get better.

The area I must work has about 1-1 1/2 feet overburden which is not ideal for my dredge but I gotta do what I gotta do as this area has great gold for my area. Nearly all the exposed bedrock has been worked like a Mardi-gras hooker.
The overburden is mostly broken bedrock pieces which piled up over many years and are flat rocks which are difficult to run without plugging up.

One of the biggest issues I believe is my holes keep collapsing in on themselves and I continually have to process the overburden to keep making the hole bigger. I was taught to punch down to bedrock and then start widening your hole but I'm not sure how good my teacher was.

Thanks again guys and hopefully your pans are full this coming year

If your walls are falling in on you that is incredibly dangerous. you need to taper your hole in the long run you will move more material as well as increasing your chances of living. Many dredgers have fat finger tips ask em how they got em. If you blow your finger up your done for a few weeks minimum. Taper your hole can't stress that enough.

 

[Sticks]

Thanks for all this great info guys. 3 years ago my 1st time dredging a guy at the Alabama Gold Camp told me never raise throttle over half so thats where I have been. Many aggravating plug ups wore out a dead blow hammer beating that hose. I will try increasing the throttle this year

pay attention to what shape of rocks plug you up. for me it's flat rocks so i avoid flat rocks. I plug up way more when I try to long arm. If you can't see what your doing you will plug up often. Your pic shows you in uniform. Thank you for your service oath keeper. My family appreciates you.

 

[Bigwill]

Thanks Sticks. We went last weekend and only had 2 plug ups. No long arming. In 4' of water and current a little strong didn't have enough weight to stay secured down very well. I had called Alan Trees, maker of my dredge and he told me not to run the dredge wide open because would blow the gold right out so we ran at a little over 1/2 and selective of rocks going up the nozzle. Got only a few specks of gold but the kids and I had a good time

 

[Sticks]

Thanks Sticks. We went last weekend and only had 2 plug ups. No long arming. In 4' of water and current a little strong didn't have enough weight to stay secured down very well. I had called Alan Trees, maker of my dredge and he told me not to run the dredge wide open because would blow the gold right out so we ran at a little over 1/2 and selective of rocks going up the nozzle. Got only a few specks of gold but the kids and I had a good time

Alan is an awesome man I have a lot of respect for him, pick his brain he's pretty smart. So glad your taking kids out to do this, future is in their hands, good luck

 

[Gelmac]

Are you using a blaster? Are you sampling? Run only the highest grade material. As G1 said, get a second person to move rocks. Only clean out once a day, don't take lunch, Work smarter, plan your hole to minimize cobble tossing ie: throw them behind you so you don't have to move them twice... Not knowing how you dredge, it's hard to advise you.

Agree, that is an efficient technique to move rocks out the way, without wearing the dredger by standing up and looking around to see where to throw the rocks and then go down again.