Need help buying a sluice.

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

How many GPM do the various zook sizes require? Can they be used in a recirc situation?

 

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[GoldpannerDave]

How many GPM do the various zook sizes require? Can they be used in a recirc situation?

Yes, but I don't have the figures here at hand and it is late. I think Goodyguy may have had pictures on how to connect water to the tubes in the fluid bed and others probably also. Tomorrow I will try to scan and see what I can find and post it if I get time. But the short answer is yes, you can use them in a recirc situation. Try it with a smaller bazooka, since the larger one require more water.

 

[CA Gold Hunter]

Bazooka has a high banker coming out sometime soon. If you go to their website and look under their blog they have a video posted.

 

[justinfisch01]

I am going to pile on here like most people. I originally bought a regular riffle/expanded metal sluice. It took forever to get it setup correctly which I doubt I ever go it right. Do your self a favor and buy a Bazooka, build a wing dam to increase your flow. You will catch more gold and prospecting will be a lot more enjoyable

 

[Rdg Sluicer]

All the manufactures sluices will catch gold....... Just not as well as a bazooka.

 

[CA Gold Hunter]

Just the volume of material you can move makes the bazooka a better choice IMO. I was able to move 15 3 gallon buckets through mine the other day in a few hours and I wasn't going real fast. The last time I used my Keene I got about 3 5 gallon buckets classified down and then that was probably only about 7 gallons of classified material through the sluice over the same amount of time. The other thing is I can't help but wonder what if I missed a nice sized nugget from classifying all those buckets before I got my bazooka. Now if there's a nice big nugget it will fall out at the grizzlies.

 

[Prospector70]

How many GPM do the various zook sizes require? Can they be used in a recirc situation?

All of them. LoL
Yes, but you're going to need some good pump, I'm imagining a couple bilge pumps shooting 8,000 + GPH

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

All of them. LoL
Yes, but you're going to need some good pump, I'm imagining a couple bilge pumps shooting 8,000 + GPH

This makes me wonder if there is a rule of thumb about target velocity. 8000 GPM in a zook sniper assuming both the upper and lower were uniformly flooded at the entire cross section 4.5x4.5 inches neglecting the wall thicknesses put flow at 127 ft/sec = 87 MPH.

Anybody have knowledge of target water velocity ranges? Given that info the flow could be designed.

Looking at the diagram zook has up the lower section 'scoop' restricts down to pipe inlet(s) so the flow would be even faster, nearly twice if the cross section available is almost half.

 

[Duckwalk]

Wut?

 

[Rdg Sluicer]

Not sure about water velocity or wall thickness... all I know is you jam that sucker between a couple boulders with good water flow and you shovel your arse off!!! Remember mo water mo better!!!

 

[Gold Rover]

If you can afford it, buy a Bazooka. If not, and you're handy, make a fluid bed trap yourself. And if you want the most for the least, buy an Angus MacKirk.

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

Wut?

qVWACK!! Sorry, I took some short cuts there. The dimensions are from their website. Overall. So I didn't compensate for wall thickness. Just an approximate calculation, and conservative at that.

 

[KevinInColorado]

This makes me wonder if there is a rule of thumb about target velocity. 8000 GPM in a zook sniper assuming both the upper and lower were uniformly flooded at the entire cross section 4.5x4.5 inches neglecting the wall thicknesses put flow at 127 ft/sec = 87 MPH.

Anybody have knowledge of target water velocity ranges? Given that info the flow could be designed.

Looking at the diagram zook has up the lower section 'scoop' restricts down to pipe inlet(s) so the flow would be even faster, nearly twice if the cross section available is almost half.

No. He was exaggerating. You don't really want THAT much water.

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Beautiful river, i like all the above mentioned sluices. I personally like drop riffle sluices such as Angus MacKirk. I am currently using a Brawn easy clean sluice and love it.

 

[gold kid]

Thanks heaps

 

[Rdg Sluicer]

Beautiful river, i like all the above mentioned sluices. I personally like drop riffle sluices such as Angus MacKirk. I am currently using a Brawn easy clean sluice and love it.

Do you have the Brawn with the Louver Riffles? I like the Brawn Dredges but I wasnt so sure about the box with the louver riffles.

 

[Goldwasher]

I can't buy into the louvers. Studies show fine gold can even avoid holes in punch plate due to surface tension....so theres no way I can trust thae louver set up. I'm sure they did testing but...nah..... Dan is using a drop riffle.

 

[Rdg Sluicer]

I can't buy into the louvers. Studies show wine gold can even avoid holes in punch plate due to surface tension....so theres no way I can trust thae louver set up. I'm sure they did testing but...nah..... Dan is using a drop riffle.

I am a little skeptical too.

 

[Vance in AK]

The Brawn Easy Clean is the drop riffle MacKirk style

 

[QNCrazy]

I don't own a BGT but have watched several videos demonstrating their ease of use. I agree with everyone suggesting the BGT if all you are ever planning to do is shovel material.
When I got back into prospecting a little over a year ago, I was looking for the easiest sluice based on my local water conditions. I ended up settling on a drop riffle (RCM and AM explorer). Man do these catch the fines. Now a question to keep in mind is how far do you want to go with your prospecting/mining adventure. I knew I ultimately wanted my own claim and hoped that dredges would be back in the water and I would have a dredge operation going on. With this in mind, I chose to invest in the keene A52. I agree that these stream sluices can be agrivating at times trying to set them up. But when I finally got the settings right, it was a piece of cake. Although it is not a dredge sluice, I have learned the mechanics of feed v. flow v. angle which will apply to dredging as well as highbanking/powersluicing. So just some food for thought.