Bilge pumps information and questions

[Pr2cv]

Matt,
Not sure that a bilge pump is the best choice as they do not like constant running.I would suggest you look at a garden/sump pump as they are more apt to do the job.
I have worked in boat yards for many years so I'm not talking through my arse.
Pete

 

[Ozjono]

Can anyone suggest a suitable deep cycle battery for my 1100GPH Rule Bilge Pump? I'd like to get 2-4 hours running time and need something reasonably light as I plan on carrying it long distances.

I don't know much about this sort of thing but here's the amp draw info listed on the box which may or may not be of help.
Amp Draw - 3.3 @ 12v / 5.0 @ 13.6v

Nugget you should buy a small petrol pump lighter and cheaper in the long run, I just picked one up off ebay is a johno & jono 1" for $187 free post and it will be lighter then a deep cycle battery also it 4 stroke shouldn't be to loud

 

[Guest]

Thanks Reeks, I was only thinking deep cycle as it was suggested as being a better option for regular charge / discharge scenarios. A motorcycle battery would be great as long as it could handle this?

You can pick up the little 12v 26ah scooter/golf buggy batteries for about $50 new. They still weigh about 8kg though.

Lithium ion would be the go at only 3.5kg but the $450 price tag isn't ideal :lol:

 

[RottenRon]

Hi guys.
For what it's worth, I have a Angus MacKirk "Boss" sluice I tried with a cheap 2000gph pump.
As has already been suggested in previous posts in this thread, I doubt the flow is anywhere near that. More like 800 or 900gph, if I'm lucky.
Be that as it may, I have some pictures of my "Boss" setup and there are some suggestions of others in this thread as well. https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4456
I ended up buying a much smaller MacKirk sluice last Saturday, the Grub Steak I think it was.
I plumbed it up with 25 mm pvc in a "Tee" fashion with capped ends and a 1/4 slot cut the full length of the T, through the glued fittings and caps. I hope that makes sense. I'll post a pick if you need it.
With the pump I have, it works a treat, especially for cleaning up concentrates. I run 1/4 classified stuff through it.
I get about 1 1/4 hrs out of a 900 amp "Jump start" battery from Supacheap. The 1200 amp unit would obviously run longer.
It plugs into the cig lighter socket fitted in the case and comes with a LED light that's kinda handy it you're camping. Mains and car charger are also provided.
One other advantage, if you haven't completely flattened it is, you can jump start your car if you need to, at the camp or home.
They have a carry handle, don't leak and I find them all round convenient.
I think 2000gph would be the limit it this type of setup though. For instance, my hi-banker and my "Boss" both need more water flow, so rather than go for a bigger bilge pump, which may still be marginal, I'm going to lash out for a good 4 stroke Honda or Makita pump. the weight will be around 8 kg and will give me somewhere around 9000 lph max. Cheaper 4 stroke units are typically around 13 or 14kg. The only real hassle is the need to carry fuel as well, but a couple of litres won't weigh too much.
The 4 stroke can run well on reduced revs to vary the flow, whereas the 2 strokes will only foul up the plugs and make re-starting a lot harder.
So there you go chaps. More food for thought.
Good luck.
Cheers, Ron.

 

[Nugget]

Thanks guys, my main design considerations were for it to be lightweight / portable, quite and reasonably cheap to build. I do plan on building or buying something bigger a little later on in the year and I will consider a petrol pump for that, but this unit I'm building for hiking to test new ground as well as process concentrates at home.

 

[Reeks]

Hi guys.
For what it's worth, I have a Angus MacKirk "Boss" sluice I tried with a cheap 2000gph pump.
As has already been suggested in previous posts in this thread, I doubt the flow is anywhere near that. More like 800 or 900gph, if I'm lucky.
Be that as it may, I have some pictures of my "Boss" setup and there are some suggestions of others in this thread as well. https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4456
I ended up buying a much smaller MacKirk sluice last Saturday, the Grub Steak I think it was.
I plumbed it up with 25 mm pvc in a "Tee" fashion with capped ends and a 1/4 slot cut the full length of the T, through the glued fittings and caps. I hope that makes sense. I'll post a pick if you need it.
With the pump I have, it works a treat, especially for cleaning up concentrates. I run 1/4 classified stuff through it.
I get about 1 1/4 hrs out of a 900 amp "Jump start" battery from Supacheap. The 1200 amp unit would obviously run longer.
It plugs into the cig lighter socket fitted in the case and comes with a LED light that's kinda handy it you're camping. Mains and car charger are also provided.
One other advantage, if you haven't completely flattened it is, you can jump start your car if you need to, at the camp or home.
They have a carry handle, don't leak and I find them all round convenient.
I think 2000gph would be the limit it this type of setup though. For instance, my hi-banker and my "Boss" both need more water flow, so rather than go for a bigger bilge pump, which may still be marginal, I'm going to lash out for a good 4 stroke Honda or Makita pump. the weight will be around 8 kg and will give me somewhere around 9000 lph max. Cheaper 4 stroke units are typically around 13 or 14kg. The only real hassle is the need to carry fuel as well, but a couple of litres won't weigh too much.
The 4 stroke can run well on reduced revs to vary the flow, whereas the 2 strokes will only foul up the plugs and make re-starting a lot harder.
So there you go chaps. More food for thought.
Good luck.
Cheers, Ron.

Ron the reason your only getting 1 1/4 hours is because the "jump starter" is designed to do exactly that. Provide 900 cold crank amps for a few seconds at a time.
You would be a lot better off with a small car battery at around 400-500 cca with the capacity to power your pump for a lot longer. Would weigh around the same also.

Nugget, a gel motorbike battery would get you your 2-4 hours with a full charge.

Reeko

 

[Colmaca]

Ron the reason your only getting 1 1/4 hours is because the "jump starter" is designed to do exactly that. Provide 900 cold crank amps for a few seconds at a time.
You would be a lot better off with a small car battery at around 400-500 cca with the capacity to power your pump for a lot longer. Would weigh around the same also.

Nugget, a gel motorbike battery would get you your 2-4 hours with a full charge.

Reeko

I have a 1900 jump starter pack I have opened it up since I thought it was broken . it has 2 standard 17 Ah sealed acid battery's inside not cranking ones gives me many hours on my 1100GPH pump

 

[Goldtarget]

When out for a few days at a time i take the generator and a submersible. After the gold is done can hook up just about anything. Anywhere you'd carry a four stroke pump you'd carry a little gen. Cheap gen and sub with a two year warranty period will set you back $300~$400 prob cheaper on Ebay or shop around. Makes sense to me anyhow, unless water is super light on, but you can cart it in if need be.

 

[Nightjar]

Hi fellas,
No where in this thread has there been any reference to "pump head", the 12V bilge pumps mentioned earlier are rated for delivery point just above water level and a short delivery.

 

[Yellowbrickroad]

Nightjar... I tested my 3700 gph Rule on the weekend..... 1m lift over 4m pipe dropped it down to 2250 gph at the far end on a fully charged battery. Unfortunatly this leaves me at the very lower limit of what I can run my sluice on

 

[G0lddigg@]

Nightjar... I tested my 3700 gph Rule on the weekend..... 1m lift over 4m pipe dropped it down to 2250 gph at the far end on a fully charged battery. Unfortunatly this leaves me at the very lower limit of what I can run my sluice on

hey mate you can always lower your riffle height / angles slow and low works well for bilge pump sluices too not just detecting

 

[Yellowbrickroad]

Nightjar... I tested my 3700 gph Rule on the weekend..... 1m lift over 4m pipe dropped it down to 2250 gph at the far end on a fully charged battery. Unfortunatly this leaves me at the very lower limit of what I can run my sluice on

hey mate you can always lower your riffle height / angles slow and low works well for bilge pump sluices too not just detecting

Nail on the head!!! - That is going to be my next test.... adjusting the angle until I find a happy place for that flow rate without loosing gold.
Cheers!

 

[RottenRon]

G'day one and all.
Well, I bit the bullet. I ordered a 4 stroke pump.
$330 and will be here Friday.
Reasonable quality, and bugger me dead if the machinery place 1/2 a km away sell them. Here's me looking all over the countryside,, der.
It's a Selecta Water Transfer pump as sold by Silvan, the mob who sell all sorts of pumping and spray gear to orchardists and farmers.

Key Features
Portable centrifugal water pump
115L/min open 114kPa/40psi
3 metres Suction Lift
Outlet and inlet connections 1 BSP (25mm)
Handy carry handle
Motor Features:
4 Stroke, 33cc capacity
Recoil start
Petrol Powered
No Mixing
Pump Size 115.00 L/min
Pressure Rate 2.76 bar
HP Required 1.21 - HP
Height/Width/Depth 360mm / 300mm / 420mm
Product Weight 8.00 KG

I've bought a 25mm foot valve for it, so I shouldn't have to prime it on a restart.
Should go under 9kg full, and with say, 2 litres spare fuel, under 11kg.
Ample flow at approx 6900 lph for my needs.
Shouldn't loose too much flow with a head up to a Hi-banker.

I really did consider the versatility of a small gen set and submersible, but rough handling that stuff scares me a little, especially the 240v near a creek/water. I've been a Linesman for 38 years, so I have a healthy respect for the stuff. I'd much prefer not to have to worry about nicks in insulation etc.

I also have a 4x4 with dual battery setup for camp setups, but I can't always get that to where I want to go.

Nah, the Selecta pump will do me. Maybe not quite the flow of a Honda or Makita pump, but near enough the same weight for around 2/3rds the price.

I'm sure we'll all have our own priorities, but those are mine for what it's worth.

By the way Reeks. You are right of course but at the time, I thought the extras on the jump start were kinda handy. I did say though that the bigger one would have been a bit better, but then again, if I had bought the pump in the first place, I could have saved my bickies.

Yellowbrickroad is also right. Bilge pumps do drop heaps of flow as you increase the head. So much so, a reasonable size hibanker would battle to work properly. His flow dropped about 35%.

My thoughts on increasing the sluice or hibanker fall is that it's a compromise at best. Doing so means the gold falls further away from the base of the riffle and might have more chance of rolling out over the clogged mat, which seems to happen with my cheap bilge pump at the moment. Clogging the mat I mean, who knows if I've managed to shovel much gold in there. I have found some, but I'm not confident it's working right just yet. The pump will fix that though.

Ya live and learn.

Cheers, Ron.
PS. The message here is, the best mistakes to learn from, are those that others make.

 

[G0lddigg@]

looks like a decent pump mate hope it does the job, assume you wanted something small and light to lug around or u would have bought a lifen at 33000 lph for the same money.

have you got any pics of your setup? we love pics

 

[Reeks]

Pump looks identical to the makita, as does fuel tank and cowling.
Do you know what brand the motor is?
Hope it serves you well mate.
Use quality oil in it and it should last a few hundred hours.
Reeko

 

[thedigger]

Jono&Johno in Ballarat sell them for $180.00

 

[RottenRon]

All good Nugget. Keep us posted.
Is there such a thing,,, new ground???
Good luck m8.
Cheers, Ron.

 

[RottenRon]

Jono&Johno in Ballarat sell them for $180.00

Yeah, but they close early, don't open Saturdays and since I live near Melbourne, they're hard to catch. Also, his pump weighs nearly twice as much. I did look at them, but I'd rather the smaller, lighter option. Besides, their shop isn't 1/2km down the road like these other guys. Handy if I have a problem, not to mention convenient when I pick it up.
It has more flow, but I don't need it. Weight and size is my main concern.

Cheers, Ron.

 

[RottenRon]

Pump looks identical to the makita, as does fuel tank and cowling.
Do you know what brand the motor is?
Hope it serves you well mate.
Use quality oil in it and it should last a few hundred hours.
Reeko

Don't know the brand, but the Makita one is just branded "Makita", not made by them I don't think.
Same as mine, branded as Selecta, which is a budget Silvan line. Probably come out of the same factory
Usually with these things, the bigger companies such as Makita, Silvan, etc etc, look around for reasonable well made budget priced items to re-brand as an economy line.
Engel fridges and a bunch of others do the same. They have the same little 10 Litre I think it is, car fridge, re-brand them, and flog em off as their own.

Cheers, Ron.

 

[RottenRon]

looks like a decent pump mate hope it does the job, assume you wanted something small and light to lug around or u would have bought a lifen at 33000 lph for the same money.

have you got any pics of your setup? we love pics

Yeah, it had to be lightweight, and I didn't need that sort of flow. Mind you, with that much, I could charge a bunch of other guys to hook in as well,, lol.
I'll post some pics next week.

Cheers, Ron.