Pump and spray bar size.

Hi everyone my names aaron I'm new to the site and this is my first post.

Im in need of some advice. The past few weekends I've been building a high banker I've folded up the hopper and sluice now I'm making the spray bar. I'm using 20mm PVC pipe the thing is I think 20mm is to small for the size of the high banker. Size is 230x1100. I'm using expanded metal over moss and v matting the Punch plate in the hopper has 6mm holes in it.. And as of yet I have no pump. But I'm looking at getting a 2.5hp 1.5" pump. Would the 20mm pvc and 1.5" pump be enough for this size high banker or should I go up a size in pipe.






Any advice and input would've great.

Hi Bazron, I think your hopper is far too high, if you drill holes say 25mm apart and pointing down at an angle and if you don't get enough water then you can enlarge them.it is all trial and error until you are satisfied with the result. I built the one in the pic about 10 years ago and still refining it, it might give you some thing to think about also the smaller the hole the easier they will block up cheers Stew

hi stew thanx for your reply.

i didnt like how the hopper looked either ive already cut it down about 12cm.

i thought about useing pvc pipe for a sluice haha good job!!
i reckon ill do slits on the spray bar not holes like u said holes clog up easy.

Slots are better than holes in my opinion. I have used both and holes do clog up easily. I use an irrigation riser for spray bar with slots. Works well with 1,5 inch pump and it should work for you. How wide is you sluice section?

gday beagleboy, sluice is 23cm wide.

Hi Aaron 230mm sounds good I use the back of the shovel to hold the wash up in the spray zone and you should be able to do the same, it really helps to break the dirt up and doesn't allow it to go down the sluice too quickly. Beagleboy, I like your idea I was going to shorten up my spray bars so i will play with slotting and see how it goes. Cheers Stew

have a look through the walbanker thread, spraybars that are slotted & work well with 1.5" pumps.

bazron said:

gday beagleboy, sluice is 23cm wide.

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That pump would be big enough to run that. You can make the spray bars out of irrigation risers and some elbows (the black ones). That way you can take it apart in case it clogs.
Something like this.

heres abit more of my progress.. the classifier screen is removable too.

Have a close look at my setup.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=8328

Hi tathradj thanx for your reply. I think using the irrigation pipe would be better u can unscrew it all and clean it out completely. If i used pvc id be stuck with it all glued together. Also just bought a honda wx15 pump today.

bazron said:

Hi tathradj thanx for your reply. I think using the irrigation pipe would be better u can unscrew it all and clean it out completely. If i used pvc id be stuck with it all glued together. Also just bought a honda wx15 pump today.

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WX15 is a great pump. I use the same. You will be able to run it half throttle on your size banker.

One of the best if not the best pump for this.
Well Done.
When looking at my setup you will see that I have 1 1/2"" right
to the start of the spray bars.
This is called a manifold and it will distribute the water evenly under pressure.
Other wise you will end up with water hammer and have all the pressure down
the end and none at the start of the spray bars.
One thing I am about to try is slots with holes.
Cut a slot then drill a hole in the middle of the slot.

yer i think the honda was a good choice haha

tathradj so your elbow piece is also a down sizer from 1.5" to 1 inch"??

It is just a 1.5" T piece with reducers down to 1 "
The fun I had was finding a 1" pipe threader (Die) to
re-thread the pipe to length.
Finding some thing like that in my local area is just
as hard as finding a needle in a hay stack. LOL
Evil bay have them real cheap.

Ohh yer i hadn't thought about rethreading the pipe. Hopefully my uncle will have a die that fits. If not ill flea bay it.

Thanx for your help tathradj i appreciate it alot!

Any time.

Your local plumber should also have a die nut. cheers Stew

I made these yesterday. The middle riser was bit wide so I just chopped 10 mil of each end with a drop saw. Because it was a nice clean cut it screws on ok. It fits the banker perfectly.

Well done mate.