Water pumps, do's and donts.

[josh086]

I would have to measure it heads up its a 'GSA pro gold sluice' I only run the 5.5hp power pump on idle and it works great..

 

[josh086]

thanks nugget, they expensive lil sh#ts though!! would be able to run at high revs n still last a long time though I guess..

 

[Nugget]

Expensive yes, worth the initial outlay... I think so.

I was contemplating getting something cheaper but went with the WX15 for a couple of reasons, namely portability and their overall quality / reliability. But... the main reason I bought one was because I somehow managed to convince the wife to let me :lol:

 

[josh086]

haha thats the go mate. I dont need to convince anyone but me

 

[josh086]

hey nugget do u get plenty of good pressure from spray bar to break up the sticky clay alright with wx15?

 

[Nugget]

I sure do mate, I reduce down to 1" at the spray bar to increase pressure. The beauty of the Walbanker design is the ability to keep working the clay on the classifying screen for as long as required (or until it falls through), this I imagine would be difficult to do with a traditional grizzly config.

 

[josh086]

yea i have a screen with i think they are 9mm holes holes in it so same deal i will be able to work the clay untill it breaks down. i have just been doing some research and seen that some people are running the honda motors with keene pumps for more pressure/flow etc.. interesting not to sure what one to go with!!

 

[trenchfighter]

those keene pumps are the go, but expensive as f*ck here in oz

 

[Nugget]

those keene pumps are the go, but expensive as f*ck here in oz

They say, you have to be keene to buy a keene :8

 

[josh086]

looks that way, how much have people spent on the honda GXH-50 and P-90 combo?? the wx15 is probably stretching the budget with how much i want to spend but its good gear and would be good to have.. i might have to just go with it. nugget do you have holes in your spray bar or thin cuts with grinder on a angle? thinking cuts on a angle with the wx15 would work well.

 

[Nugget]

I have the cuts, just make sure they are all the same length and don't cut too many, you can always cut more later.

 

[josh086]

thanks nugget. the wx15 sounds like it be a good thing. although I might ask pump shop about options with the GX 50/pump combinations for bit more pressure for working sticky clay just see what they say. thanks again for your input nugget

 

[ratovic]

Hey all. Thinking of upgrading my water pump to a bigger model for when i get my Gold Hog mats. The one i have atm is great and light, but i don't think it would produce enough volume for the new set up which may be wider and longer. My question would be, is a twin impeller a ridiculous overkill? Does it just produce waaaay more pressure? I'm not really sure. There are brand new Honda 5.5's on the net for $500 which is a great price but don't know if it would be too extreme. Any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Regardless of what pump you're looking at make sure you look at it's specifications and choose the one with the spec's that will do the job. Higher pressure can often mean less volume of delivery. The Rato 80 metre head pump (RT50YB80-3.8Q) has the same 7 HP engine as what's on the 50 metre (RT50YB50-3.8Q) head pump but it's delivery is significantly lower than the 50 metre head pump. The 50 metre pump is rated at 500 litres/min max and the 80 metre pump is rated at 267 litres/min maximum flow.

But the Rato 90 metre head pump (RT50YB100-7.2Q) is rated at 500 lt/min max and it's got a whopping 390 cc 13 HP engine on it and weighs more than double the other pumps. Always check the spec's.

With twin impeller pumps one impeller feeds the other which means the output from the low pressure impeller feeds the intake of the high pressure impeller. When I was an apprentice at Alcoa I worked on a 13 impeller centrifugal pump at Anglesea power station. I can't remember what it's output was but I do remember being the lucky one to get shoved inside the pump housing up to my boots to put the keys in the shaft as it was re-assembled. It's one example of when being tall and skinny isn't that advantageous.

A quick word of advice for when you guys need to pump long distances, don't use less than 50mm (2") diameter hoses. 38-40mm (1-1/2") hose is about 3 times more flow restrictive than 50mm so if you need to pump several hundred metres don't try to save money on smaller hose as you just won't get much (if any) flow delivery.

Be wary of Honda branded pumps at bargain prices. Some of the trade shows I've been to have had billboards warning of counterfeit engines being marketed as genuine Honda's. If it seems too cheap to be a real Honda, it probably isn't. A bit similar to that African princess with $30 mill to offload.

Happy pumping.

 

[ratovic]

not hard to import, i buy a lot of gear direct from them.
Usually have it within 10 days of order

Hi HardYakka

Can you tell me what the Keene pump actually cost you after you got it here. I'm trying to find a high performance pump for someone. I'm also looking for mounting specifications, shaft requirements and flow charts for Keene pumps. Do you know where to source them? I'm finding the Keene website very light on for details. Are there any Australian importers of these pumps that anybody knows of?
Thanks

 

[Ryan27]

Geoff From prospectingsupplies .com.au brings in Hondas and Keene gear.
Expensive yes!!
However after trying every other motor and pump combination known to man kind. I buy Honda.
Taking a Highbanker into the wilderness, the last thing you need to be doing is diagnosing stationary engine issues.
Honda will crank first time every time. That is what you pay for ( peace of mind )
Are they value for money?
Depends on how much time you dedicate to prospecting. Also depends on how the area you are working is paying.
Keene centrifugal pumps are awesome! They give both high flow and pressure.
If it is not a centrifugal pump it is a (transfer)pump. Whilst they will adequately run some prospecting equipment, they will lack pressure. This will require you to run your motor at higher RPM's. This May result in a shorter lifespan of a cheaper initial purchase.
There is no right or wrong choice. At the end of the day, most precious metal and gem recovery requires water.
Dealing with too much pressure and flow is easy to overcome. Not having enough really blows.

 

[ratovic]

Geoff From prospectingsupplies .com.au brings in Hondas and Keene gear.
Expensive yes!! Keene centrifugal pumps are awesome! They give both high flow and pressure .

Good comments Ryan. These Keene pumps sure sound good. How do they go with priming? From looking at the photo's of them they don't look as easy as other pumps to get some water into the impeller chamber for priming. Or do you just start them up with your suction hose submerged and off they go?

The reason I'm chasing these pumps is to supply a potential customer with a back up pump for his fire sprinkler system. This particular application needs over 300 L/min at a pressure of at least 300 kPa for the sprinklers to run effectively. This is why I want to get my hands on flow charts for the pumps so I can see what pressure they produce at a certain flow rate.

 

[G0lddigg@]

hey Gavin i run a gx200 with p180.

Priming is easy you can either use the shake method by swinging the check valve back and forth in the water until the intake fills or as I do 99% of the time tip water straight into the 50mm outlet. this only requires a slight angle i.e. putting your foot underneath the outlet side. the addition of a bleeder valve on these pumps which fits a standard hose fitting is a great addition to getting air out quickly.

Ive also seen bloke using a rev method where they drawer water into the chamber with fast throttle jerks, personally i haven't experimented with this as id rather not run my turbo dry

To me the main benefit of this setup is this pump can run all day on 1/2 tank of fuel, the 1135 liters per minute is never needed but its good knowing its there especially if there was a fire. Everyone that sees me setting up my pump often say that's a bit over the top isn't it? until its running and you cna bearly hear it pumping away.

The most Ive pushed this pump is running 25 mt 50mm + 50mt 40mm up over a ridge with heaps of pressure on tap at the other end still running about 50% throttle.

 

[Showmethemoney]

So, after quite a while i ended up buying a GX120 coupled with a Daishin pump. This should meet my requirements and is about $450 cheaper than the GXH50 and Keene scenario. Portability shouldn't be a problem given my new sluice is about 1700 long so i was not going to venture too far from my car anyway hahah. Being a 2" pump when my previous was a 1 1/2", i have tried to retain some of the other gear. I have put the 1 1/2" strainer on the 2" intake. Would this be a problem? Im sure reducing the 2" lay flat to 1 1/2" at the high banker wouldn't be a problem. Also does anyone know the best way to go from a 2" lay flat to a 1 1/2". The only way i came up with was to use a 1 1/2" male end cam lock connected to the 1 1/2" and the 2" just fits over the coupling with a hose clamp around it where the concave is in it...Kind of hard to explain but i hope you understand what i am saying. Its a pity they don't make reducing cam locks, however people probably don't need this scenario for general water transfer lol.

 

[G0lddigg@]

Reducing the intake definitely puts unnecessary load on your pump. You can do it but why waste fuel and overwork it? Plastic check valves can be got fir about $26. Reducing your hose size can be done with threaded fittings snd camlocks on the thread if required. Any irrigatuon supplies show will have these.