Poor boys non-motorized dredge pump.


The theory of operation of this unit is that you place the bucket in a strong, fast moving river to capture the current. Moor the bucket to a boulder or tree so that it doesn't get carried off. Water current flowing through the y-adapter creates a venturi effect that produces suction for the dredge. Do you think it would work or is this idea all wet?

Click to view attachment

I might try building one this winter and test it next spring if it's even plausible that this might work. I'm hoping that someone with experience with this sort of thing will comment.

Boogie

To create a stream induced venturi effect with enough suction to lift rocks, sand, and gold... I think you would need one heck of a current for your feed. Thus a much larger water capture bucket (55gal drum shaped like a funnel?), and much larger hose to carry the volumes of water needed to naturally create an effective suction intake.
I'm not sure if this is a plausible scenario.

If this guy can do it, you can. I like the bigger intake idea!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esN2JFS0QYc

Wow... that looked like a pain but he definitely had it working. He also had an awful lot of dredge hose (ain't cheap), and a 9ft drop in elevation to help. It didn't look very practical considering that hose clogs could be a huge problem and relocating the rig would take much time and limit you to areas that would facilitate the equivalent of his 9ft drop to create a powerful enough venturi effect.
While I was at YouTube - one of the suggested videos on the right panel was of these two crazy bastidages dredging in the winter: What the???

Thanks guys!

I believe the gravity dredge in the video is using a siphone principle. I must say that it works much better than I would have thought.

What I'm trying to do is capture the energy of the river current to cause a venturi effect at the Y-adapter to create suction on the drege hose. This is the same sort of principle as a paint gun or airbrush (except using water instead of air). I have a feeling that Swizz is right and I won't be able to create enough of a venturi effect to cause suction on the dredge hose. Maybe if I used a smaller dredge hose (2"). Maybe a T-adapter would create a stronger venturi effect? I REALLY don't want to have to resort to using a 55g drum to capture the energy of the current. Could you imagine trying to wrestle a 55g drum from the swift current of a raging river? I think it's going to be hard enough recovering a 5g bucket from the strong river current. I realize that this sort of dredge would limited only to areas where deep, strong river currents are available near the dredge site. It wouldn't work at all in slower moving shallow mountian streams.

I guess what I really need to do is take some lessons from the Myth Busters and mock up a miniature version to test the concept before taking it to production.

Thanks again and if there are other thoughts, I would love to hear them.

Boogie

Looks like someone likes to draw........ Boogie. Keep brainstorming, there is a good idea hiding in there, you just need to find those little details to get it rockin'.



HA! All I can say is you only live once, so why not? If you have the means and the will to do it....Git R' Done!
I just felt bad that I had to drag the guys out into the cold to deal with my needs.