High Banking and Related Topics

Tip #1

Do not run your high banker water pump without an air filter. Even though it may not look dusty, microscopic dust will score the intake valve and the combustion chamber, greatly reducing the life of the engine. Change the air filter a minimum of once per year.

Tip # 2

Change the engine oil after the first 5 hours on a new motor. This is "break-in oil." After that, change the oil every 20-25 hours running time. Typical high banker engines do not have an oil filter, and the oil must be changed more often than your car. Use ONLY grades and weights of oil recommended by the manufacturer. For Briggs & Stratton engines, ONLY 30W detergent oil (do not use 10W-30 or non-detergent oil). 

Tip #3

Do not leave the water pump's gas tank empty, even overnight. When done for the day, top off the tank with fuel to prevent condensation from forming in the tank. 

Tip #4

To store the water pump at the end of season, hook a water supply to the pump (do not run dry). Fill the tank with fuel treated with a fuel stabilizer, such as STABIL. Run the engine for 5-10 minutes. Cover and store in an area not susceptible to gas fumes buildup.

Tip #5

Use only the amount of hose necessary to bring the water from the water source to the work site. It is better to have 2 or 3 section of 25 feet each than a single 75 foot length of hose. The longer the hose, the more the pump has to work to get the water there.

Tip #6 

Keep the speed of the water in the sluice box only fast enough to get a good "bubble" over the riffles. The water needs to be fast enough to wash out the light gravels, but too fast will also wash out the fine gold. 

Tip #7

Feed the high banker slowly. Packing the hopper full will only cause the fine gold to ride the gravels farther down the sluice box, and possibly out of the sluice box all together. Feed it slow to keep the fine gold.

Tip #8

Watch the tailings coming off the grizzly. Large nuggets or specimens will fall off the grizzly into the pile of rocks and be lost. When the high banker is moved, check the tailing pile with a metal detector.

Tip #9

Use ribbed carpet under miner's moss in the sluice box. This will do a better job of catching fine gold better than miner's moss or ribbed carpet by themselves.

Tip #10

Attach a garden hose with a garden sprayer nozzle at the hopper. If necessary, you may have to modify and attach a connection for it. This hose will be used to spray down those areas of the hopper that don't get enough water to properly wash the gravels shoveled into the hopper.

Tip #11

If anyone is afraid of losing nuggets when screening out the larger rock should run a detector over the tailings pile left from screening. It only takes a few seconds to do. I hope this helps ease the minds of those people who believe they may miss a nugget.

submitted by: Fine Gold Recovery Systems

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