Edge Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 Who has used them, what were the pros and cons? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Relichunter2016 Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 I liked it, very quite and had a great recovery rate. Beats the blower type, to noise. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azdigger Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 I have a blower type but my first drywasher was a puffer...........I will get me another , just like the sound of one when running. Only advantage the blower type has is you can run and re-run some material that is slightly damp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisski Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 IME to get work done with power, you need to move past electrical and go into gas. After having lugged a 12 V battery and set up down to the creek to run material, I would much rather lug a gas powered one. The gas powered leaf blower only needs a liter of gas to refill, and a larger 151, can't remember exactly, but I think a gallon. I had bought a lawn mower battery at first, but no much power or lifetime, and I upsized to a truck battery, which could last a couple of hours, but would get steadily weaker. Also, with the batteries you need to replaced those every couple of years. My electrical setup I used was someone's home made battery powered puffer, and you could measure output in days per ton versus the 151 which is easily a half ton to ton per hour. A ton is 36 full five gallon buckets of dirt. Again an opinion, at best the electric may be good for sampling, but to get into an area for a couple days at a time and move some serious material, nothing will beat gas. I like quiet, but I need to move material to recover gold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nugget Shooter Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 I had a Keene 12 volt puffer for many years and loved it.... These days I mainly detect. The pros are no screaming small engine in your ears all day and no exhaust smell in the concentrates like some leaf blower motors cause. Cons, to run all day I had to tote that darn marine 12 volt battery up and down steep hills... Both find gold well if used properly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homefire Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 Never used the battery puffer. Hand Puffer I have. Too Old for that now. Gas was lighter and easy for me. If a person was planning on staying in the location for some time I think Electric Puffer would be good. A few Modern Solar Cells popped up would end the old Pooped Out Battery thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edge Posted February 14, 2018 Author Share Posted February 14, 2018 (edited) I've used puffers and a blower via a 110v and generator. I have a couple spots I can get to on horseback and pack equipment in but I won't be packing a generator or engine. Sounds like it's 12V or manual puffer, sure don't want to listen to a freaking leaf blower. And yes some PV panels should help immensely. Edited February 14, 2018 by Edge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 Has anyone ever tried 18v Lithium Ion DeWalt cordless drill batteries? I have a puffer and hooked up a car door window motor to it. I have never really used it but on the porch for a couple of buckets. It ran fine for better than an hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edge Posted February 15, 2018 Author Share Posted February 15, 2018 13 hours ago, fishing8046 said: Has anyone ever tried 18v Lithium Ion DeWalt cordless drill batteries? I have a puffer and hooked up a car door window motor to it. I have never really used it but on the porch for a couple of buckets. It ran fine for better than an hour. If you're not going to use it, you should sell it to me cheap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoser John Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 Always prefered gas for constant flow with elliptical oscilation for more volume and better recovery-John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 (edited) Currently I live in an area of Texas where it has gotten to the point I hear leaf blowers running 8 days a week for lawn services...kid you not! I have gotten to where I HATE hearing those things running. HaHa! I can certainly understand the benefits of off-set weighted elliptical oscillation with blowers... especially when you are wanting to shovel material directly into drywasher without pre-classifying. I think with puffer-type drywashers it is better to pre-classify material before running cause the classifying agitation alone will help break away possible values from the unwanted material. Granted pre-classifying will slow you down for overall material processed but maybe helps puffers recover more of the gold that would have been lost due to lack of oscillation? Guess it all depends on site and how much weight one wants to haul around not to mention how much material they want to process quickly. Edited February 15, 2018 by Randall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSMITH Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 (edited) On 2/14/2018 at 9:40 AM, Edge said: I've used puffers and a blower via a 110v and generator. I have a couple spots I can get to on horseback and pack equipment in but I won't be packing a generator or engine. Sounds like it's 12V or manual puffer, sure don't want to listen to a freaking leaf blower. And yes some PV panels should help immensely. I have been looking for a Drywasher also just cannot decide which one looked at the Thompson 12 volt and the Keene 12 Volt and today looked at one made by a company in Apache junction AZ which I really liked made by Pro Mac it was about the same price as a Keene but had a few different features on it that I really liked also a 12 volt type the person I spoke to runs his off of a small deep cycle that weighs around 6 pounds and said it would run for 9 hours on that battery I know batteries you need to use a deep cycle battery because a standard car or truck battery is not designed to be deeply dis charged like a deep cycle those using a standard car or truck battery that is why they state the battery would die with in a couple hours a deep cycle will not a solar charger works great on a deep cycle battery and not good at all on a car or truck battery car and truck standard batteries are designed to be continuously charged from a alternator on a vehicle and deep cycles are meant to be charged at a slower rate from a solar charging system or other charging systems like a battery charger that has a deep cycle setting also looked at a Whippet Dry washer which was a nice little washer it only weighs a total of 15 pounds with the included battery but the price is $1400 including the battery and a 4-6 month wait for delivery its made by a guy in California Edited February 17, 2018 by DSMITH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSMITH Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 don't know if its permissible to post a link for the Whippet dry washer or not so I did not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boulder dash Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 On 2/15/2018 at 9:46 AM, Hoser John said: Always prefered gas for constant flow with elliptical oscilation for more volume and better recovery-John Well said sir. Gas drywasher blows away puffers drywashers. If you want the most gold possible gas engine works best in my opinion. Having found literally pounds of gold in my drywashing career I definitely didn't waste time on a puffer. Higher gold recovery with gas once you learn the equipment. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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