# Siphoning Comments



## lazersteve (Sep 18, 2007)

Post your comments to the Siphoning video here:

Siphoninig

Steve


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## aflacglobal (Sep 18, 2007)

Good video steve. I noticed the tube moving around at first and being hard to handel while trying to use the hemos. A close pin has a round hole just inside the clip. Wonder if you could clip it to the neck of the glass and allow the tube to run through the hollow hole in the center of the close pin. Then you could adjust the depth of the tube just above the gold powder and release the stop. 

It would leave your hands free to work until the last little bit.

:?:


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## lazersteve (Sep 18, 2007)

Ralph,

You are right about the tube being a little pesky to handle. I had some trouble with the hemostats. I'll have to give your close pin idea a try. 

Steve


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## Harold_V (Sep 19, 2007)

There's no need for using a tool of any kind. Wear a glove that doesn't leak, and use your hands. Be certain to have full control of both ends of the hose to control the speed of transfer so the contents don't get sucked up. I did it that way for years with no problems to report. Be certain to use a hose with a heavy enough wall to be rigid, but not unruly. I found a 3/8" vinyl hose with a 1/16" wall about right. 

Harold


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## lazersteve (Sep 19, 2007)

Harold,

Do you just fill your siphoning hose with water to get the vaccum going?

Steve


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## goldsilverpro (Sep 19, 2007)

I agree with Harold. There's no need for a gadget to get the siphon going. Use your hands. Double the hose so that the ends are equal and fill it brim full of water with a lab squirt bottle or at the sink. Make sure there are no air bubbles in the hose. Put your finger over one of the ends and lower that end to the lower container. With your other hand (your right hand, if you're right handed), put the other end of the hose about an inch into the solution. After about 1/10 of a second (almost simultaneously), release the bottom end of the hose. Practice with water containing a little sand. Allow the sand to settle first. Try to siphon off the water and leave the sand behind.

For a small container, I use a small hose about the size of the one in Steve's video. For buckets, I use a 5/16" or 3/8" ID hose. For drums, about a 5/8" or 3/4" ID hose. The length of the hose is important. It must be long enough not to flop out of the lower container yet, not so long that it coils around in the bottom of the container. I like using a 5 gallon bucket at the bottom, no matter how small the top container is. I also put the lower bucket in a plastic tray, just in case the hose flops out.

When siphoning dark solutions, it's difficult to know how deep the tip of the hose is submerged into the solution. To solve this, I paint about one inch of the upper end of the hose with a red Sharpie. I don't paint the red solid. I paint it in stripes - it seems like it's easier to see.

When settling the solids in the upper container, I put a piece of wood under the back of the container. The solids then settle down to the front corner. This tilt makes the siphoning easier and more efficient. Instead of placing the upper tip of the hose in the center of the solution, I put it, at an angle, against the front surface of the container, about an inch deep in the solution. As the solution level goes down, I progressively slide the tip of the hose down. This is easy to see and do if the tip is colored red. As the solution level nears the bottom, I use my free hand and, very slowly and steadily, tilt the container even more towards me. When doing this, don't disturb the solids. Never allow the tip to come out of the solution. You'll lose your prime and will have to start over.

I shouldn't admit this but, I rarely used gloves when siphoning. *I do suggest that all of you use gloves, however.* I preferred a "feel" and this is hard to get with bulky gloves. I siphoned about 20 times a day and got good enough not to get much of anything on my hands. When I did use gloves, I used thin latex ones.

This is one of those easy operations that's very difficult to explain using only words.


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## Harold_V (Sep 19, 2007)

Chris pretty well covered it. I filled my hose with tap water to start the siphon. 

The one big difference I see is that I never allowed the discharge or siphon end to run free. I held both ends to control the velocity of the discharge. By doing so, you can slow the transfer rate such that you can get right on top of the contents of a container and remove the solution without disturbing the contents. I made it a policy to transfer to a second container, as Chris suggested, for that rare occasion when anything of value was transferred. It allowed for recovery after a second settling period. 

Bulky gloves?

I wore one kind of glove, and one only, although I tried so damned many types through the years that I don't think I missed anything of importance. 

The glove of choice in my case was a blue glove with a yellow cuff, rubber of sorts, and flock lined. They fit just beyond my wrist. Most glove supply stores carry the gloves, and they're not expensive. I used to pay less than $25 for a dozen pairs. I wore gloves non-stop for at least 10 hours daily, and a pair would last about three weeks. They were thin enough to provide for outstanding "feel", and rugged enough to resist abrasion and acids. Body oils were the cause of demise, with the rubber rotting slowly. 

I rinsed my gloves on a regular basis to keep them clean inside. Once the flock was worn down, I'd use corn starch to make putting them on and taking them off easier. Corn starch in a large salt shaker made it easy to put in a small amount that was well spread out. 

Harold


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