Dear Mr. Babin,

Quality wash boxes, complete with spring loaded scrapers are available from Martin Engineering (www.martin-eng.com). These have a long history of effectiveness and are relatively inexpensive. Other options are available - including building your own.

The one concern I have (being a Herring Chocker from Woodstock) is the cold winters in the Bathurst area. This can present problems with freezing with startups after shutdowns.

Regards, ■

While scrapers are inexpensive and easy to maintain, belt washers need somewhat more complex systems to be effective.

In general you have two types of systems, pressure washers and brush washers. The pressure washers are less complex but, in my opinion, require more maintenance and are less efficient.

In either case, these systems require more engineering resources in the specification, selection and instalation than the regular scraper. However with todays cost of automation, the results of a properly designed and installed system can be very advantageous compared with those from a belt scraper.



Antonio Reis

Vitrom Mfg Consultants

Your Process and Manufacturing Solutions

Phone: 209.834.1900

Fax: 209.834.1039

www.vitrom.com ■

Hello R Babin,

You intend to opt for water cleaning in the return run. I presume, conveyor must be a long one, otherwise for a short conveyor, the wet surface of the belt will come in contact with the material. Plus water freezing issue as pointed out by Mr. Dave Miller.

Such system will need water supply and drainage system (of small capacity) for water mixed with material dust, as applicable.

Regards,

Ishwar G Mulani.

Author of Book : Engineering Science and Application Design for Belt Conveyors.

Email : parimul@pn2.vsnl.net.in

Tel.: 0091 (0)20 25882916 ■

We usually recommend a washing system after a primary and secondary belt cleaning system. In this way the wash box cleaner does not become overwelmed with carry back. The washing system contains a cleaner for removing what little carry back is left after the primary and secondary cleaner, and water wipers fro removing most of the water.

We can aslo provide an air knife to totally dry the belt if necessary. ■

We have a range of belt scrapers that have been used very succesfully in many South African mines in wet and dry conditions.

Have a look at our website for full details.

Regards

Anthony Harris

Design Engineer

Extreme Products ■