Sorry for the delay. I thought I would receive an automatic notification from the site that someone read my post and wanted more information. I decided to check and saw a few others that had wanted some pictures. I am not sure how to add pictures but here are some comments (I will add pictures later):
The pump is a 50 gpm diaphragm positive displacement pump. The bag is 15' x 25'. The suction is a garbage pail over a suction strainer. I tired 3 different versions. One was no restriction...just the strainer. However when the front part of the strainer was embedded in muck, the back portion was in already cleaned water so the suction took the path of least resistance...the clean water and short circuited. The garbage pail was my first attempt to minimize the short circuiting. The next version had too large a garbage can and the top would let in clearer water than the thick muck at the bottom. The version shown works just right and lets just a little water in along with the muck to keep things flow able. The solids content of the muck is about 20 - 30% so it is very thick, but pumpable. A centrifugal pump could not work in this environment since it can only handle 1-3% solids. The middle bag photos is about where the bag is currently at regarding thickness due to sludge. The knife gate valve is a 3" size so that I can disconnect hoses and leave the muck in the dewatering bag. The bag filters out all solids down to the 50 micron size and is normally used for construction pumping projects to handle site drainage. The bags are not reusable. The large bag cost $200 but it is worth every penny. Enjoy.........Doug
