Which soil screener is best?
With the good weather ahead of us (fingers crossed), many of our customers are contemplating screening topsoil, and soil type materials. The best soil screener really depends on a number of considerations…
- How will the screener be loaded
- Will the material be dry or damp
- Throughput of materials
- Available space
- Cost of equipment
Vibrating deck screeners
Vibrating deck screens are our most popular purchase for screening topsoil. We offer a number of models, the compact screener for limited space operations and the highly regarded Retriever screener, for higher retrieval rates. These machines are robust and simple to operate, both offer many years of trouble-free service. Many optional extras offer our customers a more bespoke choice, twin (or dual deck) versions being extremely popular. Soils can be fed directly onto the deck using an excavator or loader, an optional feed hopper can be mounted onto the top of the screen deck, this can be fed by conveyor if required.
Advantages …
A vibrating deck screener is relatively low maintenance and simple to operate. As the user is loading soils onto the top of the deck, material is sieved through the screen mesh. Heavy oversize lumps of debris cascade down the screen (without being sieved) with ease and without causing any damage to the deck itself, to be segregated into its own area. A fast process and able to sieve the material at high output speeds.
Disadvantages …
A vibrating deck screener has a flat screening media, by its nature this could bind if the soils are very damp or wet.
Screening mesh types …
For topsoil materials we advise meshes with 12mm to 22mm square openings for finer soils. Higher throughput can be achieved with a rectangular mesh. However, this will allow some stone to penetrate the mesh and into the material, but this will deal better with moisture and ensure higher throughput rates. Course screening of 30mm (and above) requires a heavy-duty mesh for the top deck only.
Trommel Screeners
Trommel screens are good solution for soils, recycling waste and compost screening, particularly if the material is moist or gummy. It is also considered a better solution for recovering fines from the material. The rotational function of the screen drum agitates and turns the material, in much the same way a washing machine does. This allows material tied or laying on top of other material to be freed. As with the vibratory screen, fines pass through the mesh screen, whilst the larger material passes though the trommel to the end, where it is segregated.
Advantages …
The primary benefit of a trommel over a vibratory screen is that it processes moist and gummy materials well. The optional cleaning brush can ensure further cleaning of the trommel If required. The trommel drum action of turning the feed material and can result in the reduction of fines not passing through the mesh screen.
Disadvantages …
Trommels are generally a more expensive, require more space and slightly more maintenance. It is better suited to softer materials, as heavy rocks and demolition waste take their toll quickly on the screening mesh. Throughput is also slower than a vibratory screen.
Screening mesh types …
Topsoil requires anything from 6mm to 25mm square (20mm being the most popular). Skip and demolition debris requires steel plate (with laser cut openings) drums for increased durability, opening size can vary depending upon application.
Conclusion ….
A great choice for topsoil and aggregates applications is the Retriever or Compact Screeners. If you screen moist and gummy materials (with better recovery of fines), a Trommel may be better option. You may consider a feed hopper that can be included with a Trommel is also benefit. The choice very often depends on application, we are always very happy to advise.
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Crushing & Screening Ltd have machines to suit different soil screening applications. If you would like more information or have a question about soil screening, please call 01845 525288 or email info@crushingandscreening.co.uk
Thank you for reading we hope you found this article useful and informative.