Blower

Lessee, that's about a half horsepower. Should be enough for a coal fire. Put a throttle plate on the output and go for it. Probably a sliding vane would work best to control the volume. Don't waste time trying to electrically control the motor, that starter cap says 'induction' loud and clear.Snail housing impellers aren't considered 'positive displacement' pumps, so choking down the output won't hurt them. Looks like a winner from here.

Charly

Looks like a small version of the one that blows my melting furnace - that one's 1/2 hp - the one on my furnace is 4 hp

AWEM

What impressed me the most is it's size, I suppose if worse comes to worse I could put on another motor... although this is very quiet.

Regards Charles P.S. Did I mention I got it free?

Nice!

I bet that will work great. It is especially good that the amp load will drop when you cover the end. We use a 2 hp impeller style for our shop. It is efficient and serves up enough air for about five coal forges. We use a in line slide gate to control flow just before it goes into the forge.

Look to me like you found a great piece of equipment. Congrats!

Andrew

If you gate the intake side the load is reduced on the blower, if I understand things correctly, while gating the output increases the load or it stays the same.

Good catch!

What happened to the rest of the pipe organ?

Cheers Trevor Jones

I have always understood that it was flow, not source, that affects the load. I tested the motor before installing by cutting th flow front and back and could hear the motor "let up". .......but, if there is one thing i have learned in life, it is that I don't know everything. I am going to call the manufacturer and some other guys i know and check it out again. Thanks for the comment.

Andrew

Have no idea, probably to the place where old pipe organs go :-(

I figured that if it was good enough to get one of those beasts going then it would be good for an air source :-)

Regards Charles

Hi Andrew,

Let me know how you go with that inquiry.

Thanks regards Charles

Andrew Mol> I have always understood that it was flow, not source, that affects the

Yeah what Charles almost said. ;)

Alvin in AZ

OK, here goes.....

I spent some time thinking and researching. I found this engineering info sheet on the net. Read it and weep (see attached pdf).

*********************************

I have tried to post this for a week and I guess you can not attach files. Maybe some virus protection or something. My post just won't show after sending. Instead of a file attachment, here is the relevant bits of the article.

" The Mystery of Fans

A family of motor applications that tend to confuse people,

who are not regularly involved with them, is that of variable

torque loads. These loads represent a high percentage of

motor requirements so it is desirable to have a little extra

knowledge of the mysterious aspects of these loads.

Variable speed loads are fans, blowers, and centrifugal

pumps.

There are two mysterious characteristics that these loads

have. The first is the way they act when speed is changed.

The rules that cover these characteristics are called the

"affinity laws". For example, we can discuss a fan. What

we find is that as the amount of air increases, the torque

required to rotate the fan goes up as a squared function of

speed (Speed2). Thus, increasing the speed causes the

torque required by the fan to go up, not directly with

speed, but in proportion to the change of speed squared.

For example, if we change the speed from 1160 to 1760

RPM the torque required will increase by the ratio of

(1760/1160)2. This would mean that the torque required

would go up 2.3 times to 230% of the original value. Also,

since horsepower (HP) is based on speed times torque,

and the speed has increased by 52%, the new value of HP

would be 2.30 x 1.52 or almost 350% of the HP required at

the original speed.

The dramatic increases in the horsepower needed to drive

these loads when speed increases is a little difficult to

understand but it is very important. It is important because

small decreases can result in great energy savings. For

example, decreasing the speed of a variable torque load

by only 20% will result in a driving energy reduction of

nearly 50%. This obviously has big importance when conservation

is considered. It also accounts for the tremendous

market that exists for variable frequency drives operating

Variable Air Volume (VAV) systems used in heating,

ventilating, air conditioning, and variable speed pumping

used in similar systems.

The second puzzling thing that occurs with variable torque

loads is that the motor load actually decreases as the output

or input to the fan is blocked off or restricted. There

was once a reported call from a motor user who had burnt

out a motor driving a blower on a heating system. The

motor was driving a blower that drew air through a filter

and fed it to a ducted distribution system. When they were

asked if there had been any changes in the system, he

stated, "Well, we extended the ducts into another room

and cut the end off to let the air flow, but that would have

made it easier for the motor not more difficult." When he

was told the opposite was true, he could not believe it. It

defies good judgement to think that adding a restriction to

the output of the blower would decrease the motor load. If

you don't believe it, here is a simple test. Take a vacuum

cleaner and listen to it carefully. You will notice that the

pitch of the motor goes up when the suction is closed.

What this means is that the load is being reduced on the

motor and it speeds up. If you still do not believe, you can

do the same test but with an ammeter on the motor. What

you will find is that the amps drop as the suction level is

increased."

Note the section on page two under the mystery of fans, fourth paragraph "the motor load actually decreases as the input or output is restricted." The apaprent reason is that horepower is based on work done. If you are moving less air, you are doing less work. We interpret that the fan is pushing harder to move the air but it is rather provided less air to move and so works less to maintain the same rpm. You basically get a fan that is spinning air around in circles while letting some out to play with our fire.

Also, my exhaust blower on the roof of my shop is a 5 hp centrfugal blower like the one Charles found. It is baffled after the blower and before the venturi input device attached to the exhaust stack. My sales rep at Quickdraft was the one who put me onto the efficiancy concept in the first place because I was concerned at the energy usage. I was thinking about it and of course the shut off on a organ would be at the output as well. Another thing is that these motors are all constant rpm motors. A non controlled motor such as one in a vacuum cleaner will run faster when you cut the input. I tried holding my hand over the output and heard the same increase proving that the load is affected similarly via input or output blocking. I also see this principle at work with my box fan that runs overfast when placed against a wall.

OK ok I am done. I just have been thinkiong about this a lot while driving to and from the most recent job we installed. The pictures are crappy but the work was great. I will post a few on my site in a few minutes.

Let me know whats wrong with my reasoning when you get the chance.

Andrew