Electric forge blower source
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Electric forge blower source spaco 05-27-2007
Posted by spaco on May 27, 2007, 11:39 am
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Every dead gas hot water heater has a nice little blower in it.

A friend tells me that he simply goes to stores that sell new water
heaters and asks to be allowed to either take the blower out or to take
the whole thing home. He has done this many times. I think the blower
is used as a "power vent". He builds coal or charcoal forges as
donates them to our club's raffles/auctions. You can use an air gate
to control the blast so you don't have to worry about speed control.
These blowers also work well for gas forges.

I look for small blowers too, when I go to garage sales or auctions.
Often they will be in a box of misc. stuff. If I don't want the whole
box, I just deal with the buyer. I usually get the blower for a dollar
or two.

Pete Stanaitis

Posted by Chilla on May 27, 2007, 7:50 pm
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spaco wrote:
> Every dead gas hot water heater has a nice little blower in it.
>
> A friend tells me that he simply goes to stores that sell new water
> heaters and asks to be allowed to either take the blower out or to take
> the whole thing home. He has done this many times. I think the blower
> is used as a "power vent". He builds coal or charcoal forges as
> donates them to our club's raffles/auctions. You can use an air gate
> to control the blast so you don't have to worry about speed control.
> These blowers also work well for gas forges.
>
> I look for small blowers too, when I go to garage sales or auctions.
> Often they will be in a box of misc. stuff. If I don't want the whole
> box, I just deal with the buyer. I usually get the blower for a dollar
> or two.
>
> Pete Stanaitis

Aw Pete, you're in the land of Yank, and have a lot more toys available
to you. I reckon the worst American garage sale would put shame on our
best hardware store.

I did like the suggestion of the blower extraction from a gas water
heater. Is this a certain type of heater, 'cause the ones I've seen in
this backwater don't have electrical components :-(



Regards Charles


Posted by on May 27, 2007, 10:05 pm
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> Aw Pete, you're in the land of Yank, and have a lot more toys
> available to you. I reckon the worst American garage sale would
> put shame on our best hardware store.

I'm so poor I can't afford those places, I get my stuff from the
scrap yard or shooting ranges. :)

> I did like the suggestion of the blower extraction from a gas
> water heater. Is this a certain type of heater, 'cause the ones
> I've seen in this backwater don't have electrical components :-(
> Regards Charles

Gas-furnaces here have them but many are 240v so here they need to
be checked for that.

I too have never seen a gas water heater with a blower on it.
Like he mentioned... has something to do with "venting".
Solcialist Republik of Kalifonia? Messychewsets?

Scrap yard! :)
I've gotten a couple from there.
Also removed some only to turn it over and read it's 240v and then
take it and throw it in their motor pile. ;)

Found my best candidate for a newer-slower-setup at the shooting
range. :) (along with the 1.2gHz computer I'm using right now;)

http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/blower.jpg

That's a used signal-case blower I rescued from the dumpster at
work. Lately I've been using it with the baffle plate all the way
closed. That supplies two 1/2" pipes closed.

That baffle control beats the dogshit out of any sort of electrical
speed control. No kidding. It's quick and precise. BTDT no use
you having to mess with it.

http://www.grainger.com

For simple heat treating mine is way too strong.
Grainger item number: 4C443 $64

Scrap yard's looking pretty good huh? ;)

Alvin in AZ

Posted by Chilla on May 27, 2007, 10:42 pm
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alvinj@Example.com wrote:
> Gas-furnaces here have them but many are 240v so here they need to
> be checked for that.
>
> I too have never seen a gas water heater with a blower on it.
> Like he mentioned... has something to do with "venting".
> Solcialist Republik of Kalifonia? Messychewsets?
>
> Scrap yard! :)
> I've gotten a couple from there.
> Also removed some only to turn it over and read it's 240v and then
> take it and throw it in their motor pile. ;)
>
> Found my best candidate for a newer-slower-setup at the shooting
> range. :) (along with the 1.2gHz computer I'm using right now;)
>
> http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/blower.jpg
>
> That's a used signal-case blower I rescued from the dumpster at
> work. Lately I've been using it with the baffle plate all the way
> closed. That supplies two 1/2" pipes closed.
>
> That baffle control beats the dogshit out of any sort of electrical
> speed control. No kidding. It's quick and precise. BTDT no use
> you having to mess with it.
>
> http://www.grainger.com
>
> For simple heat treating mine is way too strong.
> Grainger item number: 4C443 $64
>
> Scrap yard's looking pretty good huh? ;)
>
> Alvin in AZ

American scrap yards are waaaaaay better than our hardware stores. A
friend of mine used to go to American scrap yards and pick up
Trans-Am(sp.?) parts and ship them to Oz as scrap metal in a 44 gallon
drum... made a small fortune.

I was lucky enough to get a blower from a pipe organ, a monster of a
thing... haven't used it yet, but it works.

When I use air (although for my purposes I don't need air at the
moment), I use the dust extractor as previously states and a slide
valve, the slide valve doesn't block any air flow, it just re-directs
it, so that there is minimal strain on the motor. The valve I use is a
pipe with a smaller diameter pipe inside it, a slot cut in the larger
pipe, and the inner pipe can slide back and forth.

Here's the blower :
<http://members.optushome.com.au/charlesanderson/img/100_0796.JPG>

Yes I did do the parquetry myself, and went temporarily insane
afterwards ;-)

Here's the valve and a few other bits and pieces :
<http://members.optushome.com.au/charlesanderson/img/cast2.jpg>
<http://members.optushome.com.au/charlesanderson/img/cast3.jpg>
<http://members.optushome.com.au/charlesanderson/img/cast4.jpg>

Definitely not rocket science.


Regards Charles


Posted by Ecnerwal on May 27, 2007, 10:49 pm
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> When I use air (although for my purposes I don't need air at the
> moment), I use the dust extractor as previously states and a slide
> valve, the slide valve doesn't block any air flow, it just re-directs
> it, so that there is minimal strain on the motor.

One of the oddities of centrifugal blowers is that there would be less
strain on the fan if the shutter blocked or restricted the flow. The
motor will also draw less power. An "unrestricted" centrifugal blower is
working as hard as it can possibly work. Some prior poster (here, I
think) in the HVAC business claimed that a common cause of blower motor
burnout was customers "opening up" a duct system, either to expand
coverage or in a misguided attempt to "make less work for the blower",
and actually overloading a motor that was specified for a certain degree
of duct restriction.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

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