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Re: Re- Blowers

        Reply to:   RE>>Re: Blowers

All the spa blowers I have seen are really just vacuum cleaner motors, and I
have gone thru two on my central vacuum cleaner system.  They're really high
speed, and noisy,  with brushes and bearings that go bad.  
Don't know if they're still available, but I bought a Gast regenerative blower
from Herbach & Rademan  (in the Philly area) for $150 (normal price about
$400).
Before that, I tried a small diaphragm air compressor, pumping up a 5 gal tank
to about 20 psi.  Then a pressure regulator to the fires.  What I found is
that the volume requirement is high, so the compressor came on a lot, and the
regulator didn't hold the pressure steady enough to prevent adjustments on one
fire from affecting settings on another.  Possible refinements would include
going to higher pressures, using a larger reservoir, and using separate
regulators for each fire.  Look at high volume, low pressure regulators used
for gas barbecues.
Current, on my ribbon fire, I glued a 3" muffin fan to the bottom of the pipe
standard, and run it off a small variable DC supply.  The gas is injected a
couple inches downstream from the fan.  N.B. best to make it so your fan can
never go to zero speed, or the gas may come out the wrong end!
Hope I've shed some light.
Don
--------------------------------------
.......ok, now the question.  I know this guy here in town that has used 2 of
these spa blowers and he says they wear out in about 6-8 months.  I am not
sure that he used a bypass to deal with the excess air or not.  But it seems
you must be fairly sucessful to be still running yours.

For my blower that I just canceled my order for, I was planning on piping the
air into a 6-8"diam. sewer pipe about 8' long to act as a reservoir/buffer. 
Then taking my indivdual air hoses directly from there into my fires via one
valve.   Do I still need to do this to smooth out air fluxuation when
different fires are turned on and off?

Can you describe for me what that bypass for the excess air will look like? 
How it works for you?  Also the spa-pumpman says that these pumps are not
commercial ( the commercial ones cost $ 700.) and are not designed to run for
long periods of time.  I am not planning on putting in 50 hr wks with this
baby, but when projects come up, I do spend a fair amount of time on the
fires.  Concerns, suggestions?