forced draft on a 18"x60"

[Tyler Phillips]

I just received a an 18"x60" cdl with 5" drop flues and am thinking of making a forced draft using an inline duct fan or something simular, wondering if anyone has any pictures or input on this.

Thanks Tyler

[JDP]

Tyler... I'm relatively new here. The big dogs may have some input but here is my set up on a similar rig. I have just built an oil tank arch with a 2x5 foot continuous flow pan. I installed a 2.5 inch pipe under the arch from the rear ( to keep the blower out of the way from the loading door). Drilled 3 sets of 10........ 3/8 holes in the pipe that is into the fire box. 1 set straight up, and 2 sets slightly out to each side. I should have AUF covering the whole fire box with that set up. My blower is scavenged from a power vented water heater. Unsure of CFM but she pushes a lot of air into the fire box. Am experimenting with a dimmer switch to control speed or a restriction to input air on blower. After reading a lot here on Maple trader....... Make sure you have your arch protected with fire brick and insulation blanket. Your temps will increased dramatically with AUF. Also make sure you door and pan gaskets are tight because you with have a positive pressure blower ash and smoke out all openings. Should only be going up chimney. Buy a probe thermostat for your rig to keep an eye on temps. One guy on here suggested to me to have one in the fire box and one at the outlet of the arch.

Good luck this year!