Blower size?

[doop]

I'm building a new arch, and I'm wondering what constitutes (high pressure). What am I going to need for a 3x8?

[RileySugarbush]

Under fire air is typically low pressure, a reasonable number is less than 1" of H20. Commonly called squirrel cage blowers and they look like a drum with slanted louvers around the circumference. Low power, low pressure and high volume flow.

AOF needs a high pressure blower to get the small high speed jets of air to mix above the fire. For example, 8" of H2O pressure upstream of the nozzle will give you 80mph jets! That is the pressure I get from my B-air bounce house blower. You should design the manifold so that there is no restriction before the nozzles in order to get the high speed jets. Therefore I recommend using the nozzle size to get the right amount of air volume rather than any damper valve.

[minehart gap]

Doop, University of Vermont Extension released a paper on this.

Combustion Efficiency for Maple Producers - University of Vermont PDFUVM.edu › ~pmrc › Combustion

That is the path to it, I was not able to insert it as a link. Lot of good information.

[mol1jb]

Second the bouncy house blower. Cheap and effective for my 2x6. It runs both the AUF and AOF. Mine goes from a 4” pipe and Y to 2x 3” pipes both with shutoff valves to control air flow.

[mellondome]

When i used aof, i used a 1hp dust collector from harbor freight. Got it on sale for under $100 at the time. Mounted it outside the sugarhouse and was connected by 4" pipe.

[DocsMapleSyrup]

I use a 1 hp bouncy house blower and split the air for AOF and AUF for the 2x8 arch I built. I live in Esko in case you would like to look at a set up similar to what you are planning to do before you build it.

[Russell Lampron]

A high pressure blower is like a vacuum cleaner motor. My AUF/AOF arch uses a squirrel cage blower for both. Mine is a little bit different because the AOF only blows back from the arch front into the fire. It works good though, I'm getting 50 gph plus from my 2x6.

186691867018671

[maple flats]

Here is the link. The high pressure blower size is based on the width of the unit. www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/Combustion.pdf
A high pressure blower throws the air rather that how a squirrel cage blower just flings it. The link will give the details. Many have successfully used a bounce house blower with good results, but try to match the motor size to what the link suggests for best results.
High pressure is needed to create the necessary turbulence over the fire to get more complete combustion.

[doop]

Chad, I'm pretty sure I've got it figured out, but it would be great to check out your setup and meet a fellow trader member. Not many of us in our area.