Cheap Blowers

[gar]

I,m new at this site, so if I screw up sorry! I've worked in the heating industryfor some time. I keep reading about blowers for different uses. Go to your local fuel supplier who also does repairs, (most of them do), and ask if they have any junk boilers, or furnaces. Usually if they do they will give you the burners out of them! Take the oil tube out, disconect the ignitor, and you have a blower with adjustable air for free! Just adjust the two side bands for the amount of air, or open them and ad a reostat to the power line. :)

[Chris W]

What about using a duct booster fan from your local home improvement supply? They're under $35 and you can get them for 4", 6", or 8" ducts with higher CFM as you go up in duct size. I'm also new so pardon my ignorance if there is an obvious reason I'm missing.

[longbeard]

What about using a duct booster fan from your local home improvement supply? They're under $35 and you can get them for 4", 6", or 8" ducts with higher CFM as you go up in duct size. I'm also new so pardon my ignorance if there is an obvious reason I'm missing.

Ya, I thought the same and bought a 5" one and a reducer to 4" - seemed like a good idea at the time, but when I hooked it up it didn't have much volume, so returned it. Now have a real good squirrel cage blower (from a buddy in the furnace business) and it blasts real good - hope to try it in real time when the weather warms up in Central Ontario.

[gar]

Like longbeard said get a blower from an old hot air furnace. The newer ones can easily be wired for different speeds. Just remember the oil and gas dealers are just throwing the old furnaces out, as they usually have a hole in the heat exchanger.

[markct]

thats exactly what my arch has, 2 gutted oil burners for blowers, a bigger one under the grates and smaller one for the air over the fire part. they move alot more air too with the hole for the oil pump open in the end, ie pump removed. they provide plenty of air for my 2x8 airtight arch and are quiet running, and made for continuous duty unlike leaf blowers and shop vacs some guys have considered using.

[Haynes Forest Products]

And when your at the supplier ask if they have any pool heaters The big monster ones ( Larrs ) they have real nice 24" X 24" 1" thick high temp fire brick in them:) :)

[Greg Morin]

an old oilburner minus the pump would work well need to make a plate to replace the pump

[gar]

It sounds like everyone is trying to get as much air as possible to their fire. What you want is he proper amount of air! You ca get too much air to your fire depending on size of arch. Best balance is low smoke stact temp and high combustion chamber temp. This tells you basically that most of your heat is going to your boiling sap. Go to proctor maple research, look for Guidlines for the improvement of combustion efficiency for maple producers. Best info i've seen on this! Also Haynes forrest is right, best insulation i've seen. Used it on my 2x8 leader. Get it cranking, and can hold my hand on the outside of the fire box, no problem!

[sterling gold]

On our 2x6 arch, we replaced the 8" stove pipe we used last year with a 10" stack this year. The idea was to get more air through the system without installing a blower, but during our first boil (last night) with the firebox packed tight with wood the draft was enough to move the heat right up and out the stack. Luckily we noticed before we melted our new stack and burned the sugarhouse down, but it got me thinking about how necessary a blower really is on a smaller arch.

By itself the new stack has increased the efficiency and reduced boiling time, the way the blower is advertised to do.